River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte by Samantha Young Page B

your fault?”
    “ I just
don’t.”
    Please, please,
please, please.
    He took a hold of her
shoulders and shook her gently, his expression darkening. “You
better not be ashamed, Jaeden Rodriguez, because you have nothing
to feel ashamed of. You are the strongest person I know. I’m proud
to know you.”
    Oh goddess. She felt tears
choke her throat again. Why did he have to be so
perfect?
    “ Please don’t
tell,” she persisted.
    Ryder sighed, shaking his
head. “I won’t. But it’s not something you can hide easily, Jaeden.
And no one will care. The pack is just happy to be getting you
back.”
    “ Still...”
    He held a hand up in
surrender, smiling gently. “I promise, I won’t tell.”
    Relief flooded her, and
then immediately dissipated when his expression sobered, and he
said, “But Caia already knows everything. She could see your...
torture... through Ethan’s eyes.”
    The blood drained from her
face.
     
    9 - Darker Side
     
    She felt awful.
    Sleeping had been an issue
after Marita and her ‘operatives’ had worked out a plan of defence
against Du Bois and his gang of rebels. And it wasn’t because her
body had still been pumping with the adrenaline of doing so well in
classes at the Centre; it wasn’t because she was juiced with
excitement over how efficient and determined the team had been when
discussing the MacLachlan attack; it wasn’t because she was nervous
about her next day of classes ahead.
    It was because of the
beautiful redhead who had disappeared into Lucien’s room with him
last night so ‘they could talk’.
    All night she had tossed
and turned, straining to hear any sounds from next door, and
fearing what she would do if she did. Finally, she had used the
telecom system by her bed to contact Noble and ask him if it was
possible for her to have private use of the woodland simulator so
she could go for a run.
    Of course it wasn’t a
problem.
    As she stood
there alone, breathing in what she knew to be fake, fresh, woody
air and yet exhilarating in it anyway, Caia willed her body just
this once to change like it used to. She remembered how afraid she
had been of telling Lucien and the others that her body slipped
into wolf like magik. Remembering the day they were scheduled for
their first pack run together since it had happened, Caia felt her anger
build irrationally. Lucien had been so kind as she explained the
situation, and she had been so scared he would look on her as less
of a lykan because of it. No one in the pack had sneered at her, or
condemned her, and she knew it was all because of him. So, why did
he have to be big jerk now - taking some, six foot-nothing
bombshell back to his room? A bombshell he most obviously had a
sexual past with, she rippled with fury, her eyes glaring at a
large tree in front of her.
    Rose had clung to his arm
like a burr the entire evening.
    A growl ripped out of
Caia’s chest, and she felt white heat building from her toes
upwards.
    No, no, no,
no, no! She cried. But too late, she was
stumbling back blinded. Afraid of what she would see, her eyes
peeled open slowly, and she grimaced at the large pile of ash in
front of her. She had destroyed the tree. She was really going to
have to work on that.
    Although most
of her pent up frustration had expelled from her, she still shook
with the agony that Lucien had been in love with someone; that he
loved another woman and couldn’t be with her because of her . Did he resent her?
Please, Artemis, she pleaded silently, let the change be slow. Let
my bones crack and my muscles ache, and my eyes tear.
    She stripped naked,
folding her clothes at her feet. And then she pushed the change.
All too quickly she was a wolf, her hard paws sinking into the
dirt. No cracking, no aching, no tearing.
    Caia pelted straight into
the heart of the woodland, the added feeling of impotence peddling
her speed. She hated that she felt this way, hated the rage that
gripped a hold of her heart until she was almost blind