Page 88 of Strays
It’s like the whole world has flipped upside down.
“What happened?” Shane asks. It’s the first thing he’s said to her since she got back.
The room tenses. We all want to know.
She nods slowly, then speaks. “The night I left, I went straight to the airport and flew to Portland. I showed up at my parents’ door. At first I thought they wouldn’t even let me in, but they did. I stayed a week. We fought. A lot.”
She swallows. “But I told them everything. The good and the bad. I said I was grateful for the life they gave me, but I needed to figure out who I really am. I couldn’t keep pretending to be the human daughter they wanted.”
Her voice breaks. “It was hard. I don’t think my dad will ever speak to me again. He just… couldn’t understand. But at least he knows the truth now. If he ever changes his mind, he knows where to find me.”
“And your mother?” I ask.
“She followed his lead,” Jo says. “But… I think she gets it more than he does. When I told her how I really feel, she listened. And before I left, she gave me what I’d been begging for since the day I got there: my grandparents’ information.”
She smiles faintly. “I had to see where I came from. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I’m really from a gregalis family. So I flew to Idaho. They still live in the same house my mom grew up in, in Idaho City.
“I spent a whole day in a hotel room, trying to build the courage to knock on their door. And when I finally did, one of my grandfathers answered. At first, Ithink he thought it was a prank or some scam. But I kept talking about my mom, and then, my grandmother showed up and pulled me inside.”
Her voice gets almost reverent. “Her name is Juliette. I never knew. I have three uncles, my mom’s brothers, and an aunt, Solange. And four cousins. One of them’s a nyra too, Susie. She’s eighteen.”
“It was good?” I ask. “Being with them?”
She nods. “Yeah. It really was. They didn’t talk much about my mom, but from what they did say, it sounds like it was bad when she ran away. My grandfathers went after her, but by the time they found them, my father had already bitten her. They offered to let her come home, said they would let her stay with my father during her heats, but she refused. She wanted to live her life with him.”
Jo sighs. “He’d found a fight manager in Boise, and she followed him there so he could train as a cage fighter. I don’t know why she didn’t come home after he died. Maybe she was ashamed. But I’m sure now, her family would’ve taken her back. They accepted me.”
“They did?” Jay asks. I know what he means. Jo’s situation isn’t exactly what most traditional aegis families expect.
But she doesn’t catch it. “Yep. I felt like I belonged. More than I ever did with my parents.”
“They didn’t have a problem with the fact that you’re bonded to a stray pack? Or that you left home and traveled there alone without us?” I ask, clarifying Jay’s question. I want to know too.
Jo looks at me before answering. “They definitely thought it was strange. When they saw the bite marks, they expected my pack to be nearby. They were shocked when I finally convinced them I had traveled alone. But after I told them about the rest of my life, I think they just added it to the list of unbelievable things about me.”
She pauses for a moment, choosing her words. “Honestly, I think the only reason they didn’t care so much about all the ways I’m not how a nyra is supposed to be is because they don’t blame me for it. They made it pretty clear they blame my mom for letting a human man raise me instead of taking me back to her parents’ home to be raised as a nyra.”
“What about your bond with us?” Shane presses.
“When I told them you were strays, they didn’t like it at first,” she replies. “Not at all. But when I told them it was a scent bond, everything changed. Especially when I mentioned Special Ops. They were proud of me for being Prime.”
That lands heavily. Her family accepts her bond with us. It’s too good to be true. I put the thought aside because it’s too big to think about now.
“I spent the last three weeks with them,” she says. “My whole life, my parents told me aegis were authoritarian and dangerous. That nyras were sad, submissive,trapped.”
She swallows. “With you guys, I already knew that wasn’t true. But now I’ve seen that it’s not just you. My grandfathers are so gentle with my grandmother. My uncles adore Solange. I’ve never seen human men treat their wives with that much care. And the nyras… they’re shy, they stay home, yeah, but they’re happy. Open. We had fun. I learned so much.”
She exhales, slow and deep. “For the first time, it felt like the world finally made sense. I think I’m starting to forgive myself for what I am instead of feeling ashamed just for being me.”
“What about you? How… how were these past weeks?” she asks. Her voice is hoarse, and she’s not even looking at us, just staring past her knees at the floor.
Jay answers first. “I blamed myself every second for that punch. I kept replaying it over and over. It took a while to remember who I am. I’m not a violent aegis; I’m not cruel. I just reacted to a cruel person.”
“You’re right,” she says quickly, like the words are pulled out of her, tears spilling freely now. “I shouldn’t have blamed you. I should’ve stood by you.”
Jay reaches up and swipes her cheek with his fingers.
“How I was feeling… it wasn’t your fault, Jay,” she continues. “None of it was. It was me, struggling with my world falling apart. The human part. And that would’ve happened sooner or later.”
