Moon Claimed (Werewolf Dens #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,106

I felt.

“Tell me.” I sat.

She joined me, fixing her unseeing gaze on the water. “My story happens before what happened with Murphy. I met a Luther during Grids forty years ago and something happened to us. It continued to happen to us, though neither of us wanted it.”

My mouth dried.

She stole a look at me. “The mating call.”

Oh my god. “What happened?”

“The process was only slightly less messy than your own, I’d say. With the difference that Daniil and I hated each other well and truly.”

Daniil. The black wolf.

She clasped her hands. “Though we detested each other, we had to continue the meets to the end when we could both go our separate ways.”

I felt the but.

“The grid was the easiest place to complete the meets. Cars weren’t a common thing in the valley back then. To drive a car to pack lands would be obvious to his people and mine. To walk would take too long. During one game, we were seen during the kissing meet by Murphy.”

She broke off, then took another breath. “Daniil bit Murphy, certain it would keep him quiet. Murphy could scarcely point the finger if he became the very thing he hated. And so it appeared to work for a time. Daniil and I got through the remaining meets. But at the end, Daniil pleaded that I change my mind. He’d… altered his stance on things between us.”

I’d smelled the black wolf during our fight. He was single and not immortal. Pascal didn’t change her mind.

“You can imagine my relief when it was done,” she whispered. “Murphy had disappeared too. Against the odds, I’d kept the truth from the tribe. I was free. Overnight, I felt young again.”

I’d so often yearned for the same thing. “But Murphy returned.”

She nodded. “Murphy returned. He met with Herc, as was later divulged to me. He confessed that a Luther bit him years before and that’s why he and Ragna ran. They never intended to steal you, but Savannah was hospitalised in Frankton Gorge due to an exacerbation of her multiple sclerosis. Ragna was left in charge of your care just as she’d planned to run. To make matters worse, she’d just posted an explanatory letter to Herc that would arrive at the manor in a matter of hours. She had no way to communicate a change in plan to Murphy, and there was no plan B. So she raided your parents’ room for necessary documents and clothing and took you too.”

I could imagine Ragna’s cold terror at the thought of never seeing Murphy again. There was no doubt about that after reading her journals that he was her everything—the single person that could have compelled her to steal a child.

“Murphy couldn’t condone what they’d done,” Pascal continued. “Ragna was unhappy away from the valley, and he wanted to broker a deal for them to safely return. You would be returned to your parents. He and Ragna would live with the tribe in whatever working capacity Herc deemed fit.” She glanced to the clear sky. “Herc agreed. He hardly had any other choice if he wanted to get you back.”

“But Murphy would have smelled Herc’s dislike.”

“Of course Herc disliked him. Murphy couldn’t expect anything less for taking his daughter.”

I supposed so.

“Herc searched Murphy’s belongings during a tribe night. He found a letter from Bluff City with an address on it. It was filled with baby photos. Of you. He’d found where you and Ragna were hiding. He no longer had a need for Murphy—a Luther in the tribe. Preposterous. I’m sure you can imagine Herc’s sentiment on that front.”

I arched a brow. “Yes.”

“He asked if I could go rock-climbing with them. He’d sold it to Murphy as a bonding activity, I think. I didn’t want to go for obvious reasons. Murphy knew too much about my past.”

He had to have suspected something was up, but he’d come to the valley eager to build bridges for him and Ragna. Maybe even me.

“I was setting anchors,” she said. “I heard a commotion and ran around the corner just as Murphy fell from the very top. Straight onto his back.”

Horror crept over me.

“He wasn’t dead. I raced to help as Herc reached him, shouting for help. Murphy looked straight at me and said, This is because your mate bit me. This is what he did to me and Ragna.”

Shit. He’d dropped Pascal in it.

She sighed. “Herc put it together. He dropped the act and got down to business. I would keep