Frankford told me Val had requested to speak to me. I told him to go to hell and the old man sighed deeply, rubbing a hand over his forehead.
"It's not really a request, lady. I recommend making it quick so you can get it over with now."
He paused for a second and then turned back to me again.
"And so I don't have to drag you there kicking and screaming."
Something about the exhausted fed-up old look in his eyes told me he truly meant what he said. I tried to picture it, this old meaty man dragging me down all the many hallways. Finally, I stood up and followed behind him as he walked. It was true that this would happen one way or another. Anyways I had grown a tiny, small bit fond of Frankford and the guy might have had a heart attack from the stress if I truly made him drag me there.
I was perhaps the first ever prisoner of the Valeriano pack, and even if I wanted to escape them my odds were doubtful with twenty five children with me. And I knew I could never leave them, especially if leaving meant endangering them. So my only option was to bide my time until the older kids would be capable of escaping themselves.
We headed down the same corridor we had used to get to the bedrooms, and then in an unfamiliar direction again. I had started the slow and meticulous process of memorizing the property. So far, I only knew the way to get to the nursery from the bedrooms by heart.
Finally, after just a couple turns we ended up in a breakfast nook. It was a cubby-like kitchen with rock walls, tile floors, and lots of natural light from the rooftop window. There was only a small table with four chairs. It was nearly 8 o'clock at night and breakfast seemed unlikely. Frankford gestured for me to take a seat. I yanked the chair out and did what he said.
After just a moment the musky smell of fir trees surrounded me and I swallowed. Val walked around the table and sat across from me. The bags under her eyes were turning purple, like she wasn't sleeping at night. Everest was suffering inside of me, which meant I was suffering in a strange sort of way.
Her eyes danced across my face, from the top of my head to my hair and finally to my eyes. She let out a deep breath and leaned forward towards me. I hated her, truly, but I couldn't deny that Val was a beautiful woman. Her black hair curled down just around her collarbones, her full lips opened to speak.
I steeled myself against her. Beautiful or not, a murderer is a murderer. And some sins were not meant to be forgiven.
"What is your name?"
"Liana."
Everest let out a small whine of relief. Val looked at me shocked. I had decided to ease my wolf's suffering at least a little bit. Afterall, keeping her from our mate had started to make her feel weak. Everest would never dare complain of it for my sake, but I knew she couldn't keep up the facade of strength forever.
"Liana. I'm going to tell you a story."
She spoke firmly. As though it was an inevitable incident approaching and I had no means to stop it. I frowned, and seeing the displeasure on my face made her twitch. Part of me liked being able to hurt her, especially by doing so little. As far as I was concerned, she deserved it.
When I didn't oppose her in any direct way, she continued to speak. Val started to tell me about her older sister named Rosaura who had been born under a blood moon. Rosaura had been born completely blind with ice white hair. She had no wolf inside of her, and their parents had been devastated. There was a bitterness in Val's voice when she spoke of her father and his reaction to it, saying he deemed her birth to be a complete and utter failure. Val told me of how she and Liam treasured Rosaura. How she had been a very, very good sister. She was sarcastic and witty and resourceful despite her blindness.
Rosaura had been twenty years old, and Val had been only seventeen when it happened. In the dead of night, an unfamiliar set of wolves from far away had broken into their compound. They had less airtight security in those days, she explained. Nobody had expected anything to happen, least of all to Rosaura, because what would anyone want with a blind woman with no wolf?
And yet, in the dead of night these wolves broke into Rosaura's room with the intent to take her. Their father had happened across the scene and tried to fight the intruders- to no avail. He was murdered in her bedroom and then they took Rosaura and left. Liam and Val never saw her again.
She opened her mouth to continue and I stared at her in disbelief.
"My father would never have done that."
Val's eyes had grown misty as she was telling the story to me. At my protest, she paused and locked eyes with me again.
"Your father told me and all of my men that he did."
I bit my lip so hard I drew blood. Hearing the story of what had happened, sealed by my father's own deathbed confession was getting to me. My hands were shaky and uncertain. I couldn't imagine my dad ever doing something like this- not in my worst nightmares.
The touch of Val's warm hands from across the table startled me. She had taken a handkerchief and dabbed at the blood on my lip carefully.
"I'm fine."
The edge in my voice was biting and hateful even still. I couldn't help myself. I pulled her hand away with my own and averted my eyes from her not before seeing the way her breath caught from my touch.
"Alright, so my father killed your father and took your sister. Why?"
Val looked hurt by the sharpness of my tone. But she didn't waver or seem to take it too personally. She just carried on with her story.
Val explained that when her father died, their mother was never the same. She had locked herself away in his bedroom and refused to come out. She didn't eat or drink or sleep. She was unconsolable, both over his death and the loss of her oldest child. Three months later she took her own life.
I started to feel sick.
Val explained that after their mother's death, it had all become too unbearable for both herself and her little brother Liam. They decided they had to take revenge however high the cost became. They went to the neighbors west first, asking anyone if they had seen any strange wolves the night their father died. Then they travelled to the closest northern neighbors and found out a strange group of wolves had slept in an inn of the town that night. As the years stretched longer the leads became tighter. One group seemed to be protecting these strange wolves and they had killed the Alpha for his refusal to help them.
The next week, their own compound was attacked by a small group led by the pack's beta and they lost six strong men. This was the time when they resolved to kill anyone who was deemed by them to be directly involved. For many years they had no luck in finding any hint of Rosaura anywhere.
Until she came to our territory. She had been told directly by someone in the last town they entered that the Alpha of our pack was involved. That they had seen him dragging a girl with white hair through the woods five years before and had kept it to themselves.
She told me of how she finally felt they were close- that they were going to find her sister. That all of the bloodshed and horror she had committed would be ended and then she laid eyes on me.
I still hadn't returned my gaze to her. Based on her story, I was fairly certain the information she got about my father would have come from the pack nearest to us on the east. My anger had dissolved into horror at the new information. I didn't want to look at her.
"Liana-"
My chest felt strange when she said my name. I finally met her eyes and scowled.
"I don't believe you."
My voice lacked conviction, even I could hear it.
"I'm telling the truth, the only way that I know it."
I stood up abruptly, my chair scraping on the floor as I did. I wanted to escape her. She looked at me the way a man dying of thirst looks at water in a desert. She smelled like home and her full lips commanded my attention. Everest begged me to go back, and listen to what she was saying.
"I'm sorry I can't right now, I just need to be-"
When I looked up again Val was inches away and I couldn't breath in for fear of being enveloped in her scent. She looked relieved and calm but her eyes told a story of restlessness. She pushed a small strand of hair out of my eyes and looked down at me, starved.
"It's okay, I know. Come to me when you're ready."