Page 14 of The Wolf's Secret Baby

“He used to beat us. He wanted to prove to everyone that we weren’t better than other wolves. He did so time and time again,” I added.

“He never gave us any peace.”

Fear flickered on Ambrosia’s face, and I could tell that she was terrified about what he might do to her. “We won’t let him take you,” I said gently. Typhon turned towards her and added to my words. “You are here because of us, and we will not let anyone take you. You don’t have to worry about Siv.”

“Good, that just leaves me with a hundred other things to worry about. Can’t you see that I’m not made for this life?” she pleaded but her words fell on deaf ears. We weren’t going to let her leave. We couldn’t. That would make us seem even weaker than we already were.

“I’m hungry,” Typhon announced. He left to fetch us some meat. I could see hope flit across Ambrosia’s face, but it was only fleeting.

“You thought we were going to leave you alone here, didn’t you?” I said.

“It crossed my mind. I suppose it was too much to ask.”

“We are not fools, even if we are treated as such,” I muttered.

She studied me for a few moments. The way her shimmering green eyes stared at me made my heart thrum powerfully. I thought of how sweet she tasted, how wild her passion had been, and I wondered if we would be able to share something like that with her again.

“You understand what I’m saying, don’t you? About your past. You can see things in a different way to Typhon.” The more she spoke, the more it became clear that she was not bluffing about her skills. The insight she possessed was alarming. It was as though she could see into my very thoughts.

“Typhon has always been blinded by his ambition to become what they wanted us to be. He takes it as a personal failing that we are treated as we are. He believes that if we can prove ourselves to them then things will change. I know they won’t, because it doesn’t matter what we do. They will always see us the same way.”

“That’s a mature way to approach things. You can never define yourself by what other people think, because what they want is arbitrary and even when you think you’ve done what you need to do, they shift their expectations and suddenly you have an entirely new problem.”

I nodded, feeling pleased that I could gain her respect like this. “Unfortunately, Typhon cannot seem to grasp this no matter how much I tell him. He clings to this idea that one day we will be given a small pack to command and that people will respect us. Sometimes I think it’s the only thing that keeps him sane.”

“What makes you different?” she asked. The question took me by surprise.

“What do you mean?”

“You and Typhon are so similar, especially in appearance. You were born together, presumably bred from the same genetic material. But experiences shape people differently. People can go through exactly the same event, and yet come out of it different people. You don’t seem to hold Vance or the rest of the pack in the same reverence as Typhon does. So why is that? I noticed how you reacted when Typhon mentioned someone, a woman. Who was she?”

I scowled as she hit her target. There was something unerring about her words. I clasped my hands together and began to pace around the alcove.

“You might as well tell me, Kull. At best I can help and at worst it kills time and fills the silence,” she said. I remained silent for the moment. “If it helps, I’ll tell you something about myself.”

I stopped pacing and stared at her. She had an earnest look in her eyes. I supposed there was no harm speaking about it considering that it was old news.

“Her name is Hana. You saw her today with Vance.”

“The one who struck me?” Ambrosia lifted her hand to her cheek as she asked this question.

I nodded. “Indeed. We grew up together. She was different from the others. She used to smile at me. When we were alone, we would share things together. As we grew older, we used to run into the forest and steal moments together. Things seemed wonderful. I used to tell her about how things used to be for us, and how I wished that they could be different. She told me that it didn’t always have to be this way. She held my hand. She kissed me. I fell in love. I thought that everything was going to be fine as long as we could be together. She was the one person I trusted other than Typhon, but she hurt me.”

“What did she do?” Ambrosia asked.

“She asked me to meet her near a waterfall. She said that it was going to be special, that she wanted to share something precious with me. She told me to wait for her naked. I rushed out and sat on a rock near the waterfall. I could feel the spray of water on my back. I waited and waited, until Hana appeared. She wasn’t alone. She had brought other wolves, Siv among them. They pointed and laughed at me, humiliating me. They said I was stupid for ever believing that a real wolf would want to sully themselves by being with me and they parroted some ofthe secrets I had told Hana. From the very beginning it had been a lie. Everything we shared and spoke about had all been some ploy to taunt me. I confessed my heart to Hana, but she had never been interested in me. She had been put up to it by the others. It was just another way for them to bully us.”

“That’s horrible,” she gasped.

I closed my eyes. I hadn’t thought about this acute pain for a long time. “That’s when I realized something that Typhon never has. This pack is cruel and they’re never ever going to see us as equals. We are always going to be lesser to them. There’s no coming back from being treated like that.”

“So why do you stay?” she asked.

“This is our home. We have nowhere else to go and if we did leave how would that look to Vance? They would chase us down and, finally, they would have a reason to attack us without holding anything back. It would be a death sentence.”

Ambrosia had a troubled look on her face. “I’m sorry Kull. I really am. Hearing what you and Typhon have been through… nobody should ever have to go through that.”

“Even though we captured you?” I asked. The corner of her mouth was tugged into a slight smile.

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