The Ruined Luna

Nine

Kyrian

(TW)

'She already looks a little better.' Kyrian thought as Britta and Jolene entered his office and sat down in the chairs he'd indicated.

One night of sleep had erased the puffiness beneath her eye, and she had more color in her face. He nodded to himself. It was promising.

"Good morning, Alpha." Britta said, beginning the conversation smoothly.

"Good morning." He replied, turning to look at Jolene. "I hope you were comfortable."

Her expression was different than it had been yesterday. Instead of the vacant stare, today it was searching, absorbing everything around her. Alert. Good.

"Yes." She said, meeting his gaze for a long minute. "Thank you."

"Our pleasure. What brought you ladies in to see me so early?"

Britta and Jolene exchanged a look before the female blew out a soft breath and squared her shoulders. "I want to know why I'm not allowed to leave."

'Doesn't pull any punches, does she?' Avery commented dryly over the mental link.

"Was something wrong?" he asked carefully, folding his hands on top of his desk.

Jolene flicked her eyes at Britta again, then continued. "I asked Britta. She said no, because of what could happen to me or because of me. What does that mean?"

He frowned deeply. He had hoped there would be more time before they'd have to get into this. "Are you sure you want to know right now? I'll tell you, but I want to be sure you're ready to hear the answer."

She paused, her head tilting to the side and her brow furrowing. "Will being ready or not change the answer?"

Kyrian sighed. "No. It will not."

"Then I want to know."

He leaned back in his chair. "Not all of the Rogue's responsible for the events that lead you here were killed."

Her expression didn't flicker, so he continued. "It took them five years to achieve the impossible and turn a human into a wolf. This is because werewolf bites contain venom, which was previously thought to be toxic to humans without exception. It's unthinkable, to put it crudely, that they would succeed and find you. There was no rhyme or reason to their victimology beyond chance. Timing. Neither we, nor they, understand why you survived while all the others didn't."

Jolene shook her head. "What does that have to do with—"

"It has everything to do with it." He interrupted calmly. "Do you think that if even one of the Rogues are alive, that they will not do everything in their power to get you back and find out why? Or, if you were to die, that they wouldn't begin to rebuild and try again?"

What little color she had regained drained away from her face. "They...would try again."

It wasn't a question, but he nodded and answered anyway. "That sort of fervent zealot, I doubt would stop. Not when they're so close to achieving their goal."

Her brows winged up. "Wasn't I their end goal?"

"A means to and end, maybe. A catalyst. Whatever they had planned for you, it didn't end with the change, or the training they put you through before being discovered."

She sucked her lip into her mouth, worrying it between her small white teeth. Kyrian had the strangest urge to touch her face and coax her to release it.

"You don't know why though. Why they did all of that."

"No, I don't. We were hoping you did." He murmured gently, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the desktop.

Jolene shook her head, any emotion she'd had beginning to show wiped off her face in an instant. "No. They never said."

There was something in the way she held herself, the almost earnest gleam in her eye that made him think she wasn't telling the complete truth. But he didn't pursue it. "And until we know what made them want to change a human, what they wanted to gain by doing it, you aren't safe outside of pack protection. By being alive, it might stop them from doing what they did to you and all those other women from happening. At least for a time."

For just a moment, her mask slipped, and he glimpsed the scared and frightened woman beneath. Then it was gone, the mask once again firmly in place.

"Your pack will be in danger. If not from the Rogues, you worry about me hurting them."

"Do you want to hurt them?" Avery asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Her smile was bitter. "Even if I said no, would you believe it?"

"No."

Jolene laughed humorlessly. "At least your honest."

"We don't think you'll hurt anyone on purpose." Britta cut in, glaring at her mate. "We just want to be sure it won't happen on accident either."

"So, what do you people want from me, exactly?" Jolene snapped, eye narrowing on Kyrian again.

"The ability to give you time and peace to heal." Kyrian replied smoothly. "You're not confined to the cabin. You're free to move about the pack lands as you like as long as Tripp and Rita are with you. A precaution until things have settled down. This doesn't have to be a temporary home if you don't want it to be."

"I want my freedom!" she cried, slamming her hands down on her thighs.

"I'm sorry. It's the one thing I can't give you."

She trembled, like she was fighting to hold herself in. Britta leaned away as Avery pushed himself off the wall, hands held loosely at his sides, waiting.

But after a moment, she swallowed hard and pushed the urge to shift she struggled with down and glared at all of us.

"So be it, master." She snarled then wrenched herself to her feet and left the room, slamming it behind her.

Britta sighed and dropped her face into her hands. "Damn it."

"She was going to find out eventually." Avery stated.

His mate's head snapped up. "I know that! But...I was almost reaching her, I think."

Avery's face softened. "That's gonna take a long time, Brit."

"We should give her something to do, maybe it would give her something to focus on besides everything else." Kyrian muttered aloud.

"She was pursuing a Forestry Degree, according to the information we gathered." Britta offered.

"A Forestry Degree?" Kyrian grunted. "That would be pretty useful with managing the pack lands sustainability. We've got nearly thirteen thousand acres to work with."

"You think giving her access to maps and compound blueprints is a safe bet?" Avery asked.

Kyrian glared at his friend. "Are you ever going to not question every decision I make?"

Avery shrugged. "Nope. Who else has the balls to tell you your being stupid to your face?"

"Get out of my office."

"Yes. Alpha."