0124
Mallory
Neah hasn't said anything for about five minutes. Her silence makes me more nervous than when she is talking.
I pour myself another cup of tea and slowly take a biscuit from the plate. No sudden movements, that was my best bet. Or maybe she didn't believe a single word I said. I really hope that wasn't the case. It had taken a lot to reveal my history. Only Damien knew what I had told her.
I nibble on the biscuit, watching her. Her eyes weren't black. Another good sign I hoped, but then again, they hadn't changed colour when she tortured Roan.
Another few minutes pass and the panic is really sinking in. This was it. I am going to die.
"Okay." "Huh?"
"One chance." The words are slow to trickle from her tongue but she said the thing I least expected. I guess I was more certain than I thought that she was actually going to kill me.
"Sure." I nod my head frantically. For years I had felt in control of my own life until I had come here. But I never truly was while my past played havoc with my head.
"I can't promise that I will find your presence easy." She furrows her brow, unsure that she had made the right choice. "But I will try as long as you don't fuck me over."
"Yes Alpha."
There's a sudden flash of darkness in her beautiful blue eyes. A warning from her Lycan I hope. Rather than a sign the darkness is pressing forward.
"I will do anything." I had been so against the idea of Damien sending me here with Dane and his brother.
It was the very last place on Earth that I wanted to be.
But in my heart I knew what I had to do.
She is the Alpha and she probably would have found me eventually and then, everything could have been so much worse.
She rises from her seat. But she still looks as though she has the weight of the world on her shoulders.
"I can track her down." I murmur. "I saw the car, the registration plate. I can find her. My bet is she isn't that far outside the pack."
Her brows knit together and she sucks in her cheeks.
"You don't have to do anything, but it could be beneficial to know where she is hiding. Maybe I can do a little more digging on her for you."
"She might shoot you." Neah mumbles.
"We both know you are not worried about that."
She hesitates and lifts her eyes to meet mine. "You can't tell anyone, including Damien."
"Of course." Though I'm pretty sure if Damien gets a whiff, he will be on to me. Sometimes, he knew me better than I knew myself.
Neah heads to the door, pausing her hand over the handle. "Thank you for answering my questions." She leaves without looking back and I find myself tearing up. Maybe there is a chance for us.
In the afternoon, I take my mug and head out to sit on the stone porch.
My heart no longer felt so tightly wound up, but I still had to be careful.
There was still a chance that Neah could decide I wasn't worth it. Damien is heading my way with Dorothy skipping along beside him. She is a cracking kid, but just like the rest of us, she came with her own issues.
She throws her arms around my hips as she reaches me. "Mallory." She beams as she stares up at me with her bright green eyes.
"How did it go?" Damien eyes me as though he was expecting the worst.
"Okay."
He cocks a brow at me.
"Seriously Damien. We talked for hours. She asked me questions and I told her as much as I could."
"Everything?"
I nod my head. "I wasn't risking keeping anything hidden. She probably would have seen through it anyway.
"Time makes a difference." He mumbles
I shake my head at him. "Actually, Klaus gave me some good advice."
"Klaus?" He mutters in surprise.
I nod. "Apart from you. He's the only person that seems to like me being around."
"I do too." Dorothy yells as she picks some of the flowers from the small patch of garden.
Damien narrows his dark eyes at me. "Are you and him....mates?"
I shake my head almost laughing. "No. No he is not my mate. I'm just saying, he isn't as annoying as I first thought."
Dororthy brings me the bunch of daisies that she had picked and I start putting them together to make a daisy chain. She stares at me in amazement, telling me that I'm so clever.
"Did you really come to check on me?" I ask Damien as Dorothy dances around with the daisy chain on her head like a crown.
"I had to check if you were still alive." He bumps his shoulder into me, laughing. "So she has accepted you?"
"She's giving me a chance to prove myself." I shrug my shoulders. "It's all I can ask for."
Damien and Dorothy stay for a little while. It was funny to see how far he had come from the beast I had first met. Never in a million years did I think we would end up in a life like this. And there was no way I was losing it, not now she was giving me a chance.
I wait until after dark before slipping out.
Climbing up into the trees of the forest without being seen.
Up high, it was easy enough to move from branch to branch all the way to the edge of the pack.
There were some guards on duty, but the second their backs were turned as they looked for me and my scent.
I jump and run. The sooner I got information for Neah, the better.
But I was doing this the old way.
No tech. I needed to witness things with my own eyes.
Breaking into a parked car was children's work. It was an older red nissan. It didn't really draw the eye because it wasn't fancy and that was exactly what I needed.
I head towards the city.
That was where Damien had last seen her.
Though, she was probably smart enough to know that staying in one place won't do her any favours. Yet from what she was wearing, it wasn't like she was hiding in a cave or a run down building.
She had somewhere she called home.
Somewhere to fix her makeup and store her overly expensive clothes.
I was just about to head back to Black Shadow when I see her car poking out from behind some bins. They had tried concealing it on a drive next to a quaint house.
Quietly moving around the bins, I check the plate. This was definitely it and for now, it was all I needed.
I turn and head back up the street towards the stolen car when I catch a whiff of a familiar scent.
Jenson steps out of the shadows by the parked car. His arms folded across his wide chest. A crisp black suit covered his frame. Something I never expected him to wear. "Mallory." My name leaves his tongue like a poison as he rolls the last few letters of my name. "What are you up to, Mallory?"
My eyes narrow and he starts tutting at me with tiny head shakes as he steps closer, towering over me. Though I could make him look like a child if I shifted.
"I see she has you wrapped around her manicured fingers."
"Why are you here, Mallory? Did lover boy send you?" He chuckles to himself at the sad comment. Some things never change.
When had he turned so dark? Damien was right about one thing, Jenson would have fit in perfectly with the Rogues. Maybe that's what Blair saw in him.
"I came alone." I had no idea if he had linked her yet. My best bet was to keep him talking. "I was curious."
"About?"
"Blair. She looks just like Neah, are they twins?" I lie.
He had seen how short tempered Neah was with me.
Even the other day when Blair had turned up and he had been in the car.
, he could see Neah looked pissed with me.
"It's none of your business." He curls a lip in annoyance that I had even asked
"You are right. It's my downfall. Curiosity has always gotten the better of me." I keep lying. I could lie to anyone as long as it isn't my Alpha.
He presses his lips into a thin line and glances at the old red car.
"I stole it." I blurt out. "Dane would never let me bring a car out to look for you."
He nods. He seemed to actually believe me.
"You were stupid to come alone, Mallory."
"It's not like I have anyone on my side anymore." I shrug my shoulders. "Damien has Raven. The pack hates me. I wanted to find somewhere I would feel welcome." Every lie feels like fire burning my insides. "Then why did you stop Blair?"
"I was still trying to help. I've spent so long trying to help, but it's time to give up." I drop my shoulders, trying to look defeated. "Is Blair here?"
"She's working."
"Oh." I deflate even more. Trying to keep the look of surprise buried. What work did she do and why was her car still here?
"Get in the car and go home."
"It's not my home." I mutter. "But I will go."
He watches me slide into the car and start the engine. Only backing onto the pavement when I start to move. I had got what I needed for now.