The name hit me like a slap.
Valeria.
Valeria.
No, it couldn't be.
But as she stepped closer, the sinking feeling in my stomach confirmed what my brain was already screaming.
Black hair like ink, falling to her waist. Those dark eyes, sharp as razors. Once filled with malice and disgust.
Even the slight curve of her lips, like she always knew something you didn't.
Valeria Devereaux.
"Maeve?" she said, her voice soft, almost nervous.
Valeria, the girl that had gone from mocking and grinning at me cruelly, to avoiding me like the plague.
Valeria.
She was one of them too?
I blinked, my mouth opening and closing like I'd forgotten how to speak. "Valeria?"
"Hi," she said finally, brushing her hair behind her ear. Her voice wasn't the confident, teasing tone I remembered. It was tight. Uneasy.
"Hi," I said slowly, still stunned. "You're… here? You're a Lycan? You're like them?"
