Saving Shaw

Five

There was a lot for me to think about. I knew that Luke had something terrible and repulsive planned for me when he revealed his true self. Hearing it out loud only made his wicked intentions real, and it brought a whole new wave of fear to me. Arrow had said earlier that I was strong, but in this moment I felt anything but that.

Still I refused to cry. I haven't cried since before high school maybe. Even when my life had gone from shit to shittier, I refused to cry. Plenty of people had lives much worse than mine and it didn't make sense for me to pity myself.

Last night, my world had been as close to perfect as it could have gotten. I was comfortable with where my career was going, I had very little responsibility, and I'd finally gotten my best friend to agree to go out for the night. Not twenty-four hours later, I found myself here.

Now, I'm second guessing every move I've made since college. Had I chosen a different path for my life, would I have ended up in this nightmare? I wanted freedom and a carefree life, but now I wasn't so sure that it was worth it.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed since Arrow left me alone. Maybe it had been thirty or forty minutes. Goosebumps were prominent on the skin of my arms as they held on tightly to my legs that were folded against my chest. The chill of the summer night bit through the thin fabric of my shirt. I was freezing, but I couldn't bring myself to go inside.

Though it seemed absurd, I felt embarrassed and humiliated that I was put in a situation like this. Nothing serious happened, but the fact that they all knew what Luke wanted me for felt like my privacy had been invaded. I didn't want to face anyone.

After another five or ten minutes, I heard the screen to the front door creak open. I looked up and my eyes followed Axel as he walked around me to sit in the chair next to mine. He didn't reach out to touch me or offer a sympathetic smile, but he did offer me the navy blue sweatshirt he had in his hands.

I took it and put my legs down long enough to slip it over my head. It was too big for me and I had to push the sleeves up so my hands weren't engulfed in the fabric, but it served its purpose. "Thank you," I murmured softly before going quiet again.

"Arrow told us that he broke the news to you," Axel said. "Talon got pretty pissed."

"Did he shift into a beast again?" I scoffed.

Axel let out a soft chuckle. "No. Though it didn't seem like it earlier, Talon's the best at controlling that darker side of him. Besides, everyone knew that you had a right to know," he added, repeating my words back to me.

I looked down at my hands and started picking at the skin around my nails. "I wish he'd never told me," I whispered.

Axel let out a soft sigh and put and hand over mine to stop my fiddling. "It's a sensitive topic here. Talon was born so his human mother died for him to live and it's something he's never been able to make peace with. I'm just glad I found you before Luke Shepard got much further," he told me.

"You saved my life," I said. "I don't think I could ever repay that."

He pulled his hand back and grimaced. "I didn't save you. You're no safer than you were in that alley. The lycan I killed wasn't alone."

Lycan. The abridged version of lycanthrope sounded a lot more innocent than it actually was. When Axel mentioned Luke wasn't alone, however, I recalled the name of a man Talon mentioned earlier. "Talon said he was 'Shep's younger brother.' Who's Shep?"

"Damien Shepard," Axel said.

I waited for him to say more, but he was quiet for a while. Was it for dramatic suspense or because he was debating on whether or not to tell me about this mysterious man? I didn't know. "That really doesn't tell me anything," I pressed.