“I can’t promise that. I don’t know what you’re about to say.”
“That is fair. Give me a moment to think, please.” He moved back behind me and continued securing the knot he’d been working on. It took a long while for Rowan to finish his knots before he moved to stand in front of me in silence.
I had experienced some heavy silences in my first life. After I’d been catfished and kidnapped at nine, there was the frozen and terrified silence of that first night I’d spent blindfolded, bound, gagged, alone, and cold.
The still silence that radiated from Rowan was heavier than either of those. It felt as if he were shouldering the weight of the world with that silence and waging a war within himself on how to break that silence.
I took a tiny breath and said, “You just said you would not lie to me. Unless that was a lie. . . please tell me what you meant and what you’re thinking.”
“I would not lie to you,” he said with a nod. “The woman from class was not entirely human, Violet. She was a shifter.”
I blinked at him, processing the words. “A shifter? Like. . . like awerewolf?”
“Perhaps. Or another type of shifter. I could not determine her specific animal without closer proximity.”
“Okay.” I forced myself to remain calm. “Let’s say I believe you. How do you know she was a shifter?”
“I could smell her.” He said it matter-of-factly. “Shifters have a distinctive musk—wild, earthy, carrying notes of whatever animal they can become. And I could hear her heartbeat. It was running at approximately one hundred sixty beats per minute while she was standing still. No human’s resting heart rate runs that fast.”
I stared at him. “Smelling her seems invasive, but you couldhearher heartbeat. . . from across a crowded lecture hall?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not possible, Rowan.”
“It is possible when you have enhanced hearing.” He returned to his work with the rope, apparently unconcerned by my skepticism. “You have heard those urban legends about people beingchangedfrom nearly a decade ago? The extremely rare and bizarre side effects from a pharmaceutical drug? How some allegedly underwent odd mutations?”
“Of course I’ve heard stories, but those are all. . . I mean, they’re just tabloid bullshit.”
“You are going to have a hard time believing me about all I have to tell you if we cannot get past this,” he said with frustration. “How can I prove this to you?”
I shifted on my knees, testing the bonds. The rope held firm, my arms secured behind me, the cerulean fibers wrapping my torso in a familiar embrace I’d grown to crave. I faced his bedroom door from my position on the bed.
“I don’t know, Rowan. It just sounds—”
“Wait here,” he said as he headed towards the door.
“Where are you going?”
He didn’t answer, just opened the door to his bedroom and walked out into the hall. “Say something. Whisper it.”
This is ridiculous. But fine. I’ll play along.
“This is stupid,” I whispered, barely putting any voice behind the words.
“This is stupid,” he called back immediately, his voice carrying easily from wherever he stood.
I blinked.Lucky guess. Has to be.
“Go further away,” I said.
Footsteps retreated down the hallway, followed by silence. “Okay,” his voice echoed from what had to be the kitchen. “Try again.”
I dropped my voice to barely a breath. “You can’t possibly hear this.”
“You cannot possibly hear this.” His response came back without hesitation, and I heard amusement coloring his tone even from that distance.
My heart kicked up, pulse jumping in my throat.No. There has to be an explanation. He’s bugged his room.That was it. Hidden microphones somewhere near me, and he was wearing wireless earbuds.
