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My jaw drops as he outlines that revelation.

“You faked a whole person? For years?”

“Baby girl, that is the beginning of my malfeasance,” he smirks broadly. “You have no idea the layers of my potential deception.”

He has never been so hot as he is right now, sitting in the back of a van, legs spread in that man-spreading way that can be so arrogant in the wrong context, but so fucking hot in the right one. He looks so completely in control, and right now I need someone to be in control.

I cock my head as I realize he’s even more competent than I imagined. I always thought that these business guys were boring. That, I realize, is a luxury I should not have allowed myself. These men are playing games with lives, sometimes millions of lives. And mine is just another life to be toyed with according to Rick and his pack.

I’m an outcast now. I’ll never go home again. I’ll never trust Rick again.

I start to sob as I let the truth sink into me. I’ve lost the last of my family. They’re all gone. My parents were killed and Rick is a fucking idiot pawn who would send me to a complete stranger who doesn’t even exist.

Henry holds me while I cry. He doesn’t make me explain myself, and he doesn’t try to make me stop. He wraps his arms around me and lets me be miserable while he sweeps me off to… I don’t even know where, and I don’t care. Anywhere but what used to be home.

Eventually, I stop. I’m still miserable, but the wave has crashed over and through me and I have to cease my tears for the moment. The van is still moving. I don’t know where we are headed, and I confess I don’t really care. What does it matter now? Everywhere in the world that had significance to me is no longer safe.

I wipe my tears on his shirt, which he accepts with an indulgent half-smile. The back of my hand goes to my eyes and wipes, then I lower it down my cheek, my neck, and find the collar still clasped in place around my neck.

When this first went on I was terrified. I didn’t know what the fuck was happening; all I knew is that I was being deprived of the defenses of my wildness.

“You got them to put silver on me?”

“Yes. Last thing I needed was you panicking and running off in wolf form. I know what you’re like.”

I pout, but I guess he’s right. If I had gotten into my wolf form, everyone in that office would have been dead. I don’t know if I would have stopped there, either. I think the fury and the rage and the fear would have turned me into a monster of some legend.

“I should introduce you to Jacob,” Henry says, ignoring my pout and instead gesturing to the lead kidnapper. “He’s one of my best field operatives.”

“Hi,” I say to Jacob, who I almost stabbed not that long ago.

“Hello,” he says. He flickers a little wink at me.

“Hi,” I repeat. “Sorry for being hard to kidnap or whatever.”

“No problem,” he says. “You did a great job.”

I smile a little. I am starting to feel better, in the way you do when everything is fucked up and ruined and will never be okay and you’re going to be sad forever, but there’s a little bit of levity in amongst it all.

Henry snugs me up against his body again, reminding me I am safe without saying a word. Nobody is going to send me to Russia.

“Field operatives? Sounds like you run your pack like a military operation.”

“Maybe less military operation, more secret service,” Henry says. “We’ve found a niche to occupy, and I’d say we do it rather well.”

“Really? I want to know more.”

“Of course you do,” he smiles. “And you will. But for now, you need to maintain a low profile. If you get spotted in the city when you’re supposed to be in Russia, that’s going to be hard to explain.”

“Do we care?”

“Yes,” he says. “This is part of a bigger move.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your brother is out of his depth and is being used like a pawn by the people who should be helping him,” he explains.

“I know. He doesn’t seem to notice. I don’t know why. He used to be smart.”