Zurlo, Michele - Torment [Daughters of Circe 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Michele Zurlo Read Free Book Online

question reverberated through the silent room, filling the space.
    The old hot-water radiator either emitted too much heat or not enough. An open window kept her apartment from becoming stuffy. Torrey nodded. “He came and left through there. The fire escape isn’t on that side of the building.”
    Shade leaned out the screenless window. “You aren’t that far from the ground. A powerful wolf could leap the distance or climb the building.”
    A powerful wolf. Torrey’s heart sank at the way Shade said the phrase. If the wolf was more powerful than Shade, then it was likely he’d never leave enough of a trail to follow.
    Before she could blink, Shade was gone. Torrey ran to the window, crossing the short distance in five long strides. Hanging her head outside, she saw Shade disappear around the corner of a building several blocks away. At least he wasted no time getting to work.

Chapter 4

    Shade wandered through the deserted streets. The name of the small Ohio city escaped his memory. It didn’t matter anyway. It was unlikely he would ever return. It was unlikely Torrey would return, either.
    Procrastination wasn’t a pastime in which Shade often engaged. He didn’t relish returning to Torrey’s tiny apartment to reveal information he knew the moment he walked in that front door. Her wolf’s name wasn’t Seth, though she knew that already. What the hell was Soren thinking, kidnapping a human like that?
    Closing his eyes, Shade faced the answer. Soren wanted Torrey’s power, just as he had wanted Hope’s. Somehow, somewhere, Torrey had crossed his path. Most wolves would have eased away from the witch, avoiding revealing their presence as much as possible.
    Not Soren.
    Shade’s compulsion was to make a mess. If he wanted to find an item, he couldn’t control the way he went into a trance and emptied every drawer and cabinet until he found the item he needed. Even if he knew where it was stored, the compulsion to empty everything was irresistible.
    It was a testimony to Shade’s strength that he had a compulsion at all.
    As bad as a messy living space could be, Shade’s compulsion was merely annoying when compared with Soren’s. His little brother craved power. It was what caused the fight when their parents passed away. It was the reason Shade conceded the castle-like house and control of the pack and the village to his brother.
    Soren would have killed for those things, but not because he wanted to. He would do it because he had to. It was the reason Shade could still stand the sight of Soren. It was the reason he would keep Torrey away from Soren at all costs.
    Once she crossed Soren’s radar, Torrey hadn’t stood a chance. Shade ran a hand through his shaggy mane. Torrey hadn’t been lying when she said she didn’t know how to use her powers, and she had more now than she had as Hope.
    A witch with her power should have been able to stop Soren. It wouldn’t have been easy. Neither of them would have escaped without scratches, but Torrey had enough power to prevent his brother from taking Riley.
    When Torrey walked into that dive on Route 2, Shade hadn’t just scented her power. He had scented her . She wasn’t the first witch he’d encountered. Some of his powers—Soren’s, too—were from encounters with witches.
    The first encounter happened before Soren’s compulsion kicked in. A witch had captured Shade when he was still a juvenile whose strength and power hadn’t fully manifested. His shape-shifting abilities had only begun to present. The witch who captured Shade also captured a female. The plan was to mate the pair and sell werewolves on the black market.
    Soren accompanied their parents on the mission to retrieve Shade. During the rescue, Shade killed his captor. In doing so, he inadvertently took some of the witch’s power. A willing witch could give it all. His captor hadn’t been willing.
    He learned basic scrying and the casting of light charms from books.
    Another time, Soren