“I agree,” Liam said, and Troy nodded as well.
“Then what?” Katerina asked, leaning forward to speak to her grandmother. “I mean, where will she go once she’s out? Liam’s so sure she’s not going to turn Rogue, and of course, if she hasn’t actually hurt anyone, I don’t see … well,” she fumbled a bit, realizing she was treading on dangerous territory. “Not that I’m trying to say what the Council can or can’t do, but…”
“I understand,” Maroulla assured her. “It’s a complicated situation. And you’re right, of course, she won’t be imprisoned. On the contrary, she could be of considerable assistance to us by giving us insight into the Rogues, having grown up in such proximity to them.”
“Especially in light of the fact that almost everything we thought we knew about Rogues, just went up in a puff of smoke when we discovered this family group,” Kester put in wryly.
Maroulla acknowledged the truth of this with a nod of her head. “It is so. At the same time, that will allow us to keep in close contact with her, until such time as we can be absolutely assured she won’t be a danger.”
Liam frowned a little. “How can anyone absolutely assure such a thing? Not just about Naomi, but about any Shifter?”
“A good point,” Maroulla said. She looked regretful. “But most Shifters don’t have five immediate relatives who have all gone Rogue, either. Wemusttake precautions, Liam, although I understand your position. I’m certainly not advocating locking her up, but we do want her where we can keep an eye on her. And,” she continued, looking from one to the other of them, “with so many of you there, in such close proximity to each other, and with the bonds of kinship formed and forming, I’m strongly inclined to want her there with you.”
Troy looked anxious at this, his arm tightening around Katerina, but she put her hand on his, looking up at him in reassurance.
“She’s my YiaYia, Troy. She’d never consider asking this of us if she thought there was any chance of danger whatsoever.” Katerina eyed her grandmother. “Would you?”
Maroulla’s lips twitched, and curved into a reluctant smile.
“No,” she admitted. “But as Warden, I do have to stick to my official stance. And there is another consideration as well, in my asking all of you to take her in. From the sound of it, this young woman has been severely traumatized all her life, surrounded by unrepentant killers, and probably, from what I can guess, often herself feeling threatened by her own family. Both she and her cat need to feel safe, and I can think of nowhere I’d rather have her than with all of you.”
Troy stared at her, then slowly inclined his head. “That sounds like a tremendous compliment. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now,” Maroulla said decisively. “As soon as we’ve got her release confirmed with the zoo, I want two of you to go pick her up. You, Liam, because you’re known to the zoo, and known to her. You’ll need to take a van, and once you’ve got her safely away, have her Change. The sooner she’s in human form the better, after so long. You’ll need someone else to be driving. I’ll arrange with Angus for her to have a room there in the Bed and Breakfast. Do we know if she has any belongings?”
“That I don’t know,” Liam answered a bit wryly. “I never thought to ask. She’d have to have at least a purse, a wallet, stashed somewhere. Unless she tossed them in a storm drain or something on her way to the zoo. It’s clear she saw going into the zoo as a permanent solution, so she may have destroyed everything.”
“Well, find out, so if we need to get her replacement identification and so forth, we can get started on that. She’ll need clothing as well…”
Katerina leaned in close so she could be seen on the cam. “I can take care of that, YiaYia.”
Maroulla smiled. “Thank you, dear. I thought perhaps you would.”
“Shopping!” Tamera bounced a little on the loveseat cushion, grinning at Katerina, who grinned back.
“We’ll get Jacinth and Talya in on it,” Katerina said, looking pleased. “We can do lunch…”
Maroulla cleared her throat. “Girls? Focus.”
“Oh, right,” Katerina sat back, abashed.
“Now.” Maroulla’s voice resumed its usual crisp, business-like note. “I’d like you all to keep your senses wide open when you’re around her. We want to be absolutely sure that she’s not playing everyone. At the same time,” she continued, her brow creasing in concern. “If, as we suspect, she is truly a victim in all this, we don’t wish her to feel she is constantly being judged. I know it is a difficult line to walk, to ask you to embrace her in friendship and at the same time, be alert to any sign of ill intent...”
“We can do this,” Troy rumbled in his deep voice as Maroulla paused. “I’ve only met the one Rogue, Beatrice, but I never liked her, right from the beginning when she began working at the clinic. It wasn’t anything I could put my finger on, only that I was never comfortable around her.”
“I never met Beatrice in human form,” Katerina inserted, “but Jacinth did, and she, too, had an instinctive dislike for her immediately. But Liam has spoken with Naomi in his Changed form. He’d know if she was Rogue, YiaYia.”
“She’s too weak to pull off that kind of manipulation,” Liam told them. “You can see her ribs beneath her coat, which is in patches, and they’ve had to put her on IV fluids for hydration. My Pyr felt no danger from her; in fact, he wanted to comfort her. Of course, Great Pyrenees are highly protective, that’s what they’re bred for. But even so, they also have a built-in warning system for danger, as a compliment to the protective side. My danger instinct didn’t ping even once while I was with her.”
“I believe you,” Maroulla assured him, “or we wouldn’t be sending her there. It reminds me of an old Arabs saying, put your trust in Allah, but tie your camel tight.”
Katerina laughed. “I like that! I totally get it. Okay, so we’ll trust Liam’s instincts, but keep a cautious eye out.”
“Very well, it’s settled then. It may take a couple of days for the paperwork to work its way through the pipeline, but,” Maroulla smiled, her dark eyes flashing with amusement, “I’m going to assume the zoo is going to be relieved to get itself out of this embarrassing situation they’ve found themselves in. So I don’t expect it’ll take too long.”
“According to Ramon, they’re still tearing the files room apart looking for paperwork,” Liam agreed. “It’s not like we can explain that a shifter snuck into the zoo and took up residence.”
“So, we have a plan?” Maroulla asked.
