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“Damn, and you had no idea?” Jared looks guilty, even though it’s not his fault.
“I didn’t know anything about wolves or alpha voices or compulsion. I just knew it was suddenly very important to me to do whatever she told me, to make her happy and obey. I chalked it up to the fact that she was nice and she was taking me off the streets, healing me, and taking me to start a new life. It’s natural to be grateful for that, I’m sure. But I was always upset that I couldn’t find it in myself to disobey her and go visit my street family. We were really close, and there was one guy who protected me for a long time, who found me and called the ambulance when I got attacked. I never got the chance to thank him.” I sniff back the stinging tears; it still bothers me to think about it. There’s no doubt in my mind that Derrek saved my life on the street a thousand times over. I never would have survived intact without him.
“Anyway, let’s head up to the library and see what she has to say for herself.”
We take the stairs up since there’s too many of us to fit in the elevator. By the time we reach the top, the scratches on my back don’t even sting any more, and I realize I heal even faster now that I’m here on pack lands.
Of course, there’s already a fire blazing in the library, and we’re only waiting a few minutes before Roxanne shows up.
Her eyes widen when she sees the group I’ve assembled. “Oh, I didn’t realize everyone was here.” She passes a hand over her neat braids, woven into a long plait down her back, then straightens her shoulders and marches in.
I’m crammed on the sofa with Savannah on one side and Landon on the other, Milo on Landon’s side. Jared has taken a seat in a chair, leaving one spot for Roxanne, which she claims smoothly.
“You had something you wanted to talk about, Layla?” Her voice is even, dark eyes glassy in the firelight.
“I have a few things I want to talk about, actually. I know, but I think I need to hear you say it. Maybe it will make me feel better.”
“Okay, I have nothing to hide from you anymore,” her kind smile spreads across her lips, the one that kept me feeling like I had gained a new mother figure for that long year in LA.
The one that I now feel I can’t trust.
My throat is sticky with emotion, and I cough to clear it. “When I first met you in the hospital, and throughout the time in LA, I had a strange compulsion to listen to you, to trust you, to do what you said. Was that you using your beta voice on me?”
She nods. “Yes, it was. I’m sorry, Layla, but your uncle commanded me to make sure you came back to Smoky Falls with whatever means necessary.”
“Butwhywas that necessary? You didn’t even try to trust me! You didn’t give me a chance. I was still wrapped in bandages, hooked up to machines, when you started!”
“I could see in your eyes that you would have run at the first opportunity. I couldn’t take that chance. You were too important. You know now why we had to bring you back here. I’m sure you understand that aspect.”
My head shakes from side to side. “I feel like you tricked me. I’ve always followed my instincts,trustedmy instincts, and by using your beta command on me without me knowing what it was, it feels like you turned my inner voice against me, manipulated it to tell me what you wanted me to think.”
“I understand why you feel that way. The only justification I have for myself is that I was doing what I thought was best for the pack, what the alpha ordered me to do. You were a frightened, feral girl who knew nothing about what waited for her here. I needed you to trust me, so you’d give us a chance. I’m sorry. I couldn’t wait for that to happen naturally.”
“When did you stop?”
“When you boarded the plane for Tennessee. I knew then we’d get you on pack lands and the mission was successful. I had no reason to continue after that.” The way she answers is militant, like a soldier giving a report before a commander.
I want my voice to be equally steely, but there’s still a note of petulance when I ask, “Why didn’t you let me visit my friends, just once? To say goodbye, to thank them for saving me?”
She shifts slightly, her lips pursing, before she answers. “It’s complicated, but basically it was a risk I wasn’t willing to take. It could have put you in danger again, going back to the place you were attacked. He could have gone back looking for you there, spotted you, and followed you back to our apartment. I couldn’t risk it.”
It was the truth, but my intuition pinged, telling me it wasn’t the whole truth.
“Speaking of my attack, I have a question about it.”
“Absolutely, I have no more need to deceive you.”
“The wounds I sustained: were they from a man, or a wolf? These scars, are they knife marks, or claw marks?” I hold out my arms for emphasis, the long scars reflecting glimmers of light from the fire.
Roxanne sighs. “To be perfectly honest, we weren’t sure then and we’re still not now. We suspect a bit of both.”
“Explain.”
“I think you’ve figured out now that ‘Dr. Rosen’ isn’t just a doctor. She is a witch that sometimes works with our pack. As a shifter, you naturally heal faster than a normal human, but un-manifested and off of pack lands, it’s barely consequential. The severity of your injuries was so much that we didn’t want to risk it. Your uncle charged Maria and I with accelerating your care.
“From what we could tell, someone definitely stabbed you in the chest with a silver implement.”
I can’t stop myself from interrupting. “Is silver poisonous to wolves, like silver bullets in movies?”
