Read Online Souljacker by Kodilynn Calhoun - Free Book Online Page B

my nerves and setting me on fire. I spasm, slamming back
against the metal table, back arching up as I try to get away from
the agony ripping my very soul apart. I hear white noise screaming
in my ears before I realize it’s me.
    My scream peters out with the fade of the
pain and I sag against the table. My entire body’s trembling,
tremors that race up and down my arms. I tilt my head, blearily
looking at Lylan, whose jaw is set.
    “You like that?”
    Is he fucking kidding me? I’m so weak, I
can’t even manage to sit up. I just lay there, panting. I shake my
head slowly and a dull throb starts at the back of my head.
    “I’ve injected you with a Shockchip. Lucky
for you, you’re testing the prototype. The queen will be pleased.”
He flashes a grim smile and holds out little metal device with a
thumb pad. “Any of your brothers can use it. They’ll each be issued
one. They’ll be under order, starting now, that if they see you
with that girl again, well… I think you can figure out what happens
when I place my thumb here.”
    I shudder in response.
    He frowns and shakes his head. “Sorry, pup.
It’s for your own good. Turn the lights off when you leave.” Then
he pockets my own personal bane and strides out the door, which
slams shut behind him. I press my eyes shut against the glare of
lights and focus on breathing.
    I’m screwed. So. Totally. Screwed.
    Cue panic, roiling up my throat like
bile.
    Breathe in. Breathe out. I force them
through, shoving myself to a sitting position. My arms feel wiggly,
but that’s because I just had who-knows-how-many volts shoved
through me, full blast.
    Lucy… I can still see her secret smile, still
taste the salt of her tears. Why is she so afraid of hurting me?
What could a human possibly do?
    But this isn’t the end. Far from it. They can
only zap me if they catch me. I’ll just have to get smarter.
Faster. My fingers curl around the edges of the table and I shove
myself off, landing on my feet. My knees threaten to buckle, but I
get stronger with each step I take.
    I don’t bother to turn the light off. What
are they going to do? Electrocute me?
    I shift, and with the power of my change
comes renewed strength, my fears turning into fury that fuel me. I
run until I can’t run anymore, but I don’t go back into the
city.
     
    ***
     
    I’m roused from sleep with an insistent
beeping in my skull, enough to drive a man insane. I stretch,
rubbing my face roughly with both hands to try and wake up before I
realize my Pack is trying to communicate with me. I focus on
opening the link.
    “Yeah?” My voice is clogged with sleep.
    “Seriously?” Raziel’s voice is sharp. “I’ve
been tryin’ to get your attention for the past freakin’ forty-five
minutes, Io. Damn, boy.” Raz is one of the younger cyberhounds, one
of the pups I was raised with in the Nursery. We’ve been sort of
friends all our lives, but he’s much more serious than me about
Pack duty, so he’s climbed up the ladder. I’m still low-man on the
totem pole.
    “Sorry. Long night.” I stretch the kinks from
my back and shoulders, rolling out from under the tree I’d crashed
beneath as a hound. I lazily get to my feet and shake my head. My
hair flops into my eyes. “What’s going on?”
    “We’ve actually got a mission.” He’s excited
now and I can almost feel him bouncing from foot to foot. “Lylan
wants the entire Pack to follow up on this, so we’re totally in.
He’s waitin’ at the railway tracks. Says to come ready to kick some
ass. So move! Bet I can get there faster than you.”
    “Bet you’re right.” I laugh and there’s a
click as he ends the transmission. I shift, shimmering into my
hound form, and get a drink from the river that winds through the
forest. I splash through the water, the cold soaking into my
fur.
    Man, I’ve come a long way. I doubt I’m even
in Lylan’s territory anymore. I stretch and pick up a lope, the GPS
in my head leading me back to the