“He found footage of you at Club Luna with a member of the uprising. How long have you been a part of their movement?”
“Not long after I was turned.” She chuckled, closing her eyes to get closer to a memory. “But I wouldn’t call what we had a movement that early on.”
“Thomas, the elder from Marcus’s pack—how well did you know him?”
She shrugged. “Not well at all. He was too fucking annoying to be around.”
“What were you and the other rogues doing at the warehouse?”
Latoya dragged a hand down her face. “Joey—”
“Answer her,” Maya demanded.
My sister’s sharp glare cut to Maya as she snarled. “Who the hell was talking to you, bitch?”
“Latoya,” I warned.
“No,” Latoya protested, storming to her cot at the corner of the cell. “How do I know you’ll actually talk to me as mysisteronce they get all the information they want from me?”
“I’mthe one asking the questions,” I declared, my gaze devoid of compassion. “Thomas nearly had me killed.”
Latoya and the Alpha both flinched.
“And as far as I’m concerned, my sister died five years ago.”
Latoya blinked rapidly. “I wanted to come home to you, Joey, I did,” she pleaded, dropping onto her cot. “But… I couldn’t. Not right away. Not until my cravings subsided.” She gripped the edge of the stained mattress. “It took about a year for me to control my shift. Until then, the scent of human flesh drove me crazy.” She looked up at me. “So how could I come home? How could I risk putting you in danger? And even afterthat… Joey… You’d moved on. And I was… different. It never felt like the right time.”
I didn’t ask for an explanation, damn it. I didn’t want one. The plan was to get the information we needed about the uprising and leave her to rot in her rancid cell.
But her words caused something within me to stir. I needed to know…
“Did you ask for the Bite?”
Maya threw an uncomfortable glance at her alpha, while Marcus’s gaze burned holes in my skull.
To my surprise, Latoya shook her head. “I thought the motherfucker was just high as shit. He kept going on and on about being an alpha and how he’d change my life.” She snickered. “But back then, every asshole with a six-pack and a big dick claimed they were alpha males, remember?”
I frowned.
It felt like a lifetime ago.But at the same time, the memory of me and my sister shit-talking the guys that slid into our DMs burned like I’d lost her yesterday.
Latoya looked up at Marcus and smirked. “The bastard was under the covers eating my pussy when he Bit me.” She tapped the inside of her thigh. “Right here.”
My stomach churned.
She didn’t choose this.
“Now, don’t get me wrong,” she added, “if you told me I had to croak or go back to being human, I would load the gun myself—just give me the damn silver bullets.” She laughed, throwing her head back as if what she’d said was funny.
The rivulets of blood that had haunted my dreams for five years were not funny.
The empty coffin buried next to my mother and father wasnotfunny.
I ground my jaw, knowing I should refocus on the uprising but struggling with my need for answers. “There was so much blood the night you disappeared…”
The smile on Latoya’s face vanished, and her gaze dropped to the stone floor. She ran her hands over the wrinkles in her dingy tunic. “Let’s see if the pureblood can guess why.” The lack of emotion in her voice made me wince.
I’d been thankful Marcus stood behind me. That way, I didn’t have to witness the disappointment in his eyes as I strayed us farther from the mission. But I faced him then, without hesitating.
