“I sent Typhoid Mary home, so she didn’t need to infect the rest of us with whatever is going on with her.” Tired of holding the soiled clothing, Remi shoves it at Mom, who, without hesitating, takes the shirt. Such a mom thing to do. “Why? She left a present for dad on the table if that’s what you’re looking for.”
Looking at me one last time, Mom sighs and locks eyes with Remi. “Ryker seems to think Pruitt is Grey Thorne…”
“What?” my sister barks, obviously confused. “Why would you think that?”
“My wolf recognized her,” I try to explain. I know it all sounds crazy, but I know whoever they think this Pru girl is; she’s my long lost mate, and I’m willing to sound crazy if it means there’s a chance I get my mate back. “She had the mating aura.”
“Well, that doesn’t make a lick of sense…” Remi starts, but I can see her brain trying to piece things together. “Grey was my best friend growing up. If it is her, I would know.”
“You guys were only seven years old when she died,” Mom says. “If it really is her, she wouldn’t look much like the little girl she was.” Turning to me, Mom asks, “Did Grey have any identifying characteristics you can remember?”
“A scar on her left palm,” I reply. She got too close to a young male pack member when he was learning to shift. His wolf was scared and lashed out at Grey. It was all an accident, but it left Grey with a jagged scar on her palm.
“Mom, you’re considering this insanity?” Remi doesn’t even try to hide how surprised she is by that.
“You haven’t met your mate yet, Remington. You don’t understand how intense the connection between mates is. And then there’s the fact Ryker saw the mating aura.”
“I’ve started sending our guests home, let’s take this discussion into my office,” my father’s deep voice echoes from down the hallway. “And Remington, please do something about that shirt. It reeks.”
“You saw the bodies?” I ask my father as I pace in front of his large oak desk. “And you read the police report?”
“I saw the bodies, they were burned beyond recognition, and their scents were impossible to detect due to the fire.” My father leans back in his chair and pushes his dark-framed glasses up his nose after they had slipped down some. “Of course, the human police reports were changed to not bring any attention to our community. Noah and I examined the scene, two distinctive rogue wolf scents were all over the surrounding area. There was so much blood at the scene, both Archer and Gen’s, there was no way they survived that kind of blood loss. Even with shifter healing, they would have died from their injuries.”
“But what about Grey?” Ranger asks from his spot next to his twin and Sawyer.
“Noah saw her body.” Elias looks down at his lap. “I didn’t want that to be the way I remembered that little girl. I didn’t need to see what those rogue wolves had done to her. But Noah said the coroner believed she died on impact. Her neck had been broken, and her body also badly burned.”
“Sick fucks,” Sawyer spits, shaking his head at the thought of how gruesome the scene must have been.
“How could Pru be Grey if there was a body?” Avery pipes up after a long stretch of silence.
“What if it wasn’t her body?” Mom asks, looking around the room. “What if someone got her out of the car before it caught on fire?”
“Who would do something like that?” Remington questions, twirling her hair around her slender finger. “Who even wanted the Thornes dead in the first place?”
“We never could figure that one out.” Dad sits straighter in his chair as he speaks. “I’d known Archer Thorne my entire life, and he never had any enemies. Genevieve, as far as I know, didn’t either.”
“What do you mean ‘as far as you know?’” Mom questions her mate, a dark brow raised.
Clearing his throat, Dad explains. “We never actually knew much about where Gen came from. After a business trip, Archer came back with her in tow. He never said where they had met, or anything past the fact that they were mates and Gen would obviously be joining the pack as the alpha female.”
“And that didn’t seem sketchy to you?” Avery asks, confused as to why Elias wouldn’t have pushed for more answers.
“He was my alpha, and I wasn’t his beta at that point. I didn’t feel it was my place to ask those kinds of questions.”
Sawyer pushes himself off the far wall he’s been leaning on. “I feel like we’re asking the wrong questions here and completely forgetting the most obvious one.” He looks around the room before looking at me. “If this Pru girl is actually Grey, why doesn’t she remember you? Or Remi? Or any of us for the matter? Her parents were the alpha pair. It’s not like she was never around the pack or never a part of pack activities.”
During the full moon each month, the alpha leads a pack run through the territory. It’s meant to create stronger inner pack relationships as well as boost overall pack morale. Usually, the young pack members who have not gone through the first shift stay back and play amongst themselves with a few pack enforcers watching over them. I remember every month being upset I wasn’t able to go on the pack run yet. But the second I saw Grey with her blonde braids and bright smile, I calmed down and was happy to stay back with the rest of the children.
“Well,” Remi begins, leaning forward in her chair, “Pruitt did tell us she was in an accident when she was younger. She has a brain injury that prevents her from remembering anything from before that day. She doesn’t even remember anything about her parents.”
“Are her parents alive
