Page 70 of His Lycan Luna Queen

“You won’t keep anything like this from me again. I understand why you did. But we could have figured it out together.”

“Sia was trying to weasel her way into the Kingdom. She was very insistent that I change her. I wanted to wait. When I refused her, she went to Liam and tried to have him kill me.”

“She wanted access to my kingdom?”

“It appeared so. All she talked about was coming here and me changing her. It set off alarm bells, yet I never figured out her intention. She never told Liam anything that was suspicious, either.”

It makes me wonder how she got involved with the hunters in the first place.

“Then, when I thought we figured it out, and she was willing to accept me, I walked into an ambush. Luckily, Liam knew me better than her. Brotherhood won,” he tells me. It explains why he and Liam are joined at the hip usually. I nod in understanding, thankful it also did.

“You can go, maybe see if Abbie and Azalea want to help Tandi. It will keep them distracted while we try to figure out this Larkin issue,” I tell him. Gannon nods, getting up from hisseat and walking out, leaving me with much to think about. This puzzle is getting larger and the pieces more complicated to place.

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

AZALEA

Later that afternoon

We’re sitting on the cellar floor, sifting through documents and photographs of the orphanage children. Tandi hands them off to Abbie after she’s done examining each one, and Abbie re-stacks them back into the boxes. Yet, the deeper we delve into everything, the more disheartened Tandi becomes.

“How old would Paige be now?” I ask.

“Seven in February,” she replies with a sigh.

“Well, that rules these kids out,” Abbie comments, passing me a pile full of toddler photos. “We might have to do a DNA test. She could look different from how you remember?” Abbie suggests.

“I will recognize her,” Tandi asserts confidently.

“How can you be so sure?” I question.

“I’m her mother, and she has a scar. It runs down one side of her face, from her chin to her hairline. She fell off the stairs when she was three and landed on a glass table,” she explains. “Brock beat me good for that one. I wasn’t even watching her at that time, she was with the sitter because I had to work since heprovided nothing. He broke three of my ribs that night and I had to borrow money for her cough medicine of Crux,” she says, her mind taking her back to some god awful memory that makes her shudder before she returns to us with a shake of her head. “I’ll grab the next box,” she states.

My stomach churns as I hear this while she continues to sift through the photos.

“Well, I’ll start with this pile then,” I tell her.

Tandi talks about such tragic circumstances so casually; it’s as if she’s become desensitized to her own trauma. It saddens me how much suffering she’s endured since our days at the orphanage when she was still Taylor.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Abbie admits, rubbing her arms as she sets the box back on the shelf.

I glance over my shoulder at her and nod. We spend hours in the cellars combing through every child’s information until Tandi tosses the last document into the box - none of them are Paige.

Just as Damian walks in to check on us, Tandi gets up and starts walking towards the stairs, looking defeated.

“Hun?” he asks as she heads for the stairs, he reaches for her, but she pulls her arm away before he can grab her and dashes up the stairs. Damian turns to look at Abbie and me, confusion in his eyes.

“None of them were Paige,” I tell him, heart aching for Tandi.

Damian swallows hard, staring after Tandi as she disappears upstairs. “Go, Damian, take the afternoon off. I’ll speak to Kyson and let him know,” I reassure him.

“Thank you, Azalea,” he says gratefully, then rushes off after Tandi.

Abbie and I pack everything up before climbing the stairs and emerging from the pantry. As we do so, Tanner is standing in thekitchen looking rather lost, clutching his wide-brimmed hat in his hands.

“Tanner, what can I help you with?” Clarice asks, entering the kitchen from the foyer.

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