One month.
He had one month to make her his mate.
Chapter Eight
One week into her stay Mary sat in the garden playing cards with Jane. Jessica was on the swing staring up at the sun. The girl was taking the death of her family really well. The rest of the men were inside having a meeting. Four cars had arrived that morning, and Mary knew they were all Alphas from different packs. Jane placed her palm on top of the deck as the two cards matched.
“What’s going on with you, Mary?” Jane asked.
“Nothing. I’m just wondering what the meetings all about,” she said, pressing a card on top of the others. Glancing toward Jessica, she couldn’t help but be worried about the young girl.
“She’s doing fine, you know.”
“How do you know? Her family was killed before her eyes. She should be feeling something.”
“The men have been talking, and Jessica was considered a mutt amongst the pack.”
Mary frowned, looking back at Jessica. Whenever she’d been at the house, Jessica was treated like a princess even though she recalled the young girl not smelling like the rest of the pack. In fact, Jessica smelled a lot different from the pack she’d been part of.
“A mutt?”
“Yeah, Roger and Dani were not her real parents. She was a half breed they took in, or at least that’s what rumor is saying.”
Smacking her hand on top of the pack, Mary won the round of cards. Jane chuckled.
“Jessica was not a half breed. She was their daughter. It’s what I was told.”
Jane was looking at her with sympathy.
“What?”
“Mary, you weren’t there all the time. From what I heard you were not allowed to mingle with the group. Jessica talked to you and was punished for it.”
Jerking at what Jane was telling her, Mary knew she’d missed a hell of a lot in her time at the pack. Putting her pile of cards down, she walked over toward the other girl. Jessica didn’t pause in her swinging, and there were tears in her eyes.
“Is it true?” Mary asked.
“About me being a half breed?”
“Yes.”
The young girl nodded. “Yeah. I was never allowed to say anything. I can turn at will, but Roger and Dani threatened to hurt me if I told anyone about what I could do. No one knew half breeds could turn at will. They killed my parents, and my father was a full breed. He mated with my mother, and I was born nine months later. I saw them kill my parents, and they terrified me. When I met you I thought you could save me. I was right. They were all prepared to let me die that night with them.”
“How come you’ve never said anything to me since then?” Mary asked, feeling slightly hurt.
“We’ve not really had time to talk.” Jessica shrugged. “I couldn’t tell anyone, and it was easier to keep the truth to myself.”
Mary couldn’t argue with her. “Why make you pretend to be their daughter?”
“I always wondered about that, but I guess it probably had to do with Zeke and other Alphas visiting. They’d start to ask questions if they saw a ten year old without her parents wandering about the house. They did it to stop being suspected of something.”
“Does Zeke know this?”
Jessica nodded. “They kept files. I didn’t even remember, but without the injections and reading those files I was able to remember everything. I’ve been a wolf a lot longer than you. I was born into it even though I’m a half breed. My dad didn’t turn my mom until after I was born. I have his blood inside me and my mom’s human side whereas you were changed a lot later in life.”
“What the hell happened?” Wrapping her fingers around the metal pole of the swing she listened to Jessica talk.
“They took me when I was ten years old. Roger and Dani made a file up with everything. They experimented on me as well.”
“Did they discover anything?” Mary asked.
“No. They didn’t discover anything, but they couldn’t risk me leaving. For some reason they didn’t kill me and decided I’d serve them well.”
She stopped swinging, and Mary wrapped her arms around the young woman. “They killed my parents, and I was caught up in the fray.”
“It’s okay. You’re safe now.” Mary saw Jane had disappeared inside the house giving them some privacy.
“I’ve heard what they’ve been saying. Roger and Dani are responsible for kidnapping other wolves. They were experimenting on them in the hope to gain power.” Jessica was sobbing. Stroking her blonde hair, Mary listened as they had it all out.
“Jane said you were punished for talking to me,” she said.
“They didn’t want anyone to slip up. They said you were special because of who bit you.”
“What did they do to you?” Mary asked, hating herself for not knowing what was happening when she visited.
“They put me in a cage without food for a couple of days. Others got it a lot worse than I did.”
“If you’d told me I would have put a stop to it,” Mary said.
“I know. They were scary. I couldn’t tell you what was happening. What if you never came back? The best time I remember was when Zeke came for dinner.”
Mary paused. “What?”
“They would spray the house in all different scents, and no one would disappear to the basement. I don’t remember being in the basement, but I must have for them to have experimented on.”
Nothing was making any sense, and Mary knew she would need to talk with Zeke.
“The injections you talked about, what were they?”
“They were supposed to relax us. Tranquilizers with hints of silver to keep us docile so we wouldn’t fight. I’ve read some of the research.”
Mary stared up at the sun. The heat did nothing to warm her bones. Whatever had happened with Roger and Dani, she felt it wasn’t at an end.
“It’s time for dinner,” Jane said, calling out of them.
“Are you coming?” Jessica asked.
“I’ll be there soon.” She smiled at the two women as she made her way around the front of the house. Mary heard the muffling in the background from the kitchen. Entering the study she saw the paperwork spread out across the desk that Zeke had retrieved. A pair of glasses lay on the top of the paperwork. Walking closer she ran her hands over the files, and recognizing Jessica’s name she pulled the file out and opened it. A picture of a young Jessica looked up at her. She hated the sadness in the girl’s eyes. No one should be sad at such a young age. Flicking through the file she saw codes and names of chemicals along with marks out of ten. None of the notes made sense. Flicking through the pages she saw a daily plan of what they forced the girl through. They beat her in order to force the change. After many months Jessica finally changed into a wolf.