Chapter Eight
One week into her stay Mary sat in the garden playing cards with Jane. Jessica was on the swing staring up at the sun. The girl was taking the death of her family really well. The rest of the men were inside having a meeting. Four cars had arrived that morning, and Mary knew they were all Alphas from different packs. Jane placed her palm on top of the deck as the two cards matched.
“What’s going on with you, Mary?” Jane asked.
“Nothing. I’m just wondering what the meetings all about,” she said, pressing a card on top of the others. Glancing toward Jessica, she couldn’t help but be worried about the young girl.
“She’s doing fine, you know.”
“How do you know? Her family was killed before her eyes. She should be feeling something.”
“The men have been talking, and Jessica was considered a mutt amongst the pack.”
Mary frowned, looking back at Jessica. Whenever she’d been at the house, Jessica was treated like a princess even though she recalled the young girl not smelling like the rest of the pack. In fact, Jessica smelled a lot different from the pack she’d been part of.
“A mutt?”
“Yeah, Roger and Dani were not her real parents. She was a half breed they took in, or at least that’s what rumor is saying.”
Smacking her hand on top of the pack, Mary won the round of cards. Jane chuckled.
“Jessica was not a half breed. She was their daughter. It’s what I was told.”
Jane was looking at her with sympathy.
“What?”
“Mary, you weren’t there all the time. From what I heard you were not allowed to mingle with the group. Jessica talked to you and was punished for it.”
Jerking at what Jane was telling her, Mary knew she’d missed a hell of a lot in her time at the pack. Putting her pile of cards down, she walked over toward the other girl. Jessica didn’t pause in her swinging, and there were tears in her eyes.
“Is it true?” Mary asked.
“About me being a half breed?”
“Yes.”
The young girl nodded. “Yeah. I was never allowed to say anything. I can turn at will, but Roger and Dani threatened to hurt me if I told anyone about what I could do. No one knew half breeds could turn at will. They killed my parents, and my father was a full breed. He mated with my mother, and I was born nine months later. I saw them kill my parents, and they terrified me. When I met you I thought you could save me. I was right. They were all prepared to let me die that night with them.”
“How come you’ve never said anything to me since then?” Mary asked, feeling slightly hurt.
“We’ve not really had time to talk.” Jessica shrugged. “I couldn’t tell anyone, and it was easier to keep the truth to myself.”
Mary couldn’t argue with her. “Why make you pretend to be their daughter?”
“I always wondered about that, but I guess it probably had to do with Zeke and other Alphas visiting. They’d start to ask questions if they saw a ten year old without her parents wandering about the house. They did it to stop being suspected of something.”
“Does Zeke know this?”
Jessica nodded. “They kept files. I didn’t even remember, but without the injections and reading those files I was able to remember everything. I’ve been a wolf a lot longer than you. I was born into it even though I’m a half breed. My dad didn’t turn my mom until after I was born. I have his blood inside me and my mom’s human side whereas you were changed a lot later in life.”