0125
Blair
"You want to have another person help me?" I seethe, throwing more wine back my throat.
Jenson stares at me with his dark eyes.
He still hadn't grasped on to the fact that besides him, no one else worked for or with me. "Neah hates her. You saw it yourself when Mallory jumped down from that tree. The look in Neah's eyes said it all."
"Then why hasn't she killed her yet?" I refill my glass as he thinks of something to say. "According to you, they have been in the pack for how long? A year?"
"Something like that." He shrugs his shoulders as though the length of time didn't make a difference. "Maybe my brother isn't letting her."
I snort, holding back the hysterical laughter that was trying to bubble from my throat.
"It hasn't stopped her before." Jenson had told me about the all the others that my darling sister had killed, so what made this Mallory so damn special? "Wouldn't it be beneficial to have someone on the inside?" He presses.
"And you think she is the one. How do you expect her to get information if Neah hates her."
"She's best friends with Damien."
"And? That doesn't mean anything if they are not willing to share information. But I am impressed that she found my home. She's the first to have ever done that." I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Tell me again what she said to you?"
He rolls his eyes at me, repeating everything Mallory had told him. "Why didn't you just link me?" I ask when he is finished.
"You know I'm not a complete idiot. It was what she was hoping for. I wanted to question her first. Try to figure out where she stands."
I roll my eyes at him and take another mouthful of wine. "What I mean is that if I had heard the information first hand, I could make a proper decision. Second hand information doesn't tell me if she was lying."
"She wasn't." He sounds so sure of himself, but that doesn't mean he is right. I had spent years around liars. Very few were convincing. "If Dane had sent her, he would have sent her using one of the cars from the pack. Not a beat up rust bucket that she broke in to. I know how Dane works. He has always been about flashing his power."
"Unless it wasn't Dane who sent her." I suggest
It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Why does everything I say have to be met with resistance?"
"Oh honey, I've been playing this game a lot longer than you. You may be a little older than me, but all your war based tactics are what you learned from pack life. You see what you need to see. You solve what you need to solve. You fail to see the bigger picture. You were barely surviving when you were on your own."
I pause while he huffs. Why did men never like hearing the truth? Why did they feel they always had to have control and assume their ideas are the correct ideas?
"If she turns up again, and no doubt she will. You call me."
He dips his chin in acknowledgement as I try to figure out if she was genuinely curious or if she was trying to get information to tell Dane and Neah.
Mallory turns up again the following evening. Her dirty blonde hair tied up into a loose messy bun on top of her head. Strands hung down around her pretty face. She gives herself a once over in the rear view mirror before stepping out of the old red car. "Hello Mallory." I mutter from the shadows.
She doesn't falter at my voice like so many others. "I really wasn't expecting you."
"You were hoping for my mate?"
"Yes," She folds her arms across her chest. "Given that he was here yesterday, I expected it to be him. Besides, he wouldn't let me speak to you." Her chocolate eyes move down to my hands. "I see no gun, I hope this means you are not going to shoot me."
She wasn't afraid. In fact she seemed rather confident. Ballsy and I liked it.
"Wasn't it me you wanted to meet with?"
"Yes. But I also expected Jenson not to tell you. He isn't or rather wasn't always so forthcoming with information."
"People learn and things change."
She nods her head in agreement.
"Who sent you, Mallory?"
"No one. I told that to Jenson yesterday. Did he not tell you?" She pauses and really stares at me. "I'm sorry, you just, you just look so much like her. Anyone would believe you were more than half sisters." "Flattery won't work with me."
"I didn't mean it like that. What I meant to say is it's a surprise considering you have different mothers."
"I guess Daddy dearest had strong genes." I muse because she wasn't wrong. When Jenson said Neah and I looked alike, I thought that maybe we might share the same eyes, lips or nose. I can't deny how surprised I was when we met and it was like looking into a mirror.
Mallory nods and tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ears.
She is a pretty little thing.
I noticed that when she jumped down from the tree.
Even with the scar above her plump lips.
She was still a turned Lycan, so the person who bit her must have seen potential. Potential that I was yet to see.
"Why are you here, Mallory?"
A crease forms between her brows, as they dip even lower.
"I'm trying to find my place in the world." she mutters. Her pitch doesn't change and neither does the rhythmic beat of her heart. That's where the true giveaway of a lie hid. "Neah hates me." She continues, "Damien doesn't want me to leave Black Shadow." Her chocolate brown eyes drift up to the darkening sky.
"Sometimes I feel trapped."
"So just leave."
"It's not that simple."
"Of course it is. You are not a Wolf. You are not an official member of the pack. You are a Lycan and not even a true one. You could walk out any time you wanted. The question is, why haven't you?" She scowls, "My mate is in the pack."
Still, her heartbeat doesn't change. Either it was true or she was so good at lying that her body believed it. Her gaze doesn't falter either.
"Has he claimed you?"
"No." She laughs to herself. "The entire pack barely tolerates me, including him because of what I did to Neah years ago." she pauses. "I'm sure Jenson already filled you in on that."
He hadn't said anything about her having a mate, but he had told me that she wasn't overly welcome and the reason why.
"Yet you are still alive."
"Only because they fear Damien. And Damien is Raven's mate, so he has a presence in the pack house." She rocks on her heels. "I'm pretty sure that is the only reason why I am alive. What about you? You have survived." She stares at me, expectantly ""Skills." I mutter.
"Once a Rogue." she responds without batting an eyelid. She nods towards my house where Jenson is standing with his face pressed against the window.
"I was skilled long before I went Rogue. The pack......" Fuck! I just massively fucked up. My desperation to figure out if she was lying or not led me to not covering my own tracks properly. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Think! I internally yell at myself.
"The last pack I took residency in, trained me. Likely similar to Dane training everyone."
She nods and I drape my arm over her shoulders. She knew too much now. I would need to kill her.
"Why don't you come inside?"
"I would, but I'm supposed to be having dinner with Damien tonight. If I'm not there...."
"I understand. But five minutes won't hurt, will it." I offer her a reassuring smile
I steer Mallory away from the shitty car and towards my home. Her shoulders tense a little, like she knew what was coming.
"Deep breaths Mallory. I just want to talk some more."