LIAS

fend myself, to shout that I wasn't lying, that Golden was real and terrified somewhere wit

"She's agreed to a healer's examination.That

e another octave."You're actually g

ldly."Whether he's mine or not, th

his is all an elaborate scheme to worm her way back into yo

," Zeke sai

ery word, "is that you nee

se.You have to listen to me.She's dangerous.She's

ing together," Zeke sai

Cam

with emotions I couldn't name.Finally, she grabbed Cameron's hand and yanked him out of the offi

followed felt hea

ified," I s

to look at m

y arms around myself."She tried to kill me once, Zeke.She pushed

kno

ement made me b

ecomposed but the timeline was wrong.The injuries didn't match a fall from the cliffs.There were

't exactly accuse her of

just let

atched.The pack accepted that you'd fallen, that your body had washed up

d n

t.It hit me like a physical blow,familiar and foreign all at once."Now I ca

ago you didn't think you needed it either,

ing.I'd believed my sister loved me despite her jealousy.I'd be

t person any

in his expression shifted."

ad t

" he said."After the fa

s in the water, the cold certainty that I was dying, the shock of waking up

checking her nets when she saw my body washed up on the shore.She p

were you u

e mon

ed."Three mont

er what happened at first.Didn't remember fa

en I remembered Layla pushing me, I knew I couldn't come

ady pregnant w

d been trying but nothing had happened and I just ass

have what?"I interrupted."Welcomed me with open arms while Layla was

t baby," Zeke

on hit me sid

r you disappeared."I did the math in my head.Cameron looked about three years old, maybe slightly younger.If Layla had miscarried and then

.Whatever Layla had done to me, losing a child was

n us again. "She blamed herself.Said if she hadn't been so up

ed to finish

" I said firmly."What matters is fin

see the pack healer tonight.She'll do the e

eone show you to your quarters.Yo

where we used to sleep together.Good.I didn'

wing is fin

again but hesitated b

cel

at

t I said. I

romise y

'd never met the boy, never held him, never heard his laugh or wiped away h

him alive,"

all I ca