Page 3 of Midnight Deception

“They kept this from you your entire life?” She seems furious, and I suddenly remember that I don’t know this woman and she was involved in abducting me as the air turns staticky, her magic rising with her anger. I can’t allow her persona or the feeling that she seems familiar to lull me into a false sense of security. This woman is dangerous.

I have no idea how to respond to her or why this has angered her so much. Ready to spring to my feet should she make a move towards me, I focus on something she said before.

“What did you mean by who I am?”

A memory of one of the males who took me tugs at my thoughts. He was tall and had a sense of familiarity about him, even though I know for sure I’ve never seen him before. He was confident, and I could feel magic rippling from him. That should have terrified me, but I was so stunned in the moment that it was all I could do just to stare up at him. With a touch, he put me to sleep and whisked me away, but not before he greeted me.“Hello, sister,”he said with a grin, his eyes locking onto mine, enjoying my shock and confusion.

Sister. Did he mean literally, or in the way that I consider my packmates my brothers and sisters?

Is that what this beautiful stranger before me meant when she uttered the wordsconsidering who you are? If I am related to one of the witches in some way, perhaps I’m connected to someone of importance. That, or there’s more going on here, which is highly likely, seeing as I know next to nothing about where I am or why I’m here.

She pauses, seeming to realise my heightened state of wariness, and huffs out a long breath, her anger leaving her body. “I’m not going to hurt you,” she assures me, pursing her lips as she seems to debate saying something further but shakes her head instead. “If you don’t know, then it’s not my place to say.” Her attention shifts to my injured ankle and then she scans my body with a critical eye. “You’re injured. Do you need a healer?”

Glancing down, I take in my dirty, bruised body. Everything aches, particularly around my middle where the snake from the trial pinned me with the constricting coils of its tail. Beyond the aches, most of my injuries and scrapes are already healing—all except for the bite on my ankle. That wasn’t caused by the snake, but by the creature from the bottom of the lake in the trial, its teeth easily slicing through my skin.

The fact that my werewolf blood hasn’t healed it already shows that I was more injured than I thought, or the creature’s fangs were laced with venom. No, I’d feel worse if that was the case. Extending my leg before me, I take in the wound. It looks fairly clean and isn’t bleeding any longer, so hopefully it’ll heal quickly.

I look back up at the woman and shake my head slightly. “No, I’m fine.”

Despite her friendly demeanour, I know that something big is about to happen, and with her not giving me any answers, it’s making me suspicious and uncomfortable. I want to go home to my mates and my pack, but it doesn’t look like that’s about to happen anytime soon.

The female appears to sense the change in my mood and the tension surrounding me. Frowning, she seems genuinely put out. “You’re safe here. I told you that Haven is a safe place for witches.”

“But I’m not a witch,” I snap, fear and denial causing me to lash out.

She raises her brow, something she seems to do a lot of, but doesn’t contradict me. We both know I’m lying. It’s a stupid thing to say when it’s staring me in the face, but I don’t want to admit, either aloud or to myself, what I know in my soul is true. I have witch blood in my veins. I just don’t know how much or how dominant that part of me is. The stress and anticipation of the situation is getting to me, and not being able to properly feel Star, my wolf, is making me feel panicky. She’s always there, protecting me when I’m in danger and soothing me when I need support.

Panic rises within me, my chest feeling tight, and I have to force myself to take several deep breaths.Get more answers, I tell myself, needing a purpose to keep myself focused.

Blowing out a long breath, I meet the female’s gaze. “Why am I here?”

“I can’t say much. It’s not my place, but you’ll know soon enough.”

Given her previous comments, I’m not that surprised by her response and lack of answers, but I can’t help shaking my head in disappointment. They tracked me down and brought me here for a reason, but I still don’t know why. They’ve not hurt me, and they have offered to heal me, so that makes me think they need me for something. Something twinges inside me as I remember the male who’d been in here when I first woke up. He wasn’t happy I was here. In fact, I’m pretty sure he wanted me dead from the weight of his stare. Unable to shake that thought from my mind, I clear my throat.

“That male who was in here before… He hated me.”

The female makes a rude noise and rolls her eyes. “My cousin has a thing about werewolves.”

So they were cousins. That explains the familiarity between them. Unease travels through me. I’ll have to be careful around him if his hatred of werewolves is so strong he despises me because of what I am without even speaking to me. I could feel his hatred for me from the burn of his stare, and that was while I was pretending to be asleep.

My hands twist in my lap, giving away my apprehension. “You’re sure I’m safe from him?”

Her expression shifts, becoming serious. “He won’t harm you. You’re under Kano’s protection.”

I’ve heard that name before, and after a few moments, I realise they mentioned it while I was pretending to be asleep. “Who’s Kano?”

“He’s—”

The door opens on a phantom wind, and a tall male walks into the room, his eyes going straight to me. Startled, I jump to my feet, my heart pounding as I back away, putting as much distance between me and the stranger as possible. Unfortunately, this isn’t as much as I would like, as my back presses up against the wall and my only escape route is blocked.

The male pauses at my hurried actions, looking between me and the female with a raised brow. It takes my frantic mind a few moments to realise that I know him. At least, I’ve seen him before. He’s the male who used magic on me in the trial, the one who spoke about trying to find me and called me sister.

“He can tell you himself,” the female says, sounding amused. She turns to the male, bowing her head slightly in deference, that careful half-smile back on her face. “She wants to know who you are.”

He glances at the gorgeous woman and raises his brows before turning back to me, his smile bright and eyes calculating.

“I’m your big brother,” he croons. “Welcome home.”

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