Page 81 of Pack Kasen: Part 1

He sinks into a seat at the front of the room. “She did not. But I know when I’m telling the story to someone for the first time or the fifth. She knew it, but not all of it.” His expression is thoughtful. “Someone told the story when she was too young to hear the bloody parts. I definitely leave out those part when pups are too young.”

I’ve heard both versions, and the bloody version is more exciting than the vague story he told us kids.

I frown. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It would explain things,” Finan says.

I’ve spoken to Tagge and other pack leaders during Council, and their version alters in some small way, as stories passed down by word often do.

People tell stories in different ways and Gregor is a brilliant storyteller. No one will tell the story like he does.

But for her to even know the beginning of the first shifter tale is… curious.

I sit back in my seat, thinking.

“She’s a shifter,” Joy declares, her tone triumphant.

I glare at her. “Or someone told her that part of the story. Maybe the shifter who bit her and turned her into a feral.”

“You think a shifter bit her then decided to tell her astory?” Joy snorts. “Sure.”

I look at her.

Emilio steps in front of her, blocking her from view. And soon yelps when Joy nudges him aside, growling. “I fight my own battles. Quit protecting me.”

When he turns to whisper something in her ear, Cruz blows out a sigh and side-steps them.

I don’t know what Emilio just said to put a slow, pleased smile on Joy’s face, but from Cruz’s response, I’m positive I don’t want to hear it.

Things haven’t been adding up with the feral. Maybe that’s why I’ve been so reluctant to kill her. I need answers before I can feel right about killing her, otherwise I wouldn’t have closure.

“She was having a nightmare in my room. Something about her dad and a basement,” Gregor says, frowning. “I hadn’t wanted to tell you because it seemed personal, but if it will save her life, then it’s important you know it.”

“That makes no sense.” I frown. “Why would someone keep her in a basement?”

He shrugs. “Find that out and you might learn why she recognizes some shifter history, but not all of it. Like maybe she lost her pack.”

I shake my head. “No pack is missing a child.”

Once, a long time ago, there was. But that child died. It was one of the few times in shifter history that so many packs banded together with one goal.

“Maybe she belongs to a smaller pack you don’t know?” Finan suggests.

“I like nothing more than to curse out the email system we have for the Council, but if a shifter child went missing, all a pack would need to do is go to a Wolf Lord or come to me and we would do anything we could to find the child,” I say.

Children have always been precious. It is why, when we build our schoolrooms, we build them in the safest place we can: at the heart of our territory.

Even if two packs were at war with each other, they would still do what they could to find a missing child. I know this because it has happened before.

“Has she told you anything?” Gregor asks.

I shake my head. “Just things Finan said.” I glare at my beta. “I don’t appreciate you telling her about the schoolroom. That information is?—”

“I didn’t tell her anything about the schoolroom,” he quietly interrupts. “I told her about the reason for the cage, and the harm a feral can do, but I said nothing about the schoolroom. That is important information I would never share with an outsider.”

I sit back in my seat again. Everything I learn about this feral confuses me even more.

If anyone else had denied telling her about the schoolroom, I’d suspect them of lying, but not Finan. He’s honest. Too honest at times.

---