usually would have made me scramble back, but her last words froze me to the spot.
Oh my god.
I was doing that to her.
Each time she’d asked for the truth or lost her temper, I made her doubt her judgement and instincts. I’d laughed off her worries or piled more lies on top.
I professed to love my sister, and to put her above every other person in this valley, and yet I was destroying her self-confidence—abusing the trust between us.
I cut her off. “You’re right. That is what I’ve done.”
Rhona stared, but regained her anger in short measure. “Tell me the truth. All of it. How long have you been luring in Sascha Greyson?”
That was the real kick in the chest. Part of her still believed I was doing this for our so-called plan. She was this angry because she thought I’d concealed something to do with that.
Closing my eyes, I circled the table and sat in one of the visitor chairs.
I had to tell her everything.
The truth about Herc.
About me and Sascha.
Making her feel less because of my own past mistakes was just as bad as leaving her. I couldn’t do this anymore.
“You’ll want to sit,” I rubbed my forehead. “This goes back a while.”
She didn’t. No surprise.
“It started the first night I entered Deception Valley.” I watched her with tired eyes. “That night, Sascha Greyson smelled me for the first time. And something started that I wouldn’t learn about for a while yet—something that Luthers call a mating call.”
Rhona sucked in a harsh breath.
I ploughed on, bitter relief tinging my words as truth rushed from my lips. “Luthers have one mate in their lives. It seems I am Sascha Greyson’s.”
Disgust twisted her features.
I couldn’t stop now.
“I didn’t know that back then. I noticed how strange he behaved around me when offering the job at The Dens. A couple of times, when we first looked at each other and first touched, I collapsed. The weirdest feeling came over me. Soon after, I learned werewolves existed, and sometime after that, I returned to The Dens. Sascha confessed we were moving through a series of meets designed so he could prove his worthiness to me. I would be able to deny or accept him as a mate at the end of these seven meets.”
I could tell Rhona wasn’t registering everything and recalled how long it took me to wrap my head around the concept.
She lowered into the head steward chair and found her voice. “When I asked why you were doing extra shooting practice, you said Luthers at The Dens were acting strangely.”
I flinched in memory. “I’d just found out the truth. It was after I saved the pup from drowning and woke on pack lands. He told me that another meet was coming soon. His wolf would learn everything about me, before chasing and capturing me.”
She snorted.
“I was a steward at this point,” I said softly. “I believed in the plight of the tribe. And I’d just met you and Uncle Herc. I knew what you both thought of the Luthers. I didn’t want to lose either of you because of this thing that had been done to me. I just wanted the mating call to be gone. So I practiced with the tranquiliser gun and I moved to the manor for better protection before realising that would just present a bigger challenge to Sascha’s wolf.”
Her face was a wall. “You knew he’d do the next meet in Sandstone.”
Closing my eyes, I forced the horrible guilt out at last, “I wondered if he would. It presented the largest challenge to his wolf.”
“You knew he’d shift, and you said nothing. Did you think Dad and I would just let him chase you without coming to help? You have to know one or both of us could be in danger.”
Her words slammed into my chest. “I wasn’t sure of anything then. I was scared. Of Sascha. Of your reactions. I just thought if I could get through the capture meet—”
“You decided not to accept help.” She withered.
I’d never heard a voice so cold. “Yes. I was scared—”
“You’re a fucking coward,” she shouted in my face, half standing.
Tears sparked my eyes. “I realise my mistake, believe me.”
“And then you did it again.” She swept everything off the table. “You lied to me about my own father’s death, you piece of shit. Dad’s will fucking stung, but I could rest a little easier because you were head steward. You…” She looked straight through me. “This