Kyra
She felt guilty, which made no sense.
Morally, if something had happened to his friend, then it didn't seem right for her to benefit from it. The truth was that it would probably give her some credibility that she would not have otherwise gained at this point.
But morals didn’t matter, not where this pack was concerned. She had a mission, and she was going to enact revenge. That was her only goal. Ethics, morality, a conscience… None of that was relevant.
She had to use every advantage possible. She could hear the strain in Derek’s voice, and she knew he was genuinely worried, so she would go help look for his friend.
She had been ready for their date, but now she’d need to change into something more comfortable. For her date outfit, she had chosen a simple black dress with silver hoop earrings and a silver necklace. The vampires tended to dress in very simple but very expensive clothing. And they had passed that preference onto her. Luckily, they paid for everything. The shifters did not tend to dress the same way.
Quite a few of them looked like lumberjacks from what she could tell. And from a few other packs she’d met, a lot of them just walked around in shorts or jeans with no shirts. The females wore simple cotton dresses with no acknowledgement of how cold it was, wherever they were living. They only put on a show if humans were around.
However, Derek was a little bit more cosmopolitan in his dress. She had seen him in his club outfit and today he had on a pair of dark jeans and a light blue shirt. He looked trendy and very hot.
Remember your mission.
The vampires had reminded her of that quite a few times. Were they afraid she would be swayed by a pretty face? This pretty face was the reason her parents were dead. Maybe not him specifically, but he was a part of this pack and had been for his entire life.
Tonight she would have to begin her fact-finding mission. If she took her time and asked questions that might seem like she was interested in joining the pack, then she could probably gather a lot of information.
She just couldn't start interrogating him right off the bat though.
Once a shifter became suspicious, he would be very protective of his pack, and then she’d have ruined her chance and never have a way in.
Conversation between them was easy, which was nice because she wasn't always the best at talking. Growing up with a group of vampires as a teenager could make you a little bit weird.
He met her at the entrance to the pack land. She couldn’t believe how easily they let her in. And because he was the Alpha’s second, no questions were asked.
He introduced her to a man named Jameson, who he called his brother, and another called Tristan. They were both polite to her.
Then he took her to meet the Alpha.
This is going better than I ever dreamed. The vampires will be so pleased.
But to her wolf, it didn’t feel right.
She pushed the feeling aside. Her wolf operated on instinct only. Her wolf didn’t fully understand what this pack had done to destroy her family.
There was a lot less fanfare than she’d expected. The vampires had made it seem like meeting an Alpha would be a formal event, where she’d be led to a throne or something equally pompous. But that didn’t happen. Instead, Derek took her hand and walked with her into a cabin where several other shifters were milling around. Some were talking, some were looking at maps, some were cleaning weapons.
“This is Roman,” Derek said, nudging a big wolf with his elbow. When the shifter looked up, Derek said, “Roman, this is Kyra. She offered to help me look for Jesse.”
Roman stood up from his seat. “Hi, Kyra. It’s nice to meet you. I wish the circumstances were better, but we’re happy to welcome any friend of Derek’s.”
That was it? It was that easy? Was this a trick? It was hard to believe this was the son of the savage shifter who had abandoned her parents. He was a handsome male, about Derek’s size, and from the easy way he spoke to Derek, it was clear that they were close.
No one had asked her a single question that made it seem like she shouldn’t be there, and no one had interrogated her. No one had even looked askance at her. As the day wore on, a few shifters asked her about where she came from, but that seemed to be due to genuine interest.
Thankfully, she had her cover story ready.
An older shifter came to talk to her and finally started asking questions. She had the impression that he was curious, or even nosy, but not suspicious.
“Now, how did you find us?” he asked. “Were you looking for a pack?”
According to her parents, the Alpha didn’t tell the rest of the pack the truth about why they’d left. They’d sugar coated it and said that her parents chose to leave of their own accord. She took a deep breath. “My parents were part of this pack before I was born. But when I was a very young cub, they moved to Europe for a while, and then we moved around a lot, a bit like nomads.”
“Ah. Like those full-time traveling families with the RVs.”