Dane

It was rare, but now and again, snap little comments would come through taking us both by surprise. ‘I’m not being weird. There is just a lot going on at the moment.”

‘You are being an idiot again!’ Aero mumbles

‘What am I supposed to say? ‘Hey, by the way. you were actually bound more than twice because they were scared of you.’ Or maybe, “You don’t need to worry about shifting. you’ve already done it!’ Do you think she wants to hear that, Aero? She is petrified of shifting!’

Fine,’ He sulks, ‘Do it your way.’

“You…you still haven’t said anything.” Neah mutters. “Ils Aero….is he saying something to you, is he talking about me?”

“Aero cares for you as much as I do. we just have different opinions when it comes to certain situations.”

Her brow dips a little. “He wants you to…tell…..me something?” Her frown grows

“Not here!” I mumble, looking around at my people moving around. Grabbing her hand, I tug her back toward the house, shutting us in my office.

Plonking herself down in a chair, she immediately pulls her legs up to her chest. It took me a while to realise it was her way of defending herself, trying to prevent Trey and his crew hitting her rips and stomach. Though now it was becoming a habit when she felt unprepared

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” she whispers “Veronica is back and now you and Aero have decided….. “It’s nothing to do with Veronica.

‘I don’t….. I don’t understand.”

“The last few days, we have spent a lot of time in the bedroom. During this time, there was a visitor.”

“Trey?” she asks alarmed

“No, a Witch.”

“Oh,

“The same Witch that bound your abilities.” It was like tearing off a band aid slowly. “When you were a newborn pup.” Her forehead wrinkles as her eyes widen. “No….when I was six.

I don’t give her the other information just yet and explain that this is the same Witch that I met with to discuss unbinding her. The same Witch that had bailed when I mentioned the name of Neah’s pack and now I knew why.

“She helped Trey?” “No, Neah.” I sigh, “She helped your father.

Her eyes drop from my gaze. Her hands grab the arm rests of her chair and her knuckles are momentarily whiter than white as she squeezes the wood. I feel her sudden rise in anger.

“My…my father?” “Yes.” “My….my father. He…he wanted me bound?” she spits out the words.

Her anger quickly fades and her eyes become filled with tears.

“I know this isn’t what you want to hear, Neah, but from what she told me. I don’t think it was just Trey and Cassandra that were responsible. I believe it goes back further than that.

She sits there, staring at me with her blue eyes. I felt so bad for her. I had never known a pack like it. Secrets that ran thicker than blood, but they were all centred around her.

‘W…why?” “They feared you.” She lets out a small nervous laugh. “Me?”

I was just going to have to break the news.

“You were able to shift at birth, Neah. They hatl you bound and then when you were one, you started shifting again, like your Lycan sidec was fighting it. You, at the age of> one, knew why the Witch was.there. You purposely kept shifting.td a Lygan i in the hopes that she wouldn’t be able to bind you. Nea¥ that’s unheard of.”

It is for Wolves.’ Aero mutters

Neah stares at me as if I’m nuts. Pure disbelief that I was even suggesting that she had already shifted. Her mind just wouldn’t accept what I was. saying.

“You’re…you are wrong. I would know. I…..”

“You wouldn’t remember. No pup would or could remember that.” “l….. That… That can’t… You are wrong.

“I’m only telling you what the Witch told me.”

“You believe her.”

adame Cure may be elusive at times, but she has always eventually told me the truth. Even if itis like => drawing I blood froma stone. = Sometimes cash tends to make:her more forthcoming. However,this tine, she didn’t even want cash.”

She’s not listening.’ Aero mutters.

I glance back at Neah who has her eyes closed and her nose wrinkled up as she frowns

“Are you okay?”

“I think I’ve heard that name.

“Madame Curie?” I ask curiously

Her jaw clenches as she nods her head.

“From someone here?”

“No, it’s just….it’s something up here.” She taps her head. “Familiar.”

“Like I said, they feared you Neah. That’s why the Witch was involved. They fear a female Alpha.” “?’m not.”

“You are a rare female Alpha of a dying breed.”

She gets to héerfeet and moves around the desk to my window. “I’m not powerful, Alpha Dane. I’m just -> me…./ ‘myust the girl that was made a slave) I I’m not… I’m not anything powerful And I wish… . Please § stop saying it.” 4

I feel her sadness. She just wouldn’t believe that it was a possibility. “If they are dying, let them die out.” She mutters, as she continues to look out the window. “Let them die out?” Her comment takes me by surprise, that I have to confirm what I just heard.

She slowly turns to me and a tear is edging its way down over her cheek but she is so angry. “They did horrible things to me. They don’t deserve to live.”