“I’ll make you a deal. You tell me a little bit about your past, whatever you can trust me with, and I’ll tell you about my mom.”
Stilling my fingers, but not removing my touch, I waited.
“I think my mom was killed. My stepdad, too. If they catch us, they’ll hurt one of my brothers. Bad. To teach me a lesson.”
Anger surged at her words.
“Their safety kept me there, a willing prisoner, until I realized the boys were only useful while young. Their lives would end like my mother’s and their father’s as soon as they were no longer useful.”
Her pain and fear crushed my own feelings of rage. Pulling her into my arms, I held her close. No one would hurt her or her brothers ever again. My body was her shield, and my heart her home.
She leaned into me, taking what I offered.
“I have two big secrets. One will test the sincerity of what you just said, and the other will give you power over me.”
She fisted her hands against my shirt, her fear enveloping her.
“Then tell me the first one. Test me to see if I’m worthy of the second one,” I said, softly.
“I want to, but what if you’re wrong. You’ll hand me back over—”
“Never.” The word escaped with more anger than I’d intended. Didn’t she understand? I would never betray her. I couldn’t.
“Mine,” I said, tightening my hold.
She took a bracing breath. “Blake killed them. My mom and Richard.” She trembled. “He’s one of you.”
Her barely audible words fell like the sharp tip of a claw, cutting me open and leaving me in agony. I lurched out of her arms as the change took over. There was no stopping it. I fell to my paws. One of us had kept my Mate prisoner and hurt her brothers. Hurt her. Her unexpected questions about scenting and biting made sense now.
My shout of rage was one long howl. What had they done to her?
Winifred and Jim rushed in. Winifred moved to block me from Michelle’s sight as Jim picked her up and ran with her from the apartment.
“Control is essential to who we are,” Winifred started with real anger.
One of us, Winifred. Agony ripped at me, and I swore long and loud. I wanted to know who. I wanted a name, and I wanted to make her past disappear.
“What are you talking about?”
She was held prisoner by one of us.
Winifred eyed me with shock. “Are you sure?”
She is sure. Her fear... I yowled again.
“Emmitt, stop. Pull yourself together. If it was one of us, you’re giving her more reason to fear. You need to be calm. Rational. Not a wild beast. Now, shift back and tell me what she said.”
She waited as I pulled the shift in. Bones cracked and crunched as my spine condensed and my legs and arms elongated.
“You heard everything. She only whispered the last four words. ‘He’s one of you.’”
Winifred looked troubled. “She needs to tell us more.”
I ran a frustrated hand across the back of my neck. I’d just told her I’d be patient. Now, I’d need to press for more.
Winifred held the door for me as I walked out. Jim heard me on the steps and encouraged Michelle onto the porch since I’d ripped my clothes to shreds with my spontaneous shift. Winifred was probably picking up the pieces for me.
As soon as the way was clear, I jogged down the steps and grabbed some clean clothes from Jim’s place. Michelle was talking to Jim outside.
“You really didn’t know?” she said.
“Nope. That’s a bit of a shocker. It will take Nana some time to figure out who Blake is.”
“No!” Michelle’s panicked word was loud enough that even her brothers had probably heard it. I yanked on a pair of shorts, ready to go out and reassure her.
“No one will do anything without talking to you. I promise,” Jim said. Hopefully, Winifred would keep his promise.
Winifred walked into the apartment just then.
“We need to be careful. I don’t want her trying to run,” I said, pulling the shirt over my head.
“Of course. We both want to know who it is, but none of this makes sense. When we first discovered your mother and her compatibility, we made it a law that if any of our kind should come across another human potential Mate, they needed to immediately contact an Elder. That’s how we learned of Gabby. A wolf had come across her scent and reported it. As soon as Michelle