AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You had better come in,” Perdita said at last. “This is a lot right now.”
Inside, Heddy’s hands trembled constantly. Perdita’s dog limped over and rested his head on her knee. She kept her hand on his head as though for support while she told her story.
She had been taken captive herself, by the old alpha, Vin. He’d forced her to breed, in her words, but then her son had been murdered for defying that alpha. Later, she found she had a grandson, but she was horrified by his behaviour. He was cruel, and she was ashamed. She lived like a slave to werewolves, like many women with the right genetics, ones who had a better chance of producing werewolf children. The more I heard, the more my stomach turned, and it was clear that Perdita was just as uncomfortable.
“I’m so ashamed,” Heddy wept. “I was a nurse, and that was the only reason he kept me alive for so long. When the alpha performed his experiments on young girls, trying to turn them wolf, I was the one who was supposed to keep them alive. All these years, I’ve been so sorry and ashamed. So many girls suffered, but the rest of us were too scared to do anything about it. Since I arrived here and realised who you were, I’ve wanted to apologise, but I’ve been a coward. After I heard what happened to you recently, with that bad wolf, it felt like history repeating itself. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long, but I’ll make amends.”
“No,” Perdita said in an odd voice. “You don’t have to apologise. You don’t owe me anything. You’re a victim, too. I remember what it was like, Heddy. How everyone was so afraid.”
“This might be a little much for Perdita right now,” Evelyn warned.
It was a little too much for me, too. There was so much damage, so much trauma. I had no idea how to help.
“I’ll take Heddy to my place,” Amelia said. “Calm her down some.”
“I’ll go with you,” Evelyn said. “Unless you need me, Perdita?”
Perdita shook her head. “Take care of Heddy, please.”
Victor made an excuse to leave, clearly uncomfortable by all of the emotions and talk of the past.
I stayed behind with Perdita who looked shell-shocked.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “Is there anything I can do?”
“I’m all right.” She rubbed her stomach as though for comfort. “Honestly, I feel a bit shitty right now. All this time, I’ve been irritated by the way the pack smothers me. Since they found out about the baby, I’ve felt like an incubator, like they were only taking care of me so that I would provide them with a good werewolf baby. It never occurred to me that some of them might feel guilty about what happened before. That they might feel responsible for what Dominic did, too. Poor Heddy. As if she was ever a threat to me. They were all scared, all victims.” She blinked back sudden tears. “I should have been more understanding.”
“Was it really that bad?”
She nodded grimly. “Vin was obsessed with Nathan’s grandmother. He lost his mind when he lost her to Nathan’s grandfather. Their feud ended up causing her to be turned into a werewolf to save her life. He stalked the family for years, desperate to ruin them, but in the process, he ruined his own pack. He caused pain wherever he turned.”
“Could nobody stop him?”
“Nathan’s grandfather avoided confronting him until his wife died. Then it all began to fall apart. Ryan’s daughters had been kidnapped, kept hidden to control him. He was sent to hurt us, but he asked for help to save his daughters instead. Eventually, I was kidnapped, too. It wasn’t fun. The alpha killed one of his pack in front of us to show us how little he valued life. Ryan knew her well, so he was devastated.”
“That sounds scary.”
“It was. I remember that some of the werewolves were out of control, as scary as Vin, who was just crazy. But most of the people there were terrified all of the time. When Byron showed up, they were grateful, desperate to be saved. Before that, they had no power, no voice. The female werewolves had it worst.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Children like Dorian didn’t fare much better. I’ll never forgive the people who did that to them, but Heddy isn’t to blame. I’ll have to reach out to her, let her see there are no hard feelings.”
“I’m sorry you all had to go through so much.” My problems seemed a little pathetic in comparison.
“It was bad, but we’re here, healing all the time. I’ve been a bit of a baby lately.”
“You’ve been through a lot. You almost died. I don’t think anyone would blame you for feeling hard done by.”
“I never blamed the pack for what happened with Dominic.” She bit her lower lip. “I blamed myself. I never felt comfortable around that man. I always avoided being alone with him as best I could. I could have brought up how he made me feel a million times, but I kept thinking it was my prejudice getting in the way. My past experiences colouring my feelings. Then when it was actually important, I ran straight into his trap like an idiot. My stupidity that day could have ruined Nathan and gotten you and Dorian killed. I’ve been so angry with myself ever since.” She got up to pet the wolfhound who was sleeping on the rug. “Even my boy got hurt trying to protect me. I’ve felt so guilty, like a liability to the pack, that I’ve been putting up walls between us because I don’t know how to deal with it yet.”
“You’re not a liability. You’re important to the pack.”
“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Her eyes were so sad. “Anytime anyone has ever wanted to hurt Nathan, they’ve come straight for me. I knew that, and I still put myself in harm’s way out of pure stupidity.”
I couldn’t believe she’d been thinking that way. “You tried to help someone. That wasn’t stupid. You can’t blame yourself for any of that. You’ve been so kind to me since I arrived here. If you hadn’t, I don’t think I ever would have found a place here. You were kind to Dominic, too. He didn’t deserve it, but at least you tried. You didn’t let your experiences turn you against somebody in need. You kept being a good person. Nobody could ever blame you for what happened, least of all Nathan and Dorian. From what I’ve seen, they care about you here. Dominic was the bad one, the one who gets all the blame. You deserve none of it, and neither does the rest of the pack.”
“Thanks, Margo.” She looked like she was fighting back tears. “It’s been an emotional day, hasn’t it? Still, I’m glad I met Heddy. She reminded me that I need to appreciate exactly what we have here.”
The incident gave me a lot to think about. There was more to the food offerings and over-protectiveness, more to the pack. I was beginning to appreciate them, too.
