Natalia’s P. O. V

My brain stalled.

The current situation alone screamed that lying to him would be a very bad idea. But the idea of giving too much away filled me with almost as much dread.

How much did he know?

How much could I conceal?

If I said too much, I’d give him more than what he had and what I needed to survive this situation. But not enough, and I’d be a goner.

“I am not one to repeat myself, intruder.” The Alpha’s voice was deceptively even, masking the certain impatience that was prickling beneath his skin.

His son chimed in, apparently not as versed in the art of a cool exterior, “Speak now, or we’ll make it so you can never spew your lies again.”

The Alpha’s annoyance at his son’s words was understated and would probably manifest later in a stern lecture delivered behind closed doors, but his glare remained trained on me as I finally spoke.

“Not many Werewolves can recognize the scent of a Syren.”

“Not many Werewolves have lived the life I have.”

What had he seen that left him with the knowledge of who Syrens were? The possibilities were endless, and yet I couldn’t think of a single one that would make a Werewolf as aware as he was of the existence of Syrens.

“And what life is that?”

His eyes narrowed, “One of many experiences. But life stories are shared between allies, and you are anything but that.”

“I hope to change that.”

“That all depends on who you prove yourself to be.”

My arms widened in a gesture of openness, “I’m sure you’ll find that I haven’t told a single lie.”

He scoffed, a curt, harsh sound, “Be that as it may, the absence of lies does not equate to the presence of truth.”

I cocked my head and dared a small upturn of my lips, “Maybe not, but the truth can only exist within that absence of lies you’ve said it does not equate to.”

“If that is so, then why does a Lone Wolf carry the scent of a species no one had heard from in over a decade?”

“Just because you don’t hear from someone doesn’t mean they’re dead.” I smiled, a dry, wry thing, “Though sometimes, it’s better when the world believes you to be gone.”

His eyebrows raised at that, interest piqued under his stern, stony exterior, “So they’re not entirely gone?”

Relief.

It crouched in the light softening of his expression, and hid in the hope his voice carried, try as he might to conceal it. And it shone a ray of hope for me too.

Maybe I could leave this pack with more than just my life.

“I can’t presume to speak on behalf of all Syrens, but,” I chanced a smile, “I’d imagine that depends on who you prove yourself to be. We can’t very well expose ourselves to enemies after all.”

A hint of a smirk, “Touché.”

Ignoring his son’s knotted brows and questioning gaze, the Alpha summoned my jailers back into the room with his Alpha voice.

“Take her to our guest quarters. She shall stay there till Carla wakes and either confirms or refutes her claims. Till the that happens, she will be monitored like she’s guilty, but treated like she’s innocent. Is that clear?”

Many, Taz in particular, of their faces screamed that it was not, in fact, clear. But their mouths all chanted the same, “Yes, Alpha!”

His gaze turned on me as he addressed me next, “The content of our next conversation will depend on your guilt or innocence. For both our sakes, I hope it’s the latter.”

“It will be.”

To that, he said nothing, and I was escorted to the guest quarters through a series of passages and halls. The room they took me to was part of a suite, with an adjourning bathroom and sitting room. The accommodation was certainly welcoming, even if their venom filled expressions undercut the atmosphere.

Over the next several hours, they took turns watching me, offering me food and drink as they stared at me like they hoped I’d choke on it. I politely declined for a while, before my stomach won over. Even still, I sniffed everything thoroughly for even a hint of anything remotely poisonous before consuming it, and made sure to only take a bite or sip then wait ten more minutes in case anything happened, before continuing with it.

With the minutes trickling into hours, and the hours eating up the rest of the day, I tried to get my mind to stop its turmoil. Kaesha and Hailey would likely start getting worried, and it’d be just my luck if Timothy returned after days of his prolonged search, only to be met with my absence.

I glanced down at the mark on my wrist. Telepathy would have been such a useful Special Ability right now, as opposed to a fire could barely control, and ice that was apparently non-existent.

The sun had long since set when I got any news of Carla’s condition. It was Taz, who had coincidentally been permanently stationed outside the suite, whether by his request or at his superior’s initiative, which was all the same, since it kept his contempt away from me too.

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“She’s up.” He said, evidently less aggressive now that he knew she was alright, “Time to see if you’re a liar or not.”

Before long, I was led back to the imposing doors of the Alpha’s office. They swung open and we were met with the father and son, in addition to a young girl of thirteen or fourteen. The bandage around her ankle, as well as the situation, told me she was Carla.

“So,” The Alpha said once the doors were shut, this time with my jailers inside the room, “this is the she-wolf that claims to have found you and brought you back for treatment while you were unconscious. I would like your side of the story.”

Carla only stared, mouth slightly agape and wonder in her eyes. She looked so young and innocent, and it stuck me that while I thought of her as a child, I was probably just two or three years older than her.

I offered her a small smile and she blushed, her mouth snapping shut as she looked away, “She didn’t hurt me, Alpha. I was already dizzy and limping through the woods when I saw her wolf. And I was the one that approached her, she was just drinking from a river when I came out of the bushes.”

“You wouldn’t lie about this, would you?”

She shook her head vehemently, “No, Alpha.”

His face relaxed into a smile, “Thank you, Carla. We will look into how you got injured and ate poisoned berries, but that will be a matter for another time. For now, go get some rest.”

“Yes, Alpha.” She said.

The doors were opened for her and she left, accompanied by a smothering, flittering Taz. She gave one last glance behind her as the doors closed again.

“Now,” He said, resting his back on his seat and beckoning a chair to be brought in for me, “it seems we have much to discuss.”

“It would seem so.” I took a seat. He’d taken care to select a chair with the same height as his, “How about we start with what you know.”

“I met a Syren once.” He began, the very memory of this mystery woman blanketing his features in fond remembrance.

He narrated the story of who she was and how he came to cross her path. As part of his training to become an Alpha worthy of his pack, his own father had arranged for him to live in different packs of varying size and influence. All his father had done was confirm with other Alphas to accept his presence, but the logistics of getting to these different locations was up to him alone, in an added test of his resourcefulness. On his journey from one pack to another, he’d made stops and used routes that Werewolves wouldn’t typically frequent. And so, he’d met her.

“Her name was Diane.” He said, a wistful sigh under his words that made me wonder about his relationship with his mate.

Behind him, his son was shooting him confounded looks, his mind no doubt on the same question as mine.

He continued, both mine and his son’s curious concern flying over his head in the face of the memory of Diane.

They’d met on a beach in Miami. He’d picked up a bartending job in the area to scrouge together some money for transportation to the next pack, and she’d been there, sitting at his bar. The way he described her told me that even if he’d eventually grown to love her, her allure had definitely been what initially drew him to her.

Instead of heading straight to the next pack as intended, he’d decided to linger in hopes of having more time with her. He’d already secured a job and a strict timeline hadn’t been set for his travels, so staying hadn’t posed much of an issue.

“From the moment we met, I knew there was something different about her. She was mesmerizing and she made me feel like I was the only man in the world. It wasn’t till she needed to leave that she told me the truth of what she was.”

From the way he spoke, I wasn’t even sure if meeting his mate would have been enough to make him leave her if she hadn’t disappeared.

“Why did she leave?”

The bittersweet fondness on his face turned more bitter at my question, “She never said why exactly, just that it was an emergency and she needed to return to Syrenlina. She said she’d just be gone for a week, two at most, then a month passed with no word from her. By then, I couldn’t afford to stay there for no reason, so I had to leave Miami for my training to continue. While I continued my travels, I tried to find more out about Syrens, and to even see if it was possible to go to Syrenlina. The few people I came across that had ever met a Syren said that the ones they knew had disappeared too, sometimes with the man that they’d loved, sometimes without him. As far as I know, you’re the first one I’m aware of in about sixteen years.”

When learning about The Jam, what Syrens had named the period of time that the way to Syrenlina had been closed off, lasting from my birth to when I’d given my blood to make it possible for Syrens to cross between Syrenlina and Earth again, my teacher had mentioned that disturbances had been noticed in the portals and the state of Syrenlina had given them signals that something was amiss. As a precautionary measure, Syrens who didn’t live in the safe zones or close to Syren communities on Earth had been called back. That had been to keep them safe, so none of them would be stranded where Vampires could get to them, should anything happen.

Hearing of how my birth alone had been enough to separate families and keep loved ones apart for more than a decade and a half always made my stomach curl in on itself and my blood run cold.

“So, I must ask, how is Syrenlina? And how are you here?” Hope hung in his words and filled his eyes.

I shook my head apologetically, “I’ve never been, so I can’t tell you. I was born here, my father is a Werewolf and my mother was a Syren, but she also disappeared when I was young.”

I didn’t mention that she disappeared long after his precious Diane had.

His shoulders slumped and his disappointment was palpable, “So you’re a Werewolf, but your mother’s genes show up partially in your scent and in your hair.”

I nodded.

“In that case, I guess you wouldn’t know much about Syrens in general. It must have been hard to grow up without your mother.”

“Thank you for your compassion. It wasn’t easy.” My mouth twisted, “And my father was abusive so that didn’t exactly make things better.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

I pulled myself up to my full seated height, my head held high, “It’s okay now, I escaped. And I’m working to make sure he’ll know that he couldn’t break me.”

The pity in his gaze gave way to something akin to respect, “How do you plan to do that?”

“The only good thing that can be said about him is that he’s an Alpha.” I frowned, he didn’t deserve the title, “A terrible one, but one nonetheless. Meaning I have the capacity to become one too. I’ll use the only good thing I ever got from him and create my own pack. I’m not the only person he’s abused and someone needs to stop his reign of tyranny.”

“If that’s the case, why not just challenge him? Surely, if he’s as bad as you say, the Royals will have no problem recognizing you if you beat him.”

It was rarer these days, but Werewolves were allowed to challenge their Alphas for the position if they felt their current one was inadequate. The biggest issues stemmed from getting the rest of the pack to accept you if you won, and getting the Royal Werewolves to recognize your victory.

I didn’t tell him that the rest of the pack was just as bad as him in my eyes, or that I intended to take them all down together. Instead, I said, “I don’t think I can win with just myself.”

He regarded me, probably calculating the likelihood of a girl like me winning against what he probably imagined to be a grown man, “Well, it is important to know your limitations, that’s part of being a leader.”

He considered for a moment, then clapped his hands together with the finality of a decision being made, “Alright, why don’t we become your ally when you create your pack?”