“What’s to think about?” Jase said. “It’s just a lifelong commitment. We decided to jump into it all willy-nilly like. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Talley rolled her eyes, which was proof enough she was spending too much time with him. “Of course we’ve thought about it.” She looked me straight in the eye. “This is what we both want. Promise.”

“Are you sure? I mean, you might think this is what you both want now…”

Talley’s gaze didn’t waver. “I love him, Scout. And he loves me.” She held up their linked hands. “Trust me. It’s not exactly like he can lie or hide his true feelings from me.”

“But it’s Jase.”

“It’s Jase,” she smiled. “My mate.”

Chapter 10

I couldn’t sleep that night. The day had been a revelation-filled piñata. Jase hadn’t betrayed me. Mrs. Matthews had. Charlie was hurt and under constant Alpha Pack supervision, but he was alive and healing. Jase and Talley were dating, or whatever it is you call a pre-mated relationship, and they both seemed really happy about it. The small part of my brain not obsessing over those new developments was busy coming up with new and inventive ways to kick Liam in the head.

When I finally couldn’t lay there with all those creepy dolls staring at me any longer, I got up and wandered through the house. Jase and Talley were sleeping in the living room. Jase was on the couch and Talley had an inflatable mattress. As I snuck towards the front door I noticed Jase’s hand was dangling off the couch and onto the air mattress, where it was interlaced with Talley’s. It might have been sweet and cute if it wasn’t so bizarre and creepy.

Liam said he wanted to sleep on the extra couch on the screened-in back porch, but that wasn’t where I found him. As I stepped through the back yard, keeping a wary eye out for the assorted vermin running about, he had to have heard me, but he just sat on the fence and stared off into the mountains.

I climbed up on the other side of the post. Balancing on top of a fence is a bit more difficult and uncomfortable than all those cowboy pictures would have you believe. After a bit of awkward maneuvering I finally found a position that didn’t make it feel as though the slat of wood was going to leave bruises on my butt.

“It looks like a John Denver song out here,” I said, breaking the stillness of the night. There was no moon, but the stars gave enough illumination for my sensitive Shifter eyes. Eastern Kentucky might get a lot of flack because of its economy, but it really is one of the most beautiful places in the world. “You know, life really isn’t anything other than a funny, funny riddle, and I do thank God I’m a country girl.”

Liam didn’t so much as roll his eyes.

I shifted ever so slightly so I was somewhat facing him. “This isn’t working.”

“Try leaning forward,” he said. “Put more pressure on your feet and less on your backside.”

“Not what I meant.” Although, he was right, it did help. “This arrangement of ours, the one where I trust that you know what in the Hades you’re doing and don’t ask too many questions. I can’t do it any more.” Not after he let me suffer when all it would have taken was one lousy sentence to tell me Jase actually cared if I lived or died. “If you want me to play whatever part it is you have planned for me, you’re going to have to talk.”

“And if I don’t?”

I took a deep breath. “Then I walk.”

“You really think you have any chance of surviving without me?”

“I don’t have a chance of surviving period.” I knew the truth, had Seen it in one of the visions of the future Talley claimed she didn’t have. “The question is, does your mysterious plan have a chance of working without me?”

He didn’t answer immediately. We both sat there, staring out into the distance. My super-senses were at their weakest, so I couldn’t pick up on much other than the area immediately surrounding us. Most everything was sleeping, although there were some mice in the barn having a grand old time. If I concentrated hard enough, I could just make out the sound of Talley’s snoring.

“What do you want to know?” he asked just when I had made up my mind to go back inside.

“Everything.”

“That all?”

I thought about all the unanswered questions, all the mysteries crowding my thinking space. “Start with your real name.”

That seemed to actually catch him off-guard. “What do you mean?”

“After Alex’s funeral Stefan approached me. He said Alex’s real name was Christopher, but that you both changed your names after running away. So, what is it?”

There was another long lull in conversation, but eventually he answered. “Bryce.”

“Why change it?”

“When the Alpha Pack burned down our house with my parents in it, they thought we were inside, too. We assumed new identities and let them continue to think Bryce and Christopher were dead.”

“The Alpha Pack burned down your house with your parents inside?” My stomach twisted. “How do you know it was them?”

Another pause, and then a deep breath. “My parents met in Romania when they were both in training to be part of the Alpha Pack,” he began. “My mother’s family is one of, if not the, most powerful line of Seers in Europe. At least one girl from every generation was invited to become a Potential once their powers manifested. Usually they waited until they were eighteen to actually move them to the Den, but Mom went when she was fifteen. Future Seers are very rare, and they wanted her immediately.”

He didn’t look anywhere near me as he talked. It was as if he was telling his story to the mountains, but I was okay with that. As long as I got to hear it, I didn’t care who he told.

“My dad was nineteen when he joined. His Pack wasn’t very large and held very little Territory in Germany, but he was Dominant enough to catch the Alphas’ eye. Gerard was the Alpha Male at the time, and he took Dad under his wing, preparing him to become a Stratego.

“They never said why they left. Mom would occasionally allude to things, but never said anything concrete. All I know is that after three years, Dad was granted a special Lone status and moved to Canada, taking Mom with him. Two years later, I was born.

“Our childhood was fairly normal, or at least I thought it was. We learned about being Shifters the same way human kids might learn to be Catholics. It was just part of who we were. They talked about the Alpha Pack in the same terms your parents would have spoken about the President or something. They were part of the social structure, a governing body that made and enforced our rules.