“You’re awake.”
Her body went stiff, and she turned her head toward the door. She didn’t even notice there was door until it slid open. A dark-haired man stood in the doorway his arms crossed over his chest. “Sit down, Detective.”
“I’d rather stand.” She planted her feet apart, her hands flexing at her sides. In her mind, she ran through her options. If she ran fast enough, she could maybe take him by surprise and knock him down, then—
“Don’t even think about it.” He stepped into the room, and the door slid shut behind him. As he walked closer to her, she gasped.
The man was a little over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and dark hair that had a sprinkling of sliver at the temples. He was handsome, she supposed, but what made her gasp was the familiar features—strong jaw, straight nose, and the dark slashes of his eyebrows, as well as the confident way he conducted himself. His eyes were green, though, and not the same as Lucas’s mismatched ones, but this man could be him in a few decades.
“Where am I?” she asked. “And where’s Lucas?”
The only reaction she got was a raised brow, and his gaze pierced into her. She felt stripped and naked underneath his gaze, like he was peering into her very soul. “He’s none of your concern.”
“I want to see him,” she insisted. “I want to know he’s safe.”
The flash of surprise on his face softened his features. “You’ve been drugged and locked up, and the first thing you want to know is where Lucas is?”
“If you’ve hurt him—
“Don’t be stupid, I would never hurt my son.”
Son. But she already knew that. “What’s going on? Is he … sick? He turned into a …”
“A wolf,” he said. “Or as we like to call ourselves, Lycans.”
“L-Lycans?”
“I would explain it to you, except you’re not going to remember anything.”
Not remember anything? “What the fuck are you talking about?” she snarled.
“It really doesn’t matter, Detective. We’re going to erase your memory and you won’t remember a thing.”
“This is insane!” she cried. “You can’t do that!”
“Oh, yes we can. We’ve done it lots of times,” he said. “You’ll forget about what happened last night and you’ll never see Lucas again.”
His words washed over her. She would never see Lucas again, might even never remember him. She sank down on the cot as her knees turned to jelly. They’d imprisoned her, which meant they weren’t concerned at all that they were detaining an officer of the law. Her mind flashed back to those other cases. The ones where the witnesses couldn’t recall what happened. They’d done it lots of times. And now they were going to do it to her.
The sound of the door sliding open and a gasp made her look up.
“Papa!”
A woman entered the room and approached them. She knelt down in front of her, and Sofia blinked. “Sofia,” she began, placing her hands over hers. “I’m Adrianna. Lucas’s twin sister.”
His twin. Of course. Her features were slightly different and more feminine, but the eyes were the same. One green and one blue, just like Lucas’s, but mirrored.
“Adrianna,” the man—Lucas’s and Adrianna’s dad—barked.
“Papa, no!” she protested. “Sofia … you care for my brother, right?”
She nodded, unable to speak.
“I think he feels the same way about you,” she said. “You wouldn’t hurt him, right? Or expose his—our secret?”
“Of course not!” If anyone found out Lucas—and apparently, his family—could turn into wolves, the world would be in chaos. And who knew what the government would do. Probably take them in and conduct experiments. She didn’t want Lucas locked up in a cage. “I swear, I won’t tell anyone. I just don’t want …” Don’t want to lose him.
“You calmed him down,” Adrianna said. “You stopped him from killing that other man. And brought him back from his bloodlust.”
She remained silent, not knowing what to say.
“Adrianna, she already—”
“I said, no, Papa!” Adrianna stood up and poked a finger at his chest. “You don’t always know what’s best.”
“I am Alpha here,” he warned. “And what I say is law.”
“What about Lucas?” she retorted. “When he gets back, how will he react when he finds out you’ve erased her memory? Do you think he’s just going to back down?”
“He will because he’s going to be Alpha soon. Lucas knows his place and his responsibilities to his family and his clan.”
The door slid open again. “Stop fighting, both of you.”
Sofia’s head snapped toward the third visitor. It was another woman, also dark-haired like Adrianna, but petite. She made a beeline toward Sofia, ignoring the man’s death-stare. “You must be Sofia. I’m Frankie. Lucas’s mother.”
She tried to speak, but couldn’t. All she could do was stare at her eyes. Just like Lucas’s and Adrianna’s. “Oh.” She was also drop-dead gorgeous and didn’t look like she had two grown children.
“Frankie—”
“Grant,” she warned, then turned back to Sofia. “I’m sorry about my husband,” she said. “He can be very stubborn.”
“Get out of here, both of you.” Grant gestured to the two women. “I’m Alpha here.”
Despite the fact that she was half a foot shorter than her husband, Frankie Anderson went toe-to-toe with him. She straightened her shoulders and put her hands on her hips. “And I’m his mother.”
Grant raised his hands in frustration. “Fine, go on. Do as you please.”
Frankie turned back to Sofia. “Sofia, I want to believe you, I really do. But what you’ve seen … no one can ever know. You understand, right?”
“I do. But Lucas … he’s all right, right?”
She nodded. “He’s somewhere safe. What happened last night, that wasn’t normal, not for our kind. We know how to
