“I don’t owe you shit,” she says. “You owedme. I let you out of your cage.”
“Whatever it is,” I tell her, “whatever you’ve done, I’m not going to care. It doesn’t have anything to do with me.”
“You might be surprised.”
“Try me.”Tell me. Tell me what they’re saying about you isn’t the truth.
She sighs. “I can’t see a way out of all this,” she admits. “I’ve already made a joke of myself in front of you, reacting to my mate bond.”
“I don’t think you’re a joke,” I tell her.
“You don’t?”
“I think alpha mate bonds are barbaric,” I tell her.
“They help us find the partners we have the best chance of procreating with,” she points out. “That’s what’s most important. If we don’t do that, we’ll be wiped out in a generation. Already, there are hardly any children left.”
“But alphas can’t claim to know with any certainty who’s best for who,” I tell her.
“They watch us all our lives.” She sounds scandalized by my assertion, and I wish I could see her face so that I could know how she’s really reacting to what I’m saying. “They know us better than anyone does.”
“And yet yours wants you dead,” I say. “Why?”
There’s a long pause.
“He learned something about me,” she says at last, her voice barely above a whisper. “Something I didn’t even know myself.”
“What?”
“I’m not pure wolf.” She swallows. “I’m part Moon Caster.”
Of course, I knew this already. I learned it from the flyer in Paul’s bar. The flyer that’s still in the pocket of the pants I’ve been carrying around with me.Still, I’m surprised she told me.And I’m surprised how hearing the words spoken out loud doesn’t change the way I feel.
She’s just Emlyn. She didn’t know what she was. I believe her when she says that. If she knew she was a Moon Caster, she wouldn’t have needed my help looking for the coven. She would have been able to find a coven on her own.
If she has moon magic, she’s completely untrained.
And I’m surprised to find that this new information doesn’t change the way I feel about her at all.
Chapter 28
EMLYN
It’spitchdarkdownhere. I can’t see anything.
So I’m not expecting it when I feel Nate’s hands on me.
On my shoulders first, pulling close so that my head is resting against his chest. He rubs his hand soothingly over my back.
“What are you doing?” I ask. I don’t mean to sound as breathless as I do. I can’t tell if I’m aroused or frightened. Is he going to kill me?
Why did I tell him the truth? Why did I think it was okay to let him know that I was a Moon Caster? Of course he would be just like my old packmates.
Shifters kill Moon Casters. That’s the way it works.
I try to squirm away from his touch, but he holds me so tightly that I can’t break free.
“Stop,” he says, his voice low and rough. “Just stop. Okay? I’m not going to hurt you.”