What Have They Done to You

Jaxon

~Squirrel.~

~Squirrel equals meat.~

~Meat equals food.~

~Food equals good.~

~Good equals survival.~

~Survival equals everything.~

~I am a lone wolf.~

~A lone wolf.~

Sky

“I’m worried about Jaxon,” Harper confessed, her face serious.

Harper admitting to worry was a surprise. She wasn’t one to share her thoughts easily.

That’s part of what made her so intriguing to me.

“Why are you worried about him?” I asked. “He had the sense to get out of danger while he sorts things out. Seems like he’s in a better place than Quinn.”

But Harper shook her head.

“Think about how quickly Matheius’ work affected Quinn. One moment she was okay, the next she was ready to jump off the balcony. If we hadn’t been here, she probably would have done it.”

I thought about her words.

As much as I wanted to argue, she was right. Quinn would be dead if we hadn’t been there.

“What are you going to do about it?” I asked. “Jax is out in the woods somewhere, doing who knows what. You can’t possibly find him.”

Harper rolled her eyes at me. “You’re forgetting who you’re talking to, Sky. The best tracker in Shadow Moon. Remember?”

~Oh yeah. That’s right.~

Incompetence wasn’t a valid excuse.

If anyone could find Jax out there, it was her.

But that didn’t mean I wanted her to go.

Actually, it was the last thing I wanted.

In just a few minutes, I’d seen Jaxon and Quinn torn apart. They were one of the most perfect couples I’d ever seen, now split in two.

Harper and I were still figuring things out, but I felt a strong connection to her. I didn’t want that to fade.

I didn’t need her. But I wanted her. So much.

And if she went after Jax, I was afraid that desire might vanish.

My heart pounded as she picked up her bow from the dining room table.

“I’m going to find him,” she declared, “who knows what that impulsive ass has gotten himself into by now.”

“No!” I protested loudly.

Harper raised an eyebrow at me.

“Why the hell not?” she asked.

Her voice was cold, emotionless.

It sent a chill down my spine.

She couldn’t have already lost her feelings for me, could she?

I decided the best way to find out was to be honest with her.

With a deep breath, I prepared to bare my soul.

“Harper... I like you,” I admitted, without shame. “I like you more than anyone I’ve ever known. It took me a while to realize that. But now that I have, I don’t want to risk it.

“Even with Matheius trying to destroy matedom and everything else going crazy. I still care about you. More than anything.”

The words rushed out so fast that I had to catch my breath when I finished.

At first, Harper’s determined expression didn’t change.

But then her eyes dropped to the floor in thought.

“Look, Sky,” she began, her voice clear and straightforward. “I don’t... really understand what’s happening inside me right now.”

My stomach twisted. Could she mean that her feelings for me had changed?

“I like you,” she continued. “A lot. But that’s just one small part of everything right now. There’s a lot at stake. You and I aren’t the only ones at risk because of what’s happening.

“Quinn and Jax and countless others are affected even more. And I don’t know how much longer I have left on Earth.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s true, Sky.”

I thought about her words.

She was right.

“There isn’t much that you or I can do to change this. But doing what little we can to help is our duty. Jax needs us now. It looks like I’m the only one who can help him. And you need to stay here to help look after Quinn until Zara and Alex return.”

Harper looked at me, urgency in her eyes.

She wasn’t one to show emotion, but she was a passionate person—driven by what she believed was right.

It was the same drive that had led her to sacrifice herself for me.

The last thing I wanted was for her to put herself in danger again.

But that was Harper.

And no matter how much I wanted her to stay, I knew she wouldn’t.

Without a word, I stood up from the table and rushed over to her.

I pulled her into a kiss.

Our lips met for a few tender moments.

When we pulled apart, our eyes stayed locked on each other.

“I love you,” I said, breathless.

Harper nodded with a small smile.

I knew what that meant.

A moment later, she was gone.

I stood alone in the dining room.

It felt empty without Harper there.

I would have prayed for her safe return, but I knew there was no kind God to believe in anymore.

To distract myself, I decided to go upstairs to join Theodore and Isabelle on guard duty.

They’d been watching over Quinn since her breakdown, tending to her every need without rest. Harper and I had offered to help, but they wouldn’t step away.

I guess their fate depended heavily on her well-being too.

Still, I thought I could at least try to help them out.

Even immortals needed rest, right?

I walked from the dining room through the long hallways, the echo of my footsteps the only sound.

It was hard to believe how much I missed Harper already.

But when I reached the parlor, shock interrupted my thoughts.

Alex and Zara were there, standing next to a woman with a stern expression, her blue eyes deep-set and her clothes worn and ragged.

“Alex! Zara! You’re back!”

“Good to see you too, Sky,” Zara replied.

I rushed over, hugging each of them tightly.

My friends were safe. They were okay.

After a joyful reunion, my attention shifted to the woman.

“Is this…”

Alex and Zara both nodded.

The woman with the sad eyes looked straight at me and asked:

“Where’s my daughter?”

Jeanette

“Right this way,” the young girl with fair hair beckoned me to follow her up the stairs.

As I followed her, my eyes took in the room.

~What a bleak place.~

The dark, cracked stone walls seemed to echo with tales of death and decay.

Broken glass and debris littered the floor, a clear sign of neglect.

The thought of my daughter choosing this grim place over the safety of our home made my stomach churn.

I thought I’d raised her better.

I thought I’d given her more.

But what did I know?

It had been months since I last saw Quinn.

And the last time I saw her, she felt like a stranger.

She and her reckless mate.

It irked me that she had joined the same pack her father had been part of.

But what hurt more…what was more unbearable…was my own reaction to it.

I had pointed a gun at the man my daughter claimed to love.

I had pointed a gun at her.

I had threatened my own child’s life.

I would never have pulled the trigger. I wouldn’t have killed her mate.

But the thought of the pain I must have caused her haunted me every day since.

In a way, it made sense of all the horror that had happened to me. It felt like some higher power was punishing me for how I treated my daughter.

The girl they called Sky led me to a door, guarded by two striking individuals.

Their skin was unnaturally pale, almost glowing. Their faces were so similar, they could have been twins.

“Is this her?” the male twin asked urgently.

Sky nodded.

The female twin spoke.

“We’re honored to meet the mother of such a noble wolf.”

I still didn’t like hearing my daughter referred to that way. It was everything I had tried to prevent her from becoming. But I nodded politely.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“Before you see her,” Sky said, “there’s something you need to know.”

“I know,” I snapped. “Zara told me her life is in danger. Now let me see my daughter!”

The stern young man responded with a formal tone.

“What you’re about to see behind that door isn’t your daughter. It’s a sick illusion created by powers beyond our comprehension. You’re the only one who can break it.”

What did they mean ~“not my daughter?”~ I had been led to believe I was here to help Quinn, and I wasn’t going to be kept from her any longer.

Without another word, I pushed past the twins and threw open the door.

There was a girl strapped to a bed, whispering and whimpering to herself.

~This has to be some kind of trick! This isn’t my daughter. This is a madwoman.~

But Sky urged me forward, towards the pitiful figure.

My heart dropped as I recognized her features.

I knew those eyes. Those wild, blue eyes.

They belonged to only two people I knew.

My husband and my daughter.

It was Quinn.

This rambling, broken person…was my daughter.

“My baby girl…what have they done to you?”