She thinks I had it easy. She thinks being a siphon made me special, made me something to envy.
She has no idea that I spent years feeling like a burden. Like a fucking parasite. Something broken that needed constant maintenance just to function.
I never felt special, I feltused.
Until I found my pack.
“You don’t know anything about me,” I say quietly.
“I know what’s under that glamour.” Her smile is vicious. “What’s the matter? Still can’t stand to look at yourself? I don’t blame you. Kyle told me about your scars in excruciating detail. Said they made him sick, and he had to think aboutmejust to get through fucking you.”
The words should hurt.
A few months ago, they would have.
Now they just piss me off.
“Kick her in the tits,”a familiar voice says in my head.“That’s like lady balls.”
Sean. Of course. He must have shifted into his wolf form in front of everyone behind the glass just to give me that little pointer through our bond.
I sigh and turn back to Rebecca.
Then I drop my glamour.
The spell dissolves like mist with the familiar sensation of the magic releasing, the slight tingle as my true appearance reasserts itself. The massive scar that ruins one entire side of my face, the jagged star pattern that extends from my eye to my nose and lip, the exposed teeth, the milky blindness in that eye.
All of it.
Rebecca’s face falls.
Shock, mostly. Maybe a little fear.
I lean forward.
“What’s the matter?” My voice is steady and cold. “Don’t like looking at the results of a werewolf attack? The thingyouunleashed?”
She doesn’t answer. For once in her miserable life, she’s speechless.
“Just remember,” I continue. “I survived worse than you. And I have people willing to fight for me. Can you really say the same?”
Her jaw works. I can see the anger building, the defensive walls going up. But underneath all of that, there’s another emotion entirely.
Terror.
And suddenly, I understand.
“Vyse can’t find evidence of the spell that’s keeping you from talking about Kyle’s location,” I say slowly, working through the facts as I speak them out loud, “because there isn’t one.”
Rebecca’s face goes blank. Damningly so.
“He didn’t tell you where he was going,” I continue, “becausehedidn’t know himself. He didn’t plan on disappearing. He thought the wolf would kill us after he left the meadow, and he’d be alive to spin his narrative.” The pieces finally click into place. “Which means someonetookhim.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her words come out clipped, and she shifts uncomfortably in her seat.
“Don’t I?” I’m leaning forward even farther now, my hands flat on the table. “Kyle didn’t run. Kyle wastaken. By someone powerful enough to grab him and vanish without a trace, powerful enough to keep him hidden even from the Council.”
“That’s insane?—“
