Page 92 of Moon Claimed
“It started the first night I entered Deception Valley.” I watched her with tired eyes. “That night, Sascha Greyson smelled me for the first time. And something started that I wouldn’t learn about for a while yet—something that Luthers call a mating call.”
Rhona sucked in a harsh breath.
I ploughed on, bitter relief tinging my words as truth rushed from my lips. “Luthers have one mate in their lives. It seems I am Sascha Greyson’s.”
Disgust twisted her features.
I couldn’t stop now.
“I didn’t know that back then. I noticed how strange he behaved around me when offering the job at The Dens. A couple of times, when we first looked at each other and first touched, I collapsed. The weirdest feeling came over me. Soon after, I learned werewolves existed, and sometime afterthat,I returned to The Dens. Sascha confessed we were moving through a series of meets designed so he could prove his worthiness to me. I would be able to deny or accept him as a mate at the end of these seven meets.”
I could tell Rhona wasn’t registering everything and recalled how long it took me to wrap my head around the concept.
She lowered into the head steward chair and found her voice. “When I asked why you were doing extra shooting practice, you said Luthers at The Dens were acting strangely.”
I flinched in memory. “I’d just found out the truth. It was after I saved the pup from drowning and woke on pack lands. He told me that another meet was coming soon. His wolf would learn everything about me, before chasing and capturing me.”
She snorted.
“I was a steward at this point,” I said softly. “I believed in the plight of the tribe. And I’d just met you and Uncle Herc. I knew what you both thought of the Luthers. I didn’t want to lose either of you because of this thing that had been doneto me. I just wanted the mating call to be gone. So I practiced with the tranquiliser gun and I moved to the manor for better protection before realising that would just present a bigger challenge to Sascha’s wolf.”
Her face was a wall. “You knew he’d do the next meet in Sandstone.”
Closing my eyes, I forced the horrible guilt out at last, “I wondered if he would. It presented the largest challenge to his wolf.”
“You knew he’d shift, and you saidnothing.Did you think Dad and I would just let him chase you without coming to help? You have to know one or both of us could be in danger.”
Her words slammed into my chest. “I wasn’t sure of anything then. I was scared. Of Sascha. Of your reactions. I just thought if I could get through the capture meet—”
“You decided not to accept help.” She withered.
I’d never heard a voice so cold. “Yes. I was scared—”
“You’re a fucking coward,” she shouted in my face, half standing.
Tears sparked my eyes. “I realise my mistake, believe me.”
“And then you did it again.” She swept everything off the table. “You lied to me about my own father’sdeath,you piece of shit. Dad’s will fucking stung, but I could rest a little easier becauseyouwere head steward. You…” She looked straight through me. “This is what you really are. A pathetic liar.”
I stood, clinging to my depleting calm with everything I had. “I’ve wanted to tell you so many times. Sascha and I had already completed the capture meet when Herc found us. He had a gun. Without me saying anything, he knew what was going on. Maybe he’d already suspected. Why else have the gun? And he tried to shoot Sascha, too, even knowing what it would do to me.”
The words rocked me. It was the first time I’d blamed Herc for what might have happened.
She rolled her eyes. “And what would happen?”
“Break me, apparently. Sascha will die if I’m killed. That’s why another Luther is after me now. He thinks Sascha’s connection to a human mate shows he’s too weak to rule the pack. Rhona, you have to believe that you’re the person I love most in the world. I can see how upset and angry you are. I understand that coming back from this could be impossible. Either way, I’m glad you know the truth. It’s nothing less than you deserve. I don’t think you’re stupid or irrational. I just didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Bet getting all that off your chest will help you sleep at night.” The cruel words slipped from her clenched teeth.
I absorbed the blow. “Do you have any more questions?”
She laughed—a harsh noise that would give me no shortage of nightmares. I’d never heard such a devoid sound except for the mournful echoes of my own heart.
“I know enough now to make a decision I should have made the moment Dad’s will was read.” Rhona’s face twisted.
My growing fingernails dug into my palms. I spun from Rhona in case my eyes darkened. “Don’t let this come between us. Please be smarter than me. You have a right to be angry and to hate me. But, in part, I lied to protect you.”
“Get out.”