CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: WEB OF SECRETS

After my conversation with Elena, I decided to spend the rest of the day systematically testing my new ability on different pack members.

I needed to know exactly how many people were lying to me and what kinds of secrets they were keeping.

The results were worse than I had imagined.

I started with Dr. Martinez, who I had always trusted completely.

When I found her in the clinic organizing medical supplies,

I asked her a simple question.

"Dr. Martinez, do you think I'm getting stronger since I've been here?"

"Oh yes, dear," she said with a warm smile.

"You're definitely healthier and more confident than when you first arrived."

But underneath her kind words, I felt layers of hidden knowledge.

She was telling the truth about me being stronger, but there were things about my health, about my condition, that she wasn't sharing.

"Is there anything about my medical condition that I should know?"

I asked directly.

Dr. Martinez paused in her organizing, and I felt a spike of anxiety from her.

"What do you mean?" she asked carefully.

"I mean, have you discovered anything unusual about me during my time here? Anything you haven't told me?"

Dr. Martinez's emotions became a swirl of guilt, worry and something that felt like... excitement?

But her words were carefully neutral.

"Your healing has been very normal, Laila," she said.

"Nothing out of the ordinary."

The lie hit me like a cold wave.

Dr. Martinez was definitely hiding something significant about my medical condition.

"Thank you," I said quietly, not wanting to push further until I understood more.

But as I left the clinic, I felt sick knowing that even the pack's healer was keeping secrets from me.

Next, I sought out Mrs. Chen in her garden.

The sweet older woman had always been kind to me and I hoped she might be more honest.

"Mrs. Chen," I said, sitting beside her as she tended to her roses,

"do you know why Alpha Kieran really brought me here?"

Mrs. Chen's hands stilled on the flowers and I felt a complex mix of emotions from her - sadness, knowledge and protective concern.

"He brought you here because you needed help," she said gently.

"But is that the only reason?" I pressed.

Mrs. Chen was quiet for a long moment and I could feel her internal struggle.

Finally, she spoke."Child, there are some things that aren't my place to tell you," she said.

"But I will say this - everyone who has kept things from you has done so out of love, not malice."

"What kinds of things?" I asked.

"Things about your family. About your heritage. About why you're so special."

Mrs. Chen's emotions were heavy with knowledge she wasn't sharing.

"But those answers need to come from Alpha Kieran."

I felt frustrated but also curious.

My heritage? What could there be about my family that people were hiding?

"Mrs. Chen, are my parents really dead?" I asked suddenly.

I felt a sharp stab of pain and surprise from her before she carefully controlled her emotions.

"Your parents died when you were very young," she said. "That much is true."

But there was something else, something about the circumstances of their deaths that she wasn't telling me.

As I left the garden, I realized that Mrs. Chen knew much more about my past than she was letting on.

My next stop was the kitchen, where Emma was preparing dinner.

I decided to try a different approach with her.

"Emma," I said, helping her chop vegetables, "what do you think of Alpha Kieran's decision to bring me here?"

"I think it was wonderful," Emma said immediately.

"You've brought so much light to this house."

Her words felt genuine, but underneath them was worry and knowledge of something bigger.

"Do you think it will cause problems for the pack?" I asked.

Emma's knife paused mid-chop.

"What kind of problems?"

"I don't know," I said. "That's why I'm asking."

"Laila," Emma said carefully,

"sometimes when people with special gifts join a pack, it can create... complications."

"What kind of special gifts?"

"The kind that make other packs take notice," Emma said and I felt her fear about something specific.

"Emma, do other packs know I'm here?"

The spike of anxiety from her was so strong it almost knocked me over.

"Some might," she said quietly.

"Word travels in the werewolf world."

"And that's dangerous?""It could be," Emma admitted.

"Especially if certain people find out about your... abilities."

I put down my knife and turned to face her completely.

"Emma, what abilities? Everyone keeps hinting that I'm special, but no one will tell me why."

Emma looked torn between wanting to tell me and feeling like she shouldn't.

"That's not my story to tell, dear," she said finally.

"But Laila, you should know that everyone who loves you has been trying to protect you by keeping certain things quiet."

After dinner, I decided to test my ability on some of the pack members I didn't know as well.

I joined a group of younger wolves who were sitting around the fireplace, talking and laughing.

"Hi," I said, sitting down with them.

"I'm Laila."

"We know who you are," said a girl sitting with Jessica and I immediately felt dislike and jealousy from them.

"How are you liking it here?" asked another girl named Rachel.

"It's nice," I said. "Everyone has been very welcoming."

But as I said it, I sensed the mixed emotions from the group.

Some genuinely liked me, others were suspicious and a few seemed afraid of me.

"Jessica," I said, focusing on the girl who disliked me,

"is there something about me that bothers you?"

Jessica's emotions spiked with surprise and anger.

"Why would you ask that?"

"Because you seem upset about something," I said.

"I'm not upset," Jessica lied, her emotions churning with jealousy and resentment.

"Is it because Alpha Kieran pays attention to me?" I asked, following my instincts.

The shocked silence from the group told me I had hit the target.

"Jessica had a crush on Alpha Kieran before you came," Rachel said quietly, and I felt Jessica's humiliation wash over me.

"I see," I said.

"Jessica, I'm not trying to steal anyone from you. I didn't even know you were interested in him."

"It doesn't matter now," Jessica said bitterly.

"He only has eyes for his precious charity case."

The words stung, but I could feel that Jessica's anger came from pain, not just meanness.

As the evening went on, I continued to sense emotions and secrets from everyone around me.

Some people were hiding their dislike of me.

Others were hiding knowledge about my past or my abilities.

A few seemed to be hiding bigger secrets about the pack itself.

By the time I went to bed, my head was spinning from all the deception I had discovered.

It felt like I was living in a house built on lies, where everyone knew things about me that I didn't know about myself.

The most disturbing realization was that the secrets seemed to center around three main topics: my heritage, my abilities, and Kieran's real reasons for bringing me here.

Mrs. Chen had hinted at something special about my family background.

Dr. Martinez was hiding medical information about me.

Emma was worried about other packs finding out about my abilities.

And everyone seemed to know that Kieran's motives weren't purely charitable.

As I lay in bed, I made a decision.

Tomorrow, I was going to start getting answers. I was tired of being treated like a child who couldn't handle the truth about her own life.

I would start by searching for information about my parents and my heritage.

If people wouldn't tell me the truth, I would find it myself.

And then I would confront Kieran with everything I discovered.

With my new ability to sense lies, he wouldn't be able to avoid giving me real answers anymore.

I was done being the naive girl who believed whatever story people told her.

It was time to discover who I really was and why everyone was so determined to keep it a secret from me.

But as I drifted off to sleep, I couldn't shake the feeling that some secrets were kept hidden for good reasons.

And I might not like what I found when I started digging for the truth.