Page 27 of Anders
What are you?she demanded, her voice cracking.
Anders weighed his options.She’d seen him shift.There was no going back, no erasing that knowledge.
Maybe the truth could help her piece together her own fractured past.
I’m a wolf shifter,he said simply.Like you.
Her face contorted.I’m not… I’m human.
You’re not,Anders said gently.You’ve never questioned why you can smell things others can’t?Hear conversations from impossible distances?Why your eyes reflect light differently?
Etta shook her head in denial, but he could see the doubt creeping in.
The mark on your neck,Anders continued carefully.It’s not natural.Someone put it there.The same people who made you forget what you are.
A tear slid down her cheek.The memories,she whispered.I saw… I remembered…
Anders’s heart clenched.What did you remember, Etta?
She looked up at him, raw pain in her eyes.My parents.My real parents.They were killed.Men came, and they… They took me somewhere.A lab.Her voice broke.They did things to me.
Anders moved closer, slowly, giving her every chance to pull away.When she didn’t, he reached out, his fingers stopping just short of touching her.
I’m sorry,he said, the words wholly inadequate for the horror she’d endured.I’m sorry I frightened you.I thought you were someone else—someone who meant my pack harm.
Pack,she repeated, the word clearly resonating with something inside her.Her breathing had steadied somewhat, though fear still drenched her scent.Like a wolf pack.
Anders nodded.Yes.We’re a community.A family.We protect each other.
Etta’s hands twisted in her lap.And I’m…?
Like us,Anders said.Though, I think someone has gone to great lengths to hide that.Even from you.
She closed her eyes, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks.I thought I was going crazy,she whispered.Hearing things.Smelling things.Writing notes I didn’t remember writing.
Anders’s protective instincts surged.Someone had done this to her—suppressed her nature, used her as an unwitting tool.
And he had a sinking feeling he might know why.
The newspaper gives you access,he said, thinking aloud.You interview everyone.Document everything.But you don’t know you’re doing it.
Etta’s eyes flew open.What?
I found surveillance equipment around town,Anders explained.Not mine.Someone is watching.Using you to gather information.
Her face crumpled as the implications hit her.
I’m not a spy,she whispered.Then she shook her head.I didn’t know.
Unable to resist any longer, Anders closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her trembling form.She stiffened momentarily, then collapsed against his chest.
I’m going to find out who did this to you.
Whoever had done this to Etta was sophisticated, patient, and dangerous.They’d taken a wolf shifter—a creature of instinct and freedom—and turned her into an unwitting tool.
The level of technology and cruelty required was staggering.
And if they’d done it to her, they could have done it to others.
