So many creatures, human and non-human alike, had died for the ever-mysterious greater good, and the goddamned world just got worse.
"It's a good plan," Leo said, finally. "We stay with her. And when we go to the Meet, we present her as a human desperate to get back to her pack. Maybe Lillian just gave us the help we needed."
I shot him a glare. "I doubt it. It's more likely that they'll force us to leave her as she is. They'll have her memories destroyed by one of their psychics."
"Do the tarot card flippers really have powers?"
Gabe shrugged. "Some of them do. Whether they know it or not is a completely different story. Regardless, everyone has their own magic. Even we do."
"But we don't get into people's heads," Leo frowned. "We just do that wolf thing. And sometimes we make ourselves a little more invisible."
My fingers ran through Sadie's hair. "But their people can do that, Leo. And if their people can do that to her, what do you think they can do to us? Would death be worse than forgetting all of this ever happened?"
The pack fell silent at that, glances exchanged, discomfort evident on their faces. I didn't want to frighten them worse than that, but it gave them plenty to think about. If there were members of our society capable of doing such things, I had little doubt that it had happened before.
It was the sort of thing that made you doubt what you really knew. Sure, your reality was what you remembered; but what if someone had fucked around with it?
Sadie stirred in my arms and the pack, as one, scooted closer to her. Her cheeks held a touch of pink in them, her lips closer to her normal color than the blue-tinged tone that had me on edge. My nerves settled a little. In a week, we would be at the Meet no matter what happened. Sadie wasn't going to go anywhere, no matter what we had to do. And it was likely that our stubbornness was going to lead to our downfall, no matter how much we protested.
I'd told her that she was ours, that we took care of our own. That hadn't changed and, as I looked around at my pack, I knew they felt the same.
Even if it meant total ruin, we were going to save our mate.
Chapter 16
Sadie
I spent most of the week in bed, Bosco or Lady asleep beside me when the pack wasn't occupying it. When I got up, the others treated me as if I were as fragile as glass. Was it that way when werewolves and humans fell in love? Were the wolves always worried that they might hurt a human like me?
Never had I hated being what I was. I'd been human nearly my entire life, but the taste of something new, something different, had excited every sense I had. It'd also added a few senses to me, expanding my mind and ensnaring my imagination. I tried to come to terms with the fact that I was just a plain old human again, but nothing really stuck.
And everything sucked.
It didn't matter what I did; the guys did it for me. I was practically a prisoner in my own house. Though they kept assuring me that I could do what I wanted, after I'd gotten up, it always felt like they were five steps ahead of me. Going to feed the dogs? They'd already done it. Trying to go change the cat litter boxes? No, that'd been done that morning. Two days in a row I'd thrown out perfectly good litter, not realizing that they'd taken care of it much earlier than I was used to.
Not that we didn't have plenty of litter around these days. Every single bag was proudly marked with the Fontaine Feeds logo. In a time when I wanted control of myself, I had control of absolutely nothing.
I knew they were just trying to be kind, but it was too much to cope with all at once.
The moon began Her ascent early that evening, right around six. Hudson had explained that the full moon wouldn't actually occur until nearly midnight, but when it happened their transformations would be forced. None of them were certain what would happen to me, if anything did. They'd never known a werewolf who had been turned into a human.
We took the Hummer, just in case we actually made it back. My stomach fizzed with discomfort and I wanted to be anywhere else other than the Judgment Grounds the Meet would be held on. They were due north of my house, about six miles, as far into the wilderness as you could get without heading out of our area.
I wondered how many trials had happened without my knowledge. How many people had been killed or excommunicated, their lives in ruin while I slept warm and cozy in my bed? Mind you, that happened everywhere. When I'd lived in the city, you didn't feel any different when someone got mugged half a mile from your house. It didn't change your night if they got shot or ended up dead in the hospital.
But the danger had been one of the reasons I'd been so excited to head back to the country, escaping the crushing enclosure of civilization for somewhere a hell of a lot quieter. Look at where that had gotten me.
The Hummer turned down a nearly invisible little trail, as hard to find as the one that opened to one side of my house. We went down, deep into the forest, and I twitched when Hudson turned off the headlights.
"The dragons don't care for lights like
