“Good. You know you can come to me if someone is behaving in a way that isn’t okay, right?”
She watches me carefully.
She’s still just looking out for me.
I let out a relieved breath. “I know.”
“Good. Don’t forget it.” She pauses, and purses her lips before she goes on, “Someone’s here who would like the chance to visit you.”
“Oh,” I murmur, staring back at her while I try to take that information in.
All I can think about is that picture she showed me of my father.
“Is it him?” I ask. “My dad?”
“No,” she says. “It’s an Alpha who claims he helped rescue you.”
“He helped rescue me?” I echo, trying to imagine it.
For weeks, all I can remember of that night has been the moment Colleen shoved me into the hallway and closed the kitchen door. That felt like the instant I was ejected from my old life and thrown into this strange new world.
I was full of fear and confusion.
I didn’t understand what was happening.
Everything cut out after that moment of intense emotion.
It was all I could remember when I thought back to that night.
“He only wants to be sure you’re doing well,” Lana goes on. “But you don’t have to meet him if you don’t want to.”
I don’t remember him. Maybe that’s what I should have told her.
But the words that come out of my mouth are, “I want to meet him.”
I’m not sure I really feel that way.
There’s just this nagging thought that maybe meeting him will help me to remember more of that night. I don’t know if that’s a smart move. I’m doing well here in this new place. Memories of the past are unlikely to help me let go of everything I used to be, but I don’t have much else to cling to, so I have to try.
“You’re sure?” she asks. “I can take him back a message if you’d prefer it.”
“I’d rather see him,” I insist.
She nods. “Okay. It doesn’t have to be tonight …”
“It can be, though. The boss said I could take a break.”
“I’ll go get him. You can wait in here if you like.”
She moves past me and leaves the room.
Something about waiting around makes me anxious, so I start wandering around until I find a way to occupy myself, organising the laundry detergent boxes and bottles on the shelving unit in the corner. It’s probably pointless to have everything lined up perfectly but it’s an easy way to distract myself.
Too easy, maybe.
I barely notice Lana’s back until the door is all the way open and she’s speaking my name.
Turning around quickly, I take a few quick steps back into the centre of the room.
