I sat up. I was on a small cot, a scratchy blanket covering me. I pushed it off and put my legs on the floor. My feet were bare. The floor was cool. I only had on a pair of sleep shorts. My stomach grumbled.
“Hungry?” she asked.
“A little,” I admitted begrudgingly.
“I’ll take care of that in a bit. I’d like to have a chat, you and I. Your glasses are on the floor under your bed with your backpack.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “I don’t need the glasses.”
She bit her bottom l
ip like she was trying to keep from laughing at me. “Oh, I know. Funny to hear that coming from you, though. I always thought they made you look handsome.”
“You act like you know me.”
“It’s not an act, Robbie.” Her smile faded. “No, it’s not an act at all. And though I may not know exactly the man before me, there are still bits of you I recognize. Like looking through a fractured mirror.”
I pulled the blanket into my lap. “Please don’t stare at my bits.”
The smile returned in full force. It took my breath away. “There you are. I wonder… is it like an echo? Somewhere deep inside, locked away. What makes a man when so much has been taken from him?”
“Where am I?”
She said, “In a moment. Firsts things first. My name is Elizabeth. I am a wolf, as you’ve no doubt figured out already.”
“Not an Alpha.”
“No, though I’ve known a few in my time. Most of them are good. Some… some were not.”
“I know you.”
She looked startled and strangely hopeful. “You do? Tell me.”
“You look like him.”
“Who?”
I swallowed thickly. “That… man. On the bridge. The Alpha.” I frowned. “And the other man. The one who….”
I found you.
I bent forward, sure I was going to vomit. I gagged, my nose bumping against my knee.
The woman watched me.
The dizziness passed. I coughed and grimaced. “Shit.”
“Shit,” Elizabeth agreed. “The Alpha is my son. Joe. And the other man you refer to is also my son.”
“Kelly.”
“Yes. In fact, my eldest was there too, though I don’t think you got to meet him properly. There will be time for that later. Why did you help him?”
I snapped my head up. “What?”
“Kelly,” Elizabeth said. She looked down at her hands. Her nails were short and neat. “You helped him.”
“I didn’t mean to.”