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They were now forcing her to confront her fears against her wishes. The only way to talk to her was to trap her. He could see her work through every possible escape scenario until she finally gave up.
“We’ve been looking for you for quite a while,” Graham, sitting on Jude’s right, said to the girl now seated before them. “Fancy a chat?”
“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Delilah murmured with heat.
Jude could see resentment on her face.
“You absolutely do,” Graham said. Jude looked at him in panic. Was he going to let her run away after everything they’d done to find her? “But if you want to survive the full moon and be among your kind, we can help you,” Graham continued.
Delilah thought for a minute and then looked up at Miranda. She was wiping down the countertop and watching the door. Outside, the rain had turned to hail and pelted off the roof of the diner. White balls bounced off the ground.
“Please just hear us out,” Jude tried. “We don’t want to hurt you or force you to do anything you don’t want to do, but we’re also concerned for your safety.”
Graham nodded.
“You keep saying that.” Delilah sighed. “But you haven’t told me anything. So start talking, or I’m leaving.”
Jude could see a stark difference between the kind girl on the street and this fiercely independent, survival-minded creature.
“This might not be easy to hear,” Graham said, “but we have a pack in the city.”
“I kind of figured,” Delilah nodded. “Good that you’re confirming that, though.”
“I’m Graham, Grimmaw pack alpha, and this is Jude, my beta, as you’ve probably already worked out. Full moon’s happening tonight,” Graham said. “Miranda just said you don’t have a plan. Is that true?”
Delilah hesitated for at least a minute, hyper-fixating on the details of the diner before nodding. Jude knew they were going to have to be patient with her if they wanted to get anywhere.
“That’s pretty dangerous,” Graham pointed out.
“I don’t really have a choice.” From the look in her eye, she didn’t seem to think she did.
“Why not?” Jude asked. “Why do you hate shifters so much?”
She took another moment to think, this time lightly drumming on the table. “I don’t,” she admitted. “After all, I’m a shifter. I just can’t really trust other shifters again after what I’ve been through.”
“Can you explain?” Graham raised his eyebrows.
Jude instantly knew this was a bad move. Delilah stood up to leave. “It’s okay,” Jude interjected. “You don’t have to talk about it. We get that you’ve been through a lot.”
Delilah looked down at Jude with what seemed to be gratitude before sitting back down.
“Maybe we should cut to the chase?” Jude pleaded to Graham.
“Right.” Graham folded his arms across his chest. “Anyway, our pack has a massive park where our wolves can just run freely, if they want. Have you heard of Fang Park?”
“Of course,” Delilah nodded. “I want to go there, but every time I do, it’s always locked up.”
“There’s a reason for that,” Graham assured her.
Jude looked up as Miranda was now on her phone. The conversation seemed to be going unpleasantly as she looked to the table and spoke in hushed voices. He wasn’t sure what they were going to do if customers started walking in.
It would have been a lot of effort, given that thunder and lightning had now joined the rainy weather soundtrack. But if somebody was really desperate, they could have just barged in.
“Fang Park, and the whole of the Fang District, is a safe haven for the Grimmaw pack,” Graham continued.
Delilah’s eyes widened in revelation. At this point, Jude wasn’t sure if this epiphany brought fear or relief to her.
Nobody spoke as the pitter-patter of rain and the crashing of thunder overtook their conversation, however briefly. Jude and Graham waited for a spoken reaction from Delilah, but it never came.
