This was the most comfortable room she’d ever been in. Mercy was sure of it--even though she couldn’t remember a single place she’d been before the healing center. Still, sitting on the end of the bed in the room that August had taken her to, she was certain she’d never been in a room like this before.Mercy wasn’t sure what to do. Part of her wanted to climb into the comfy bed and go to sleep. But she wasn’t really tired. It just seemed so inviting. She ran her hand along the soft blue comforter and sighed. What must it be like to live in a house like this? To have so many nice things?A shower also sounded pleasant. She’d taken a few while she was at the healing center, but she had the feeling that the bathroom attached to this luxurious room had to be unlike any accommodations she’d ever seen in her life.Mercy kicked off her shoes and took off her socks before letting her bare feet sink into the soft carpet of the floor. A flash of a memory came across her. Cold, concrete. Damp, u

“How do we even know that Rider is telling us the truth?” August’s mom asked him from her seat across from his desk. “He could just be messing with us, trying to scare us.”“I’m not scared of her name, Mom. Hell, I’m not even scared of her. Maybe I should be, but I don’t think she’d do anything to hurt us.”He could’ve been putting his entire pack at risk by having a woman he didn’t know who clearly had some sort of magical powers in their midst, but it was difficult for him to think that Mercy could be dangerous to him or to anyone else. He was usually a pretty good judge of character, and he felt that Mercy was a good person, that anything that she’d been through in her past wasn’t due to her bad character but due to the horrible people she’d been with.And Rider was a pretty horrible person.For years, he’d waged war on surrounding packs, attempting to convescate more territory. He’d killed indiscriminately and even raided some villages where women and children became his victims.

Making breakfast was not something August was particularly good at. Cooking in general was not his forte, but since he couldn’t go back to sleep after he woke up at 5:00 in the morning, he decided to get up around 6:00 and go to the kitchen to make breakfast for Mercy.He’d laid awake for much of the night, thinking about what Rider had told him and the discussion he’d had with his mom. He knew that she was right, that he shouldn’t tell Mercy what he’d found out. But at the same time, he hated keeping information from her, too. If he was in her position, wouldn’t he want to know what his real name was?He wanted to say yes to that, but then, he’d never been in a situation where he’d been abused by an entire pack of people, possibly two packs, and then had to run for his life. So maybe if he’d been in a similar circumstance to the one she was fleeing, he wouldn’t be so quick to think it would be better if she knew.He sat down at the island to sip some coffee while the breakfast casser

The village was a lot different than Mercy had envisioned it, though she had no idea why. Walking down the main street next to August, she was surprised at all of the people, all of the bustle, all of the flurry. It started to feel a little overwhelming from time to time, so she had to remind herself to focus on the Alpha beside her and not on the noise and potential chaos all around her.She’d chosen a comfortable pair of jeans, a white long sleeved shirt, and a brown jacket, along with some brown boots that fit perfectly and a bright scarf. She loved how the colors in the scarf matched the leaves falling from the trees. She had a feeling she didn’t usually have clothes like this. When she’d been found, she’d been wearing a tattered dress; it was her impression that she often wore the same dress, day after day, without a shower or a bath.“This is the coffeehouse,” August said, pointing to a place that smelled wonderful. “And over there is the pizza parlor. We don’t have a lot of res

Television was quickly becoming one of Mercy’s favorite things. August had shown her how to use the remote control for the contraption in the living room, explaining that the one in her room was the same, and told her she could watch while he went and worked on a few things in the office. He’d also told her she could help herself to anything in the kitchen or ask one of the servants to make her something.Mercy didn’t know how she felt about asking anyone else to cook for her, so when she’d gotten hungry, she’d wandered into the kitchen to have a look around. Now, she was sitting on the couch with a can of something called Diet Pepsi on the table next to her, along with a bag of Doritos, marshmallows, and something called Chex Mix. She wasn’t sure if any of these things were meant to be eaten the way that she was eating them, just one piece at a time, or if they were ingredients that were meant to make something else, but she was enjoying them. She had learned that the Doritos and Che