Chapter 11

ANNA

Anna met Zach’s intense stare briefly before looking away, feeling as if he could see every little thought in her head.

She chewed on her bottom lip nervously, her eyes flitting around the room as she wondered where to start.

“I was always treated differently for as long as I can remember,” she began.

“When the other pups started at the nursery, I was kept at home. As I got older, I wasn’t allowed into the school, and then, my parents refused to get me any kind of formal training, as you know.

“My parents weren’t kind to me… They never treated me the way I saw other parents treat their kids, but it quickly became my normal, I guess. My days were filled with chores, always too many for me to finish in a day, and then punishments when they weren’t done.

“They seemed to find great pleasure in finding different and unusual punishments, especially my mother. I don’t really want to go into detail on that, but I will say that my mother’s favorite punishment was locking me in the closet. I always thought it was because if I was in there, then she wouldn’t have to look at me.”

Anna paused, a bewildered look on her face.

“Every time she looked at me, she would have this expression of disgust and…hate. I have no idea why. The rest of the pack was never outright abusive toward me, but they definitely followed my parents’ lead.

“Everywhere I went, disdainful eyes would follow me, looking as if they had just stepped into something rotten. I learned really fast to stay close to our quarters and out of everyone’s way, which meant I rarely left the pack house.

“When I did, I was always accompanied by a guard, which was weird. It wasn’t a requirement for anyone else, but whenever I tried to ask about it, they would just shut me down or ignore me.

“Since transferring here,”—Anna glanced at Zach out of the corner of her eyes, quickly looking away again when she saw his eyes were still fixated on her—“I’ve quickly learned just how much of a glorified prisoner I was, but I still have no idea why, which is frustrating!

“One of the reasons I didn’t fight back when my mother appeared was because I kinda hoped that I would finally get some answers…but she refused to talk to me. She yelled and raved about me abandoning my family before locking me right back in the closet.

“Anyway, as I got closer to coming of age, Blake Williams seemed to take an interest in me. I would walk into the room to find him in a hushed conversation with my parents, which would stop as soon as they spotted me.

“His eyes would always watch me so intensely, and I’d always feel this chill creeping down my spine. It was as if he was plotting something, something bad, and I was the focal point of all his plans.

“One day, I was helping serve breakfast to the pack in the dining hall, and I put a plate down in front of Blake. When I moved away, he grabbed my wrist so tight that he left purple finger marks. He announced to everyone, right there, that I had decided to transfer to Silver River and that he had generously granted my request.

“I opened my mouth to say something, I didn’t even know what, but he squeezed so hard that I thought he was going to break a bone. My parents were in the back of the room, and they both jumped up, furious. It was clear that they had no idea he was planning the announcement.

“My mother looked crazy, screaming that I belonged to them and that Blake had no right to send me away. Everyone in the room was staring at us, so I yanked my wrist away from Blake, although I’m pretty sure he must have let me go, and I ran out of the room.

“After processing everything, I decided that the move might be the best thing to ever happen to me. Gray Wing was the only pack I had ever known, but there had to be something better out there, right?

“Well, I decided it couldn’t get much worse anyway…but I didn’t actually expect you to accept the transfer. I had—~have~—nothing to offer. No real education, no skills, and no money. And I’m completely naive about anything outside of Gray Wing. Even my knowledge of shifters, my own species, is completely inadequate.

“I was really shocked to be told that I would be transferring within the month. Everything seemed to move so quickly after that. And my parents ramped up the loving treatment they gave me. They were so angry as if it was somehow my fault. And it seemed like they were trying to fit in as much abuse as they could in the time they had left.

“Finally,”—Anna’s voice trembled as she remembered the absolute relief she had felt—“the day came for me to leave. Blake tried to bring me the entire way, but, as you know, Silver River stopped him at the outermost perimeter.

“He didn’t say anything to me, not even goodbye, but I know that he was furious. He couldn’t really have expected that you would just let another alpha onto your territory, right? Especially one who’s caused so much trouble in the past.”

Anna looked at Zach thoughtfully, who raised an eyebrow in question.

“What?”

“Out on that cliff, you said to me that you thought I had been sent as a weapon. Do you still think that? It’s just… I don’t know how I could be. I don’t ~feel~ like a weapon, but I do feel like Blake is up to something, and it involves Silver River, so it would be naive to think that I don’t have a role in his plans.

“I also get the feeling that my mother went against his orders when she took me. I think she ruined his plans or at least disrupted them.”

“Why do you think that?” Zach leaned forward so that he could rest his elbows on his knees, leaving his hands dangling between his legs.

He had looked away from Anna, his gaze on his hands.

His brow was furrowed as if he was in deep thought, making Anna’s palm itch to smoothen the lines on his forehead.

As she watched, he raised one hand and pushed it through his hair, causing white-gray strands to stand up on end.

Anna had to start fighting a second urge to run her hands through his hair, her brain still wondering if his human hair was as soft as his wolf’s fur.

Inwardly, she yelled at herself, knowing that if she gave in to her stupid urges, he was going to think that she was even more of a weirdo than he thought.

She also noticed that he hadn’t answered her question yet about her being a weapon.

“I suppose this is when I tell you about the past three days,” she replied grimly.

Zach shot her a quick glance as he nodded his head slightly. “I need to know everything that happened and why to decide if we need to retaliate. But you don’t think it was Blake’s doing?”

“I ~know~ that it wasn’t Blake. My mother took me straight back to our family’s apartments at Gray Wing, and she was insane. She kept screaming about how she had been forced to raise me and that it was completely unfair that Blake had sent me away. I had never seen her so out of control… She tied my wrists behind me and locked me in the closet.”

Anna ignored the low growl that came from beside her.

“She didn’t hurt me, not any more than usual. After a while, I heard my father come storming into the other room, yelling at her. That was when my mother screamed at him, saying that I had ruined her family and that…I had killed her sister. I didn’t even know that she had a sister…”

Anna trailed off as she remembered what she had heard, trying to piece the information together with what she knew about her family.

“Anyway, not long after that, Blake showed up. He had shifted, and from what I could hear, he immediately attacked. My father was screaming at Blake to stop, but my mother must have shifted and tried to fight back.

“She didn’t stand a chance against him. She didn’t have any training, and he was an alpha. After the noise had stopped, there was scratching at the door. My father pleaded with Blake, and the next thing I knew, Blake had shifted back and told him that they had ‘doomed the pack with their actions.’

“Blake didn’t kill him, but when I was let out of the closet, my father was definitely close to death. If I hadn’t known it was him, if I hadn’t been able to ~smell~ him, I wouldn’t have known that the broken man was my father.”

There was a long, silent moment as Anna inhaled shakily, the memories of her parents’ bodies lying on the floor haunting her.

“Did Blake say anything to you?”

“No. He untied me and took me to a different room. I didn’t see him again until they came and got me to give me back.”

A thought occurred to Anna. “What did he want in exchange? Maybe that’s a clue.”

Zach shook his head. “Nothing. He said it was all a ‘misunderstanding’”—he raised his hands to make air quotes—“and that he just wanted our packs to be on good terms again.”

“None of this makes any sense,” Anna murmured as she got up off the bed and started pacing in front of Zach.

“I just don’t understand any of this. My life with Gray Wing, the decision to send me here, and then my mother taking me back. I just feel like I have no control over any of this. People just keep ~using~ me, and I have no idea why!”

She stopped moving and looked at Zach, her expression completely confused.

“I don’t want to be a weapon, especially against this pack. Zach, I love it here. This is home now.”

Zach smiled at her words. He then stood and approached her, lifting one hand and gently touching her cheek before drawing her into a tight hug.

She leaned into his warm body, her arms wrapped loosely around his waist. She closed her eyes, letting herself relax and be reassured by his touch.

“You are a welcome addition to Silver River, Anna,” he murmured softly. “No one wants to use you here, and we sure as hell aren’t going to let anyone else. I’ve been told that you’re a wonderful addition to the nursery and that all the pups love you.

“You are kind, caring, and, no matter what you may think, strong. You survived everything Gray Wing threw at you. Like Natalie said, many other wolves would have died if they had been shut out like you were… But here you stand, stronger than ever.”

Zach stepped back so he could look down at Anna’s face but flinched when he saw her watery eyes. “Oh, Anna, don’t cry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“I’m not sad.” Anna sniffed, removing her arms from around Zach so that she could wipe her hands over her face. “It’s just the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.” She laughed weakly as Zach smiled in relief.

“First thing on our to-do list, though?” he said, as he turned away to retrieve the breakfast tray that was still on the bed. “I’m putting you into self-defense classes. We’ll make sure that you always have a fighting chance if anything like this happens again.”

Anna watched as Zach disappeared into the kitchen with the tray. She heard the water running as he began washing up.

Anna grabbed some fresh clothes before going into the bathroom. She caught sight of herself in the mirror and flushed in embarrassment.

She had been right about the state of her hair, but she hadn’t imagined the debris stuck in the tangles or the dirt that seemed to cover every inch of skin on her face.

She had forgotten about the state she was in when Zach had appeared with the tray.

She couldn’t believe she had been sitting next to him this whole time while she looked like ~that~.

Turning the shower on, she waited until the room was filled with steam before stepping under the scalding spray.

She scrubbed her body until her skin was raw, trying to remove any kind of reminder about what had happened.

Anna closed her eyes, the sight of her parents still firmly implanted in her mind.

Her father was still alive, but her mother…her main tormentor was dead, and Anna would never be able to ask her all the things she wanted to know.

She wondered about the mysterious aunt.

It had always just been the three of them, having no other blood relations in Gray Wing, and no one had ever mentioned the possibility of any other family members.

Anna had accepted it, but now to find out that she not only had an aunt...but that aunt was dead and, apparently, Anna was responsible.

Knowing that she wasn’t going to find any answers to her questions in the shower, Anna finished up and quickly got dressed.

She twisted a towel around her hair as she returned to the living area and bit back an amused smile.

Zach was sitting on the small settee, making it look even tinier under his large body.

He was using the remote to flick through the menus on the TV, grunting when something didn’t go as he wanted it to.

He cast a glance her way, his eyes casually trailing from the top of her towel-covered head to her bare feet before turning back to the screen.

“Feeling better?”

Anna nodded, nerves reappearing at the fact that he was still there and looking pretty comfortable.

She glanced around the room, fidgeting with her hands as she wondered what to do.

She could sit on the bed, but that would look awkward as hell.

She could sit next to him, but the small settee would almost guarantee that there would be zero space between them, and she didn’t think that she could handle that at the moment.

Before she could make a decision, Zach flicked the TV off and set the remote down on the coffee table.

He turned toward her, shoving his hands inside his pockets. “I programmed it for you,” he commented, nodding at the TV.

She murmured thanks before he continued, “I need to go and meet with my lieutenants about everything that happened and what you’ve told me. I thought that, maybe, if you’d like, I could send Piper over. I’m sure she’d love to check that you’re okay herself.”

Anna struggled with feelings of relief and disappointment that he would be leaving and mentally smacked herself in the head.

“That would be great; I would love to see her.”

Zach nodded, moving toward her.

He removed one hand from his pocket and raised it to touch her cheek, just like he had done earlier, and then, he was gone, walking quickly and silently out of the room and softly shutting the door behind him.