Chapter 294: Chapter 294

Larie Charlotte had somehow, without words, ordered us big platters of juicy cheeseburgers, onion rings, and intore fries. Two giant glasses of water and another couple of beers rounded out the meal. The waitress dropped it all off without speaking to us, and although moments before I’d have said my stomach was tied in ttoo many knots for me to even think about eating anything, the moment the smell of the food hit my nostrils, | was supractically drooling.

That Now! Lily called to me. “Food good!”

Miflash of violet caught my attention. Charlotte was grinning, and for a few seconds, | saw her wolf. dancepaze appreciated that she trusted me enough to let me see her.

Chaitatte gestured. “Dig in. My treat. You have to keep yourself fueled. Have you noticed that your appaditess much stronger lately?”

saate ketchup on my plate and dunked an onion ring for a bite. “Yes.”

Youubaum:creenergy than non-hybrids. You burn brighter because you are a Luna, too. You'll find that the hunger sibiss and Bows but when it’s there, you really can’t ignore it. Your wolf certainly won’t let you. And you shouldn’t You regret not feeding your body.”

She lifted heredtytburger and took an enormous bite, letting out a moan of pure pleasure.

chewed tantrissvaal towed ravenous but not wanting to talk with my mouth full. “I came here to learn about what’s happeningwithmyddaughter”

Charlotte finished wiped her mouth clean. She sighed, and her lips pursed. She looked like she was trying to find justitchwords/tmpatiently, | bit into my burger. She was right. | no longer ignore or deny this hunger “The High Council wams he/ Chisaitotte said finally My heart stopped. The burgse dunned my throat, almost choking me until | washed it water. For what? Are they coming afterner?

“They will!” She did that same heatintino took me up and down “You went to the facility to re other pups. The ones they took Yourteen consemed about them it because you didn’t gi them?”

Tlove the twins as if they ate my own rodnemy am concerned about them. Absolutely. We rescuing them frorn that facility would intan wcoutthetene targets But I’m worried about Stella because she is different from ther “How so? Describe it to me ver “She’s bigger. More mature. They went through theerermoubiny) but she’s as advanced as a pup twice her age. My hands shook until | forced myself to dertien stetty “Early to speak?”

“Yes,”

Charlotte nodded. She was hiding something from me. | could see it all over her face, which meant that I she wasn’t worried about me figuring that out. I'd seen how she could shield her expression. If this was another one of her tests, | vowed | was going to pass it.

“Orion gave the twins to the Council because they had pure vampire blood. Their birth mother, Alice, was also descended from an Ancient vampire,” | said. “We had no idea. Honestly, | don’t believe Alice had any idea.

And she died before she ever found out.”

“Do you know which Ancient?”

| shook my head, thinking back to what my grandfather had told me the day we discovered Xander’s father, Orion, had taken them. “Only that it wasn’t my grandfather, Malachi was certain of that, but he didn’t know, either.”

“Or that’s just what he told you,” Charlotte said with a frown. “You know that even though we carry their blood inside us, you can’t always trust what a vampire says. Wolves are loyal. Vamps...not so much.”

| watched her expression twist. She'd said her father was an Ancient named Ezekiel. Could Alice have been one of his descendants? Did that mean Charlotte could have been Alice’s grandmother?

My mind was being boggled by all the possibilities.

“The Council started their program focusing on hybrids during the Great Wars,” Charlotte told me.

| waited, but that was all she said. | watched her drag an onion ring through some ketchup and eat it. |

forced myself not to reach across the table and shake the answers out of her.

“That was a long time ago,” | finally ventured. “Why'd they wait so long to ramp it up again?”

“That, | can’t tell you. | can only say that they originally had no idea hybrids could even ex a lot of information from someone who. ..well. A turncoat. One who betrayed their own kind. C worst of each part of themselves and allowed that to rise. One who believed they were helpin who ended up destroying everyone and everything they loved.”

Charlotte’s loathing was clear in every word she spit out.

“Who would do something like that?” | asked quietly.

Her gaze met mine “It was me.”

il they got