Flight 118

Chapter Twenty-Two

~Emilia~

My eyes widened as I remembered them saying the rumors going through town about women disappearing around the country. Women who had been a part of The Gathering.

"It's you! You've been kidnapping or rescuing or whatever you want to call it, women across the country! You're the reason behind the attack on the pack territory!"

"I needed to do something! You should understand better than anyone!"

"I do! But that doesn't mean you stoop to their level and go around kidnapping people! Or convincing a bunch of men to go attack innocent people!"

She winced a little.

"Do you even ask the women you take if they need saving? If they want to leave? Have you ever thought, bought at auction or not, they may enjoy who they're with now?"

"Of course I do! I only rescue those who need it!"

An unamused laugh came out of me in a huff. "Yeah? So, why did you have Clarisse lure me out into the woods during an attack which you created? Why did you knock me out and kidnap me? I didn't need saving. I don't need saving. I agree The Gathering was awful. Crazy. It needs to be stopped. But I learned very quickly, Jonah... these shifters... are not my enemy. This is where I belong now. But you kidnapped me. You've taken the first step those people who kidnap for The Gathering have. If you don't have any standards to hold yourself to then you'll end up no better than they are!"

"I do have standards! I admit I regret allowing myself to ignore the fact I wasn't getting all of the information. I'll never do that again. But I've seen what The Gathering does to people! You can be so relieved you're being rescued that you blind yourself to the reality of the situation!"

"That will only happen if you allow that to happen! I can promise you, I have not been fooled by some misguided notion of heroism. I'm clear-minded. If anyone is having difficulty looking past their notion of truth to not pay attention to what's really going on, it's Clarisse. And just maybe you, also. Do you even know there are roughly 40 humans who are living in this pack territory and are perfectly content and safe? Legitimately rescued by the shifters. Yet, you just sent men in to attack them all. Men who set fire to the forest, endangering everyone there. For what? Your personal vendetta?"

I was beginning to think this woman herself had a specific reason behind her hatred of The Gathering. A personal one. Which would make what she was doing understandable. The way she was doing it, though? Not so much.

"For that, I'm sorry. As I said, my information was wrong. I was unaware of... really, everything."

After saying that she fell silent.

"What exactly did Clarisse tell you?"

She shrugged. "She told me about you, how you were kidnapped and auctioned off at The Gathering. How you were bought by a pack of wolves. How you and a group of humans were all being held against your will by the pack. Said you were blinded by the fact they saved you. Didn't see what was right in front of your minds."

"And she didn't tell you any specifics? Like where we all came from, and how they genuinely saved us?"

The woman shook her head. So, I told her. Everything from getting on the plane, to crashing, being sent out for help and being kidnapped, to being rescued and finding a new home.

"Clarisse... she's young. And scared. She doesn't really understand just how much the pack, all of the packs, have done for us. She just sees the fact she's now in a world she doesn't know and away from all she's known. I don't think she's truly accepted the fact there is no going back and the fact she's not alone. She just feels like she is because the rest of us have, for the most part, come to terms with our new realities."