Pride. Rachel Vincent

Your Honor? Leading the witness? I glanced at Michael, but he only frowned and shook his head, telling me to keep my mouth shut. Clenched jaws kept my complaint locked up tight. Clenched fists kept my temper in check. Barely.

      “Yeah.” Colin grasped eagerly at the straw Malone had just given him. “That’s exactly what she was doing. She was trying to escape.”

      Fury blazed its way through my veins, scorching me from the inside out. The rotten bastard was outright lying to a room full of Alphas! On those not-so-rare occasions when I needed to avoid telling the whole truth, I simply evaded the question, but Colin was pinning his lie to his chest like a fucking medal of honor. And he seemed completely unaware that such a badge was not of courage, but of cowardice and shame. Or maybe he didn’t care. Either way, enforcers should not possess such traits. Ever.

      I opened my mouth to protest, but again Michael shook his head, this time adding a severe frown to his silent warning.

      “What about the stray?” Uncle Rick asked, and when Colin made no reply, he continued. “Wasn’t Faythe trying to save Brett Malone from a stray in cat form?”

      Colin hesitated for a moment. Then he cackled with laughter so sudden and forced that everyone surely knew it was fake. That he was overcompensating. But no one questioned Colin’s sincerity. Not aloud, anyway.

      But the bedroom door opened, and I jumped back to avoid Dr. Carver when he stomped out, a disgusted look plastered on his normally jolly face. When no one closed the door behind him, Michael and I stepped silently into the room, where all four Alphas stood around the twin bed on which the towheaded tom lay propped against several pillows.

      “Faythe? Save Brett? Is that what she said?” Colin glanced from face to face in overplayed incredulity, daring a grin when he caught sight of me watching. “No. I was trying to save Brett. She was trying to get away while I was distracted.”

      “Are you sure that’s what happened?” my father asked, and the disbelief thick in his voice did little to smother the flames of anger shooting up and down my spine. My Alpha wasn’t the one I needed to convince.

      “Of course I’m sure. I was about to go out after Brett when Faythe took off for the front door. I had to choose between the two of them. Her stupid stunt could have gotten him killed.”

      My fingernails bit into my palm. My teeth ground together. My nostrils flared as my body demanded more oxygen to feed the fire of indignation burning deep in my chest. If Colin didn’t spit the truth out soon, I was either going to spontaneously combust or lose my temper. I could not stand there and watch that lying coward of a pussycat ground my name and reputation beneath his filthy paws.

       I should have hit him harder.

      “If she was trying to get away…” Uncle Rick asked, eyes narrowed at Colin, “why would she kill the stray? Why not just run?”

      “You think a girl on two feet could outrun a tom on four?” Calvin Malone demanded, glaring across the room at my uncle. “She had to kill the stray to keep him from killing her. She wasn’t trying to save Brett. She was trying to save herself.” He practically spat the last word, and a fresh flare of anger shot up my spine and over my neck, where little flame-tongues licked at my chin. Pain lanced through my jaw, and I gasped.

      Michael turned toward me with that same warning on his face, but it drained from his features with one look at the pain on mine. “You okay?” he whispered.

      I nodded, even as dread and rage churned in my stomach. Stress sent bolts of pain through my forehead, and tension made my face ache, probably from clenching my teeth.

      Or maybe not. That pain was familiar, and more than welcome…

      Suddenly Marc’s scent enveloped me, and he took my hand. I should have been surprised by that, but I could barely think through the throbbing in my mouth. He squeezed my hand as my jaw popped, and I turned to find him watching me intently. Watching my jaw intently. He knew what was about to happen. What would happen, if I could exploit my anger without losing my temper.

      A harsh smile hovered behind his expression, and he glanced at Colin. He had an idea; I could see it. “Actually.” He spoke loud and clear, drawing glances our way. “Faythe can outrun any one of us. If she’d wanted to escape, she would have.”

      I started to squeeze his hand in thanks, but winced instead as my jaw…rippled. Then Colin opened his big fat lying mouth again, sucking up all the attention before anyone could look at me too closely.

      “She was trying to run. I was getting ready to Shift—so I could go fight the stray—and she took off for the front door. She was taking advantage of me trying to save Brett, and she could have gotten us both killed. She ought to be locked up for her own good. For the good of us all.”

      My arms went stiff at my sides. My jaw cracked again, but I barely noticed. Colin’s lie would add another charge to the list against me, and Malone would have more ammunition than he needed to cleave my head clean off my shoulders. My good deed had become Colin’s get-out-of-jail-free card, and he was using it against me. The bastard.

      Suddenly my tongue seemed to take up too much room in my mouth. It broadened and flattened, itching unbearably. My teeth rolled along my gums. I groaned as my jaw stretched, the bones lengthening. All eyes turned my way. And while everyone else stared at me, I stared at Colin, who had become the focus of all my rage and frustration.

      Then, as suddenly as my face had begun to change, his did too. His pale blond hair and bright blue eyes lost some of their real-world color. The green and yellow hues in the room deepened as everything else melted into muted shades of gray.

      And that’s when I realized Colin wasn’t really changing.

      Cat vision and cat teeth. I’d partially Shifted in front of the entire tribunal.

      I should have been delighted, having just proved I could partially Shift. And even better, that the process was unintentional. Unfortunately, I wasn’t thinking clearly enough to experience relief or pride. I felt only instinctive fear and aggression. My inner cat—now peeking out through my human face—was threatened by this tomcat and his homicidal lies.

      While everyone stared at me in shock, I watched Colin, unable to look away from the focus of my rage.

      Marc whispered in my still-human ear, so softly I could barely hear him. “You want to pay him back?”

      I nodded.

      “Pounce.” Marc’s lip brushed my earlobe, combining with his scent to add a new layer of emotion to those already fueling my partial Shift. “Pretend you want to rip his lying head off.”

      Pretend? No problem. I did want to rip his head off. My rage was overwhelming. The human in me wanted justice, but the cat wanted blood. I’d spent most of my life curtailing such urges, and now Marc wanted me to indulge one instead?

      I raised an eyebrow at him, not entirely sure what he had in mind, but absolutely certain it wasn’t a good idea. The last thing I needed was more trouble.

      Trust me, he mouthed silently. And I did. Even after all we’d been through together—because of what we’d been through—I trusted him with my life. So I took a deep, noiseless breath, then I let my anger unfurl like a whip snapping loose of its coil.

      I leapt between my father and uncle, and the floor lurched past beneath me. Startled gasps surrounded me. My feet hit the carpet, and I jumped again. I landed on my knees on Colin’s bed, straddling his shins. The mattress squealed beneath my weight. My fingers curled in the ancient afghan.

      I was dimly aware of movement and frantic whispers around the room. But I left the shocked Alphas to Marc. I only had eyes for the terrified tom beneath me.

      Colin stared at me in horror. His jugular vein jiggled madly in his throat. The stench of fear trickled into my nostrils, and I realized my nose had Shifted too. Or maybe the