Betrayed By You

Ch.22 - Reasoning With Hell

There had never been any reasoning with Devlin. Not when we were kids, not when he found out he was a shifter, not as an adult. I doubted there would ever be a way to reason with Devlin because there was nothing he really respected. Except power, but that was apparently only if you were a shifter. Not a werewolf.

"Down here. You'll be safe down here. So long as I don't get out of my cage, but that's never happened, and I doubt that even then I'd be a threat to you."

"Duval, what... What is all this?" She asked.

I smiled and opened the hidden door to what acted as a sort of panic room, but was really a full moon room. "I'll explain once I've locked myself in the room." She nodded and watched as I walked into the cage with my cooler and locked the cage behind me. "Come in and make yourself at home with your cooler."

"Why are you locking yourself in there?"

"Because I'm a werewolf."

"You... I always thought your scent difference was because you lived with Devlin!" She laughed, sounding relieved. "I... I can't believe all these years I was wrong. And I was worried for nothing. All these years I was worried about what you would think or do if you found out about me and I was wrong to think all of it."

"What are you going on about?"

"Du, I'm a shifter! I have to change when the moon is full, like a were-"

"Like a werewolf, yeah. I know how the whole shifter thing works. Devlin's one."

"Inherited or forced?"

"Devlin inherited his shifting from our dad. We used to spar out there in the basement so we'd be able to protect ourselves. At least that's what dad always said. I've often wondered if it wasn't because he wanted me to know Devlin's weak spots in case he ever changed and I needed to protect myself from my own brother."

"The moon is really close to peak."

I nodded. "Mmhm. We should talk more about this later."

"One more question."

"Shoot."

"Is your being-"

"Sorry to interrupt, but it looks like now would be the best time. And since Angeline really is a shifter then that means I can lock us all in here and do whatever I want with her instead of toying with her or just killing her like I was going to do if she was human."

"Devlin, don't you dare touch a hair on her head! If you do I swear I'll get out of here and kill you."

"You're locked up all nice and tight there and I know once you shift here in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." I changed as he counted down and the next thing I knew he was standing there, stripping and talking. "As I was saying. Since you're changed then there's no way for you to get out of that cage. If there was you already would have been escaping that cage and I'm betting that once you became a werewolf dad ended up redoing that cage to hold both you and mom so those bars have to be strong enough to hold not one, but two werewolves, and dad would have thought ahead and made it strong enough for two fully grown adult werewolves. So if you really can get out of there then I'm betting that the opening is only big enough that you can fit through if you're a human because you wouldn't dare want to risk getting out and harming innocent humans or letting your secret out, now would you."

He was mocking me. Nothing but mocking me. He knew he was right and so did I, but I didn't want to let on. I looked at Angeline who had shifted while staring at me as Devlin spoke. She was still staring at me and her fur was as white and mine was grey. She was even more beautiful as a fox than I imagined she would be once she told me what she was. Devlin shifted while I was looking at Angeline and he was naked. The last of the skirt she had been wearing was still around her fox form, just waiting to fall off when she moved.

Devlin smiled and shook himself out, stretching before jumping towards Angeline. She was smaller than a normal fox, so she was able to easily run away from him. I panicked, looking around for some way, any way, to get out of my cage and protect my fox. It didn't matter if she was my girlfriend or not, she was my friend and I felt a stronger connection to her than I ever had with anyone else. I barked at her, pawing at the bars of my cage. She waited until he was going to pounce at her again and she took her chances at ducking between the bars and staying in the cage with me.

Angeline and I just stayed there and eventually curled up together to sleep through the moon. Devlin stayed there, watching us all night. I stayed curled around Angeline and she stayed snuggled up against me. It was the best night's sleep I'd had in years.