do now.”
“Because she was pretending to be a shifter when she’s actually not?”
“That’s part of it,” Corrigan answered. “She was with them, but she wasn’t really a part of them. She was still on the outside. That alpha that’s in place now?”
“Anton?”
“That’s the one. He really hates her. Not only that, but she was a kid when her mother dumped her with that pack in the first place. She’s been abandoned by people her entire life. It’s no wonder that she pushes them away now. It’s a self-preservation thing.”
“I’d not thought about it like that before.”
Neither had I.
“She’s got a lot of strength. Not just physically. You saw how she managed to bring everyone in line out there. She’s got shifters, faeries, mages, and even a vampire, all working in harmony towards the same goal. I couldn’t do that. People gravitate towards her. All sorts of people. Then she gets under their skin until all they can do is think about her virtually every moment of the day. Where they can’t sleep because she’s in their dreams, where they can’t concentrate because she might do something stupid like snap at the wrong person and end up getting hurt. Where even though she might growl and hiss and bite like an angry kitten, the only time they feel any peace is when they’re near her.”
My mouth dropped open. My heart was thudding deep within my chest and my bloodfire was swirling around inside me in warm scared confusion.
Corrigan laughed humourlessly. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have told you all that.”
“No, I, er, no, it’s fine,” stuttered Lucy. “I won’t tell anyone else.”
“I know you won’t.” Corrigan’s voice was back to normal now, the calm measured tones of the absolutely-in-charge-no-matter-what Lord Alpha.
“Just…?”
“Yes?”
“Why don’t you tell her all that?”
“Because she’s not ready to hear it. She’s still fighting for her independence and for her own identity. Sooner or later, however, Mack will come around.”
There was a moment of silence.
“You think like Staines,” commented Corrigan expressionlessly. “You don’t think she’ll ever come around.”
Again, Lucy didn’t answer. My throat felt clogged up and my breath was coming in short gasps. I screwed my eyes shut tightly, trying to calm myself down. I couldn’t let them know that I’d overheard such a personal soul-bearing conversation so I had to stay quiet. My fingers were digging painfully into the bark of the tree trunk, but I barely noticed. All my thoughts and feelings were in a messy whirl of confusion and agony. How had I not seen this before? How I had not noticed that I was like that? Or that Corrigan felt that way?
He cocked his head to one side, as if listening, and I thought for one heart-stopping moment that he’d heard some tiny movement I’d made up above in the branches. Instead, however, he gestured off into the distance.
“The humans are here. You should get back, Lucy.”
“Yes, my Lord.” She reached out and touched him gently on the arm, just for a moment, and then jogged off.
Corrigan remained there standing, his head bowed, then he let out one deep sigh and walked off himself, leaving me completely alone.
Chapter Eighteen
What I wanted to do, what I really, really wanted to do, was to stay up in the trees and never ever come back down. I had absolutely no idea how to deal with what I’d just heard. They say that eavesdroppers never hear anything good about themselves. Well, they were fucking wrong. What they should say is that eavesdroppers never know how to cope with what they hear about themselves. What the fuck was I going to say to Corrigan when I saw him again? My cheeks felt hot and feverish, and there was a curious burning sensation along the tips of my ears. The environmentalists were here and I had to get back in case the dryad’s murderer was also showing his face, but my thoughts were completely consumed by Corrigan’s revelations.
My bloodfire skipped through my system, zinging its way along with happy little twists and flips. He wasn’t just interested in me because I was a Draco Wyr and I might prove useful to him. He wasn’t pretending to like me because he didn’t want me to sidle up to either the Faes or the mages and get cosy with them instead. Neither was he just after a quick roll in the hay and another notch on his bedpost. It was me he liked. Really me. Mackenzie Smith me.
I chewed on my lip. Maybe when