Chapter 2

TALIA

The following day, Madam Coco summoned me to her office. As soon as I entered, I was met with the familiar scent of old lady perfume and cigarettes, the smell now more nauseating than it ever had been in the past. I tried not to breathe it in too much, becoming enraged with each breath. I forced myself to stay calm, digging my nails into my palms, barely able to look at her.

She was a tiny woman, petite and always sporing a tan—her skin taking on a leathery appearance from spending so much time in tanning beds over the years. I wasn't sure of her exact age. If I had to guess—I'd say late fifties or early sixties.

She gestured to a chair in front of her desk, barely looking up at me, flipping her long, platinum blonde hair behind her shoulders as I entered. I took a seat. She casually played with thick rings on her fingers. She loved jewelry and was always draped in it. Bought using my mom’s body and desperation.

After dragging the silence out for far too long, she said, “Talia, ma chérie, you know how much I’ve always cared. I took your mother in when she had nothing. I was practically a mother to her myself, grooming her from nothing to become one of my best employees. That’s why this is so hard for me.” She pushed her bottom lip forward and shook her head. “But if I make an exception for you, I have to make an exception for everyone. I allowed you to live here as I do with all children of our girls. But now that your mother is no longer employed here and paying your rent, we can no longer house you. Of course, I’m not a monster, and I won’t put you on the streets today. You have a week to find housing, and I expect you to be gone by next weekend. We need your room to accommodate others who are bringing in revenue.”

I stared at her openmouthed, not knowing what to say. When I didn’t respond, she began speaking again. “Of course, we do have an opening now, and I can’t deny you’re a beautiful woman. If you chose to work for us, you’d get a much larger room. Plus, you are young, and the pay is quite good for someone your age.” She smiled and looked at me meaningfully.

Madam Coco’s eyes didn’t leave mine, waiting for my response. After turning different options around in my head, none that I knew Madam Coco would ever agree to, I forced myself to reply politely although she didn’t deserve the courtesy. “Thank you for the offer, Madam Coco, but I will be out of my room before next weekend.”

She nodded and turned her attention to something on her desk.

I took a deep breath and continued, “But I do have one favor to ask. Can I please have some wolfsbane?”

She looked back up, meeting my eyes, studying me, and cocking her head to the side. While she was human, Hugo told me that she knew about our kind. He and my mom were not the only werewolves she employed. “What do you need wolfsbane for?”

“It’s personal.” I wasn’t telling her shit.

“What form do you want it in?”

“What forms does it come in?”

“The two most common are dehydrated and a concentrated liquid—usually we sell the liquid form in darts.”

“I’d like the liquid form.”

“I can get it, but it will cost you.”

“How much?”

“It’s twenty dollars for half an ounce. Thirty if you want it preloaded into darts.”

My body tensed and I saw red at her audacity to charge me after she had just stolen my life savings just the day prior. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to remain calm as I made the abrupt decision to confront her. “I’ve already paid you.”

Her lip lifted on one side, an evil glint in her eye. “What do you mean, Talia?” she asked, her voice even and clearly calculated.

“There was $3762 in the wall of my mom’s room. That should more than cover a few darts, and I believe I’m owed change.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She rolled her eyes. “And even if I did, your mom died with debts to her name—she owed me rent for both your rooms, and the cleaners I had to hire due to her client’s unfortunate behavior weren’t exactly cheap, eh?”

I gasped and almost projectile vomited, her words bringing bitter bile to my throat.

“Additionally, I fronted her this month, helping her with her little habit.”

Tears threatened to fall again, but I forced myself to stay strong. I took several breaths, resigning myself to the fact that there was no good way for this to end. I needed a week to figure out where I was going. The alternative was a screaming confrontation that ended with me on the streets with barely a penny to my name. I finally choked out, “Okay, let me see how much money I have, and I will get back to you.” I wondered how much I’d be able to scrape together and if half an ounce would be enough to kill.

“Before you go, let me give you this.” Madam Coco pulled a folder off her desk. “They’re your mom’s papers.” I took the folder from her and walked out of the office.

When I was far enough away, and in an area without cameras, I kicked the wall, satisfied with the hole my foot left behind. Madam Coco could use the stolen money to fill it.

I threw open the door to my bedroom and dropped onto my bed, tears forming in my eyes again. While I had grown up in a messed-up place, it never felt so bad when I had my mom in my life. It was the two of us against the world. When the world was dark, my mom would wrap her arms around me and kiss my cheeks over and over again, leaving behind red lipstick stains. “My Tali,” she would whisper as I’d inhale her familiar scent that had brought me so much comfort over the years.

I was about to grab for the folder to go through it when a knock sounded on the door, distracting me from my thoughts. “Yes?” I shouted.

“It’s Hugo. Can I come in?” the voice on the other side of the door replied.

“Come in,” I responded, sniffing back the tears brimming my eyes. He opened the door and sat down on the bed, my thin mattress dipping under his large muscular frame.

“Here, this is for you.” He shoved a bunch of bills into my hand.

“What’s this for?” I asked, my eyes widening.

“It’s not much, but it’s what I had to spare. You know I support my mom and younger brother. But I’m worried about you, Talia. Please let me know how else I can help you.” He grabbed me into a hug, his strong arms and warm body bringing me some much-needed comfort.

“You’ve done enough,” I mumbled, my heart swelling at the kind gesture. Even if Hugo could never be to me what I wanted him to, he was a good man and a good friend. I normally wouldn’t have even accepted the money from him, but I now had a goal overriding any decency and politeness I’d normally show.

“Why don’t you stay with me, eh? I can get you into the pack, at least temporarily, until you get back on your feet. They don’t like rogues, but I can speak with the alpha.”

“What’s a rogue?” I asked.

“It’s a werewolf without a pack. They smell differently, almost unpleasant. I think they smell that way to warn packed werewolves away from them. Most rogues live in their wolf forms and become more and more feral and savage the longer they stay in that form, so they can be dangerous and unpredictable if you come across them.”

“Do I smell like that?” I asked, sitting up and studying him.

“Yes, but I’ve gotten used to your smell now. I almost don’t even notice it anymore.”

“Oh,” I replied, considering this new information. I hadn’t realized that I smelled unpleasant to other werewolves. I wondered if that was part of why Hugo never wanted anything more.

“Come with me. Where else do you have to go?” he asked, wrinkling his brows.

I looked away from him, considering his offer. I was about to decline when an overwhelming warmth spread through my body, and I smiled to myself at how brilliant it would be. He lived in the same pack as him. It would make my plan so much easier. Hugo had told me in the past that they guard the borders. But if I were already in, I wouldn’t have to worry about that, eh? “You’re right,” I replied. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay with you until I can save enough to move out.”

“Of course, Talia. I’ll speak with the alpha as soon as I can.” He gave me a quick pat on my shoulder, then got up and walked out, a pep in his step. In my mind, I was skipping too. The only motivation I had to move forward now was finally seeing his lifeless body, limp on the ground.

My eyes then fell on the folder sitting on my desk. I instantly grabbed it and ripped it open. Inside, I found an American passport that I opened and noted was long expired, with a picture of my mom in her younger years, around the age I was now. She looked almost identical to me in the picture—the main difference being her eyes. She was always impressed that I somehow ended up with blue eyes when hers were brown. I continued flipping to find my birth certificate from a town in Vermont. Behind it was my mom’s birth certificate from a different town in Vermont. Hugo was right. We did come here from over the border.

I quickly looked up both towns on Maps. They were close to each other and not far from the Quebec border. While I didn’t have a passport, I could always just cross over in my wolf form through the woods. Maybe there was a pack in that area, just as Hugo had theorized. I could look for it and maybe I could even find my father, a faceless man I’d always wondered about. I could finally get some answers. What brought my mom to Ontario? How did she end up as a sex worker?

Determination within me, I counted the money Hugo brought me. Between that and what was in my wallet, I had $120—enough for four darts. I didn’t know how much it took to kill, but I hoped it would be enough.