Flight 118

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jonah and I didn't get to talk about my revelation after that. At least, not immediately.

The next few hours were emotionally and physically draining; spent answering question after question then helping injured people. Jonah had tried to push it off a few hours, insisting I was tired, injured, and needing to rest.

After Eric insisted on me debriefing them, reminding us how important it was to know who, why, and what to protect the territory, I agreed. Convincing Jonah was a bit harder until I suggested we could eat while there. That way when we were done we could go straight upstairs and not have to come back down for food.

When I agreed, though, I did not expect it to take so long. Maybe they could feel I wasn't giving them the whole story. But, despite everything that happened, I didn't necessarily want the women caught. I didn't think they'd hurt them. But, the shifter had chosen to give herself a mission in life. Even if I didn't agree with how she was doing it, I did recognize how important it was. I didn't want her to be stopped. At least, not because of me.

With Clarisse, well after how we parted I knew forcing her back here would just make things worse. For everyone. Don't get me wrong, I wanted her to come back. Hopefully, though, wherever she was she was safe and would come to realize she had been wrong. The packs weren't trying to force people to stay or do anything against their will. When we first came, they were our saviors; rescuing us from the plane crash and potentially worst situations. Those of us who left should have realized how lucky we were.

The world we now lived in was one none of us knew how to navigate. Yet, Clarisse had lucked out with not having to really experience any of the outside dangers. She didn't understand how we needed a place to keep us safe and teach us how to live in the world before we were thrust into it. Between those reasons and the reality that they could possibly never have wives or mates if they didn't meet with us; well it wasn't a super big deal when they asked us to stay until they saw if there were other mates amongst our numbers. They did promise no one would be forced to do anything, even if they were a mate. I mean, while we were waiting to meet all these new shifters we were given places to stay, food, and now training on things like growing crops or self-defense. I genuinely could not see why Clarisse had such an issue with it. But that didn't mean I wanted to be the reason why she was forced back here. Convincing her to come back, if we could find her, would be one thing. But after all that happened recently, I doubted she could be convinced any time soon.

So, yes, I exempted some things when I was telling them what had happened. I told them what Clarisse had done and how I came to be knocked out, and subsequently kidnapped. Even if I didn't consider what had happened was a kidnapping. I mean, I woke up in the same woods I had been knocked out in and let go soon after.

I told them vague information about how the woman was indeed the person traveling around the place, rescuing women from men who bought them from The Gathering. "In fact, that's how Clarisse got her to try and take me. Even if I was a shifter's mate, she's made it her goal to rescue those who were taken against their will. Clarisse just didn't tell her I didn't need or want rescuing."

We once more sat in Eric's office for the conversation. Jonah kept me on his lap, refusing to let me go. While I felt both like rolling my eyes and smiling happily at the fact, it was useful to calm him each time he growled in anger at parts of my story. He was so loving that between holding me to him and his growls reverberating up my body, he would raise a sandwich to my lips each time I wasn't talking.

Eric did try to get more out of me. I wasn't really withholding information. I was just choosing my words carefully. Like, I wasn't coming straight out and saying the woman was a shifter. But I was addressing her mannerisms when I woke up and what she said. I also didn't tell them about how I thought this mission was a personal one. It was not necessary to tell them what happened.