In Reach?

Liam’s POV

What the fuck is going on? How much of what she’ saying can we even trust? Well most of what she said is true. I did lock her up. I did try to kill her. Uugghh!.. I pace around my office thinking of what just happened in the dungeon.

She says she can’t remember how she got here; that she just wants to leave. But I can’t let her go. We don’t know if she’s a spy, or just lying. Whoever attacked our pack the other night, was relentless, they wouldn’t have left her unharmed. But why leave her behind? Surely they should know that I would question it. Whoever is behind this is really mind-fucking me right now.

I hear a knock on the door and just say “come in.” Noah walks in and drops down on the couch against the wall opposite the book case. He releases a huff of breath, and I know he is probably just as confused as I am.

“Do you think we should believe her?” He asks right out.

“Honestly, no,…….I’m not sure.”

Noah looks at me from the corner of his eye.

“Looking at things from her perspective, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t trust us right now. We need to be careful. But this has me thinking.” He stands in front of his desk and leans against it, looking at Noah. “Either she’s very good at the whole spy thing, which is why whoever left her there thought she’ll be able to handle herself well. Or she’s the perfect spy, - one who doesn’t know that they are one.”

“This is too confusing. How can she not know what a rogue is when she-herself is a wolf?” Noah pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Come on, we have to get going. The meeting with the others will be starting soon”.

Noah nods his head, gets up and they both exit the office.

-Later that night-

Liam’s POV

“Is dinner almost done? I’m starving.” I can hear Mason through the house and can’t help but smirk.

I put the folders on my desk aside and head to the kitchen. I’m just as starved and definitely need a break from work.

I see Aubrey smiling in the kitchen dishing for us. She’s always so helpful and loves to cook, but she’s a shy and quiet girl. She’s Noah’s younger sister, but she’s like a little sister to all of us, -me, Aiden and Mason. She never used to be so quiet. She was quite a lively one when she was younger, but I guess with puberty she decided to go the modest route. Even with us, she’s quite quiet and timid. Sometimes it seems like she gets afraid when we get a little too loud or violent. So we all make great efforts to keep her smiling, and away from any trouble. She’s too fragile for the rough life of a typical wolf. I know that Noah hates the idea of her finding a mate. He doesn’t think he’ll be good enough to protect is delicate little sister.

This house is big, but it is mainly just for the head-members of the pack, such as the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Head warrior, the Pack healer and is open to any of their mates. We’re all pretty close as we basically grew up together, still see each other on a daily basis and have been through life and death moments together.

Our pack is quite huge, more in regards to land than people. So it’s very spacious. It’s one of the oldest and we maintain it as a community. We own about 100 acres of forest land and we make up almost 300 people. There are a about four main pack-houses here, one in each sector, north, south, east and west. Around these pack-houses are smaller private homes for those with mates and prefer to live alone. So it takes a lot of work to keep up with everything happening around here.

Most of them are already sitting around the table, Noah, my Beta; Theodore, my Gamma; Liz my Delta and Mason, the head warrior of our pack. I sit down at the head of the table and enjoy listening to their chattering and chuckling around the table. I see Aiden walking to the table looking at some paper-work. His puzzled face has me worried though. But before I can ask, he speaks to Aubrey, “Can you dish an extra plate for our guest downstairs?”

Aubrey just smiles and nods at his request and starts to dish another plate. But a pit of guilt in my stomach hits me when I realize I was so caught up in my work today that I forgot about our ‘prisoner’. “How is she?” I throw the question in the air knowing he’ll catch it.

Everybody goes quiet at the sound of my voice, and I get worried with the look in Aiden’s face as he walks to me. Is it that serious that he needs to have my full attention to discuss it with me. He comes and sits down beside me with the papers in his hands. The others probably take this to be a matter not regarding them and they continue with their chats.

“I did some blood work just to make sure about her health”. He says as he points to the papers in his hands. “I was a little worried with her wounds, they didn’t look good. They didn’t look normal for a wolf’s standard.” He puts emphasis on the word ‘normal’.

I scrunch my eyebrows not really understanding what he’s trying to say, and I’m getting a little agitated about it. Is she fine or not?!

Aiden huffs out a breath and bites his lower lip, as if contemplating his next words. A habit of his I’m too well aware of. “Her vitals almost seem ‘human’, and the scent of her wolf is a bit off. Something isn’t right. I’m going to check up on her now when I bring her, her food. I’m sure that’s fine with you, right?”

He turns that last part into a question probably realizing he would need my permission to attend to her. But even I’m now curious about this. “I’ll go with you”.

He lifts his head as if surprised by my interest in the matter, and just nods in agreement.

Aubrey lays two plates down, one in front of each of us. “Thank you Aubrey”. She just smiles at my thanks.

She turns to Aiden and softly says, “the other plate you asked for is on the kitchen counter”.

Before he can say thank you, I already got up and look at him and say, “Let’s go.”

He shoots up and runs to the plate of food while I’m already on my way down the hall to the huge, heavy door of our underground dungeon. We walk down the stairs and see the dim light still on. She’s lying in the corner with her back facing us. She looks so small in that corner and being swallowed up in that darn shirt. There’s a plate with an untouched sandwich right outside her cell. She didn’t eat. Is she going on a food strike or what?

We both walk closer and I unlock the cell without hesitation, but careful of the silver bars. Silver burns our skin on instant touch. I know she can’t do anything in this state, especially if she didn’t even eat. Aiden walks into the cell with the plate of food in his hand and places it down beside her. Squatting next to her lying frame, he says, “We brought you some food”. Thinking she’s probably asleep he tries to shake her shoulder. But he immediately stops and his breath hitches. This gets me standing up straight and walking closer to her. What is it?

Aiden rolls her body so that she’s lying on her back, and puts a hand on her forehead. “She’s burning up” he says with panic in his voice. What is going on? Wolves don’t get sick.

He wastes no time picking her up and holds her in his arms and says, “we need to get her to the infirmary now”. It may sound like an order but the urgency in his voice assures me that something is wrong. I step aside and let him rush out past me and walk after him.

In the infirmary, he lays her down on the bed and rushes about for I don’t know what. I look down at her still frame and notice the thin layer of sweat coating her body, even her hair is sticking to her face. Something really is wrong, but what?

Aiden comes back with needles and bags of some liquid. He’s setting up an IV on her and checks her vitals again. He seems panicked and deep in thought. But instead of finding confusion on his face, he looks almost angry. “What is it Aiden? You look like you have an idea of what’s happening to her right now”.

He looks at me, but now with sadness in his eyes. “I’ve had my fair share of experience in treating the wounded. But I’ve only seen something similar to this once”.

A brief silence fills the room. He takes a deep breath as if trying to stall having to say his next words.

“It was in the back of my mind when I looked at her wounds last night, but I took it as a paranoid thought. I mean, even the blood tests didn’t show any signs of wolfs bane in her system”.

I raise my eyebrows at this, wondering why he would be looking for that wolf poison in her blood.

“I don’t even want to think of the other possibilities behind this. But looking at her now, I can’t deny it. Her wolf is dormant”.

That statement has me catching my own breath. Why would her wolf be dormant? People aren’t just born with dormant wolves. To get a wolf to that state, one needs to force them to the brink of death,……well their wolf’s death. It happens so rarely that it is basically seen as a skill for this to be achieved. Someone did this to her!

My body starts heaving with anger realizing this and even now, my resolve continues to shatter the more I’m with this woman, the more I learn about her. Who is she? My interest in her and my need to keep her close is growing by the second. I know my curiosity in her is turning into concern, but I need to protect her, just as my wolf told me to do from the beginning. I’m not a fan of his ‘I told you so’ he’s singing in my head right now, but I know he’s right. I have to protect her, puppet or not, because she may hold the answer to the questions I’m looking for,……..the ‘right’ questions.