Chapter 77

“I guess it was about the next morning when I began to hear thoughts.” She smiled then and shook her head. “They were simple thoughts. So simple. He couldn’t think much at all, but they were the sweetest words I’d ever heard. Things like ‘Pretty’ and ‘Mine’ and ‘Love’. Just short words like that.”

Emma took a shaky breath and let it out slowly. “Nobody had ever called me pretty before. Not until Sean. I was just the nerdy science girl that everyone liked to make fun of. Never the pretty girl. Sean not only saved me, but he gave me the one thing I’d never had before. He made me feel beautiful. And he kept me alive. We kept each other alive.”

Her voice grew sad and quieter still. “Once Gibson figured out that we were not going to kill each other, and that we were only making each other stronger, he took me away. He locked me in that cage and we were never allowed to see each other again. They began testing on me next. It didn’t matter though. I could still hear Sean’s thoughts. I could feel him whenever he walked past the door to the room where I was caged. His thoughts were always there. Even when he was far away, I could hear him always.”

Emma looked up at Amanda then and offered a sad smile. “So I guess, when your mate finds out what I am, I’ll be killed like the other scientists because I was one of them. I understand it if he does. It’s his right and I won’t fight it. It was worth it all just to see Sean again. To be able to hug him and touch him and feel him close to me. Everything I’ve been through was worth that again.”

Amanda shook her head. “You may have been one of them in the beginning but now you are one of us. You are family and we will never harm our family no matter what. You understand?” Amanda moved over and took Emma’s hand. “Family no matter what. You’re one of us no matter what you were before.”

Emma smiled and she looked at Amanda for a long moment before squeezing her hand. Tears began to fall down her cheeks and she whispered. “Do you mean that Sean and I can actually be together? That we can be free and safe with your pack?”

Amanda nodded. “I’ll see what I can do, but I think so, yes. I’ll certainly not let Cole hurt you if he has a mind to do so but I don’t think he does. I think once a wolf mate, you are family.”

Amanda was quiet for a moment and then she looked back over at Emma. “You wouldn’t hurt one of us now, would you? One of the wolves or their mates?”

Emma shook her head quickly. “Not in a million years. I know now more than I knew back when I was one of them. I understand that we are all connected. That we aren’t monsters or animals or any of the stupid stuff I used to think. The monsters are out there. They’re the ones that are doing this to us.”

Amanda smiled then and nodded. “Then you’ll never see harm done to you by our hands or paws.” She grinned and leaned forward, hugging Emma tight. “We’re sisters now, you and I. Sisters now and forever. I think we’ve just lucked our way into one of the biggest families either of us could ever imagine. It is going to be wonderful once we’re free of this house of horrors. You’ll see.”