Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3)(46)

Perfectly designed to make a woman think of dark nights and hot sex.

“Are you trying to make me feel better?” she complained, inwardly chastising herself. When the hell was she going to get over her pathetic yearning for this man? “If so, you suck at it.”

“I’m not finished. But you’re right, I do suck at it.” He lifted her hand to press her knuckles against his lips. “I’m not used to explaining myself.”

Breathe, Mira, just breathe.

“Because you’re an Alpha?” Thankfully, her words didn’t come out as a croak.

Another lingering kiss landed on her knuckles before he was lowering her hand to his lap, his expression somber.

“Because I spent almost ten years of my life locked in a cage the size of a dog kennel.”

It took Mira a full minute to accept that the stark words weren’t some horrible joke.

Finally, her eyes widened, her stomach clenching with a sick sense of disbelief.

“The SAU?”

He shook his head. “My neighbor.”

“Why?”

His eyes darkened, and Mira suddenly realized she was catching a glimpse of the wounded wolf deep inside him.

“My parents suspected that the containment centers the SAU were creating for the supposed safety of the shifters would eventually become prisons,” his voice was laced with sadness. “Unfortunately, before they could organize a safe place for us to disappear, the soldiers were knocking at our door.”

It was an all-too-familiar story. Although Mira had been a mere babe when the Verona Virus had swept around the world, she’d heard rumors of the mass roundups of shifters and even the violent clashes that had led to thousands of unnecessary deaths.

“How old were you?”

“Five.”

Her mouth dropped open, her brain struggling to take in the knowledge that anyone could be twisted enough to lock a five-year-old child in a dog’s kennel.

“What happened?”

His expression was tight, the air prickling with the power of his inner animal.

“My parents lowered me out a bathroom window and told me to run. I had just gotten through the back fence when the neighbor caught me.” Sinclair’s lips twisted. “He promised he would keep me safe.”

She squeezed his fingers, instinctively pressing closer to his side. Sinclair could be harsh, impatient, sexy, and occasionally charming. But he carried with him an air of aloofness. As if nothing could truly reach him.

Now she was beginning to understand the reason he so rigidly protected himself from the world.

“What did he do to you?” she said, urging him to continue his story. As awful as it was, it explained so much about this complicated male.

“He used me as a new source of income.”

The air was squeezed from her lungs. “Income?”

“He would take me to underground parties where people would pay to see me shift into a wolf.” His voice was laced with bitterness. “After all, most shifters were being hidden behind the walls of the compounds. It was a rare opportunity to treat one like a circus animal. An indulgence they were willing to pay a fortune to enjoy.”

“God,” she breathed, leaning close enough to inhale the rich, musky scent of his skin. “I’m so sorry.”

His face hardened, his expression grim. “I survived. And planned. I knew it was only a matter of time before I managed to escape.”

“And you did,” she said.

“On my fifteenth birthday.” His lips curled, revealing his fangs. Mira shivered. Not from fear, although this was the first time she’d seen him lose control of his human form. It was, instead, a renegade thrill of wonderment. This male was truly a survivor. “The bastard got careless when he opened the door to the cage. Before he could get the muzzle on me, I managed to get out and knock him off his feet.”

“I hope you killed him,” she said.

The darkness that was shrouded around Sinclair abruptly lightened as he smiled at her fierce words.

“So bloodthirsty.” His gaze dropped to linger on her lips. “I like it.”

Mira rolled her eyes. “Did you?” she pressed. She needed to know that monster wasn’t out in the world hurting other shifters.

Sinclair snapped his fangs. “I ripped out his throat.”

“Good,” she said. “He was even worse than the SAU. What kind of sicko torments a child to make a profit?”

His smile faded. “I’ve stopped underestimating the depths of human depravity.”

She grimaced, but she couldn’t accept that such evil existed everywhere. Yeah. She was an incurable optimist. But she needed to think there was also good in the world.

“We’re not all bad,” she said.

“No. You taught me that.” He once again lifted her hand, turning it over so his lips could trace the fine veins beneath the skin of her inner wrist. “And not all shifters are good.”

Tiny shivers raced through her. Oh…yum. Why the hell hadn’t he done this months ago? She’d been desperate to get him naked.

It didn’t matter that he was only using her. Or that she might hate herself once it was over.

She’d just wanted one night of glorious passion before she was dropped back into her boring life.

Now it was all too late.