The pack house was deserted when I returned from my short outside break. The cleanup crew had finished the dishes and left everything spotless. Brian was rostered for pack patrol tonight and had left.

I headed upstairs to the guest rooms. Laura came out of the door.

"Did you talk to her?"

"I just was. I'm just nipping out for a glass of water. And she has a name, you know. Anna."

She looked me in the eye. "Now what was that all about?"

"What?"

"The argument. I could hear it up here."

"Keith doesn't think I should have let her stay."

"You could have dealt with it a lot better, Jim. There were pups watching! What kind of effect do you think it had on them?"

"I didn't even raise my voice. It was mostly Keith having a go at me."

"Jim. You can't just let people walk over you and get away with it."

"What? He had an opinion! That's all. Should I banish him for having an opinion?"

"You're the Alpha-"

"What kind of argument is that? That I'm the damn Alpha, and therefore I'm entitled to more rights than he is? He has every right to challenge me. He is a member of this pack as much as I am."

Laura rolled her eyes. "Here we go again."

"And what good would it do to shut him up, anyway? The sentiment will just simmer under the surface, and I won't be able to get a finger on it until it boils over. It'll only make things more worse. Not that he was ever going to do anything in the first place. He may disagree with me but I've known him long enough to know he doesn't have a single traitorous bone in his body."

"You're never going to change, are you?" She produced a white envelope emblazoned with a familiar shield. "Anyway, here's something that arrived in the mail while you were at work."

I looked at the unopened envelope. The University of Canterbury, 1894 Briarleaf Road. I sucked in a deep breath. "I'll read it later. I'm going to talk to her now. Oh, and what did you talk about?"

"Not much. We were just getting started, really. Well, I'll get going then." She reached over and kissed me on the cheek.

I stood there for quite a while, staring at nothing in particular as she descended the stairs, with the envelope in my hand, the imprint of her lips still lingering on my left cheek, before I finally came to remembered what I came up here to do. I put the envelope in my trouser pocket, and headed for the guest rooms.

***

The guest room nearest to the stairway was sparsely furnished and had a strong herbal smell. There was a small day bed, and a bookshelf with a desk next to it. The walls were eggshell blue. There was a solitary painting hanging on the wall, which had been bought from a rogue artist who had owed me a favour.

I recalled visiting his studio in the Industrial Zone, above a haberdashery, which looked out onto the railyards. He had this technique where he shifted into his wolf before painting, using his entire body as a brush. It had been quite fascinating to watch.

A few years ago he had finally succumbed to the kidney problems which had plagued him for much of his adult life. I had been one of the four people who had attended his funeral.

The girl was sitting on the bed, cross-legged, regarding me warily.

I pulled a chair from the desk over to the bed and sat down. I felt very aware of my size in the of the small room, and the slight figure who was looking at me with a mildly mortified expression.

For a moment we just sat there, neither party wanting to start the conversation.

I noticed a bowl of something brown sitting on the desk, and suddenly realised the source of the herbal smell. "I see Gerta gave you some medicine."

"That stuff doesn't doesn't deserve to be called medicine," she said in a small voice. "It's snake oil."

I leaned in a little closer to hear her better.

"Can you believe she tried to make me drink that? It's only a matter of time before she poisons someone-"

She seemed to catch the last word on her tongue. "Sorry Alpha, I didn't mean to-"

"Mean to do what?"

She hung her head. "I-I didn't mean to speak badly of your pack members. Forget what I said. I'm just a worthless rogue who-"

"Well, I can't deny her methods are hardly scientific. But I can't get rid of her. She's family."

She looked at me like I'd suddenly grown a pair of wings.

"Please don't send me back to him," she blurted out suddenly.

Who's him? I tried my best to control my body language and not to intimidate her. "I won't send you back. I promise. Let's just change the subject. So where are you from?"

"Copenhagen Town."

"Which sector?"

"Sector Si- hang on, how do you know where it is?"

"Herman's a friend of mine."

"U-Uncle Herman? He's your friend? How?"

"It's a long story."

"He's probably looking for me right now." She suddenly snapped out of her distant gaze and stared me in the eye. "I need to get back home as soon as possible. They need to know I'm safe."

"I'll take you back tomorrow. Are you okay with that?"

"You're going with me-" She looked at me confusedly.

"Why not. I'm going into the Zone tomorrow for business matters anyway. We can drop in on Herman on the way."

She seemed a lot more at ease now.

"So, who is this him?"

She hesitated.

"If you don't want to tell me anything right now, that's fine. Everything at your own pace. "

"The man who kidnapped me and tried to make me his mate."

Thurgood's prediction had come true, I thought to myself.

"How did he find you?"

"See, I had a job at a Toyota dealership."

"Groundnut Hill Toyota?"

"That's the one. They put an ad in the paper asking for new recruits. I didn't get the job, but I kept on turning up and hanging around, and eventually they let me sweep the floors. Later I moved up to moving cars around the lot and stuff like that. Odd jobs."

'Continue on." I very slightly adjusted my posture.

"Anyway, I was sweeping the sales floor when this handsome Alpha dude came in. He wanted a new Hilux for pack patrol. Top of the line, dual cab, SR5 with aircon and all the options. I thought that was weird. Most people looking for new trucks for pack patrol go for the base model versions.

"As soon as he entered the room he locked eyes with me. I can't explain it, but there was something about the way me stared at me that... really stirred up my emotions. I tried to just stay still in the corner and try to be as invisible as possible. But he just kept on looking at me. When the dealer he was talking to left for a while he came over and embraced me. He told me that I was beautiful. He was about to whisper something in my ear, but thankfully the dealer came at that moment to ask him out for a test drive.

"As I was leaving that night, I went around the back to the main road, to catch the bus back home. Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me. It was him. I ran as fast as I could, but he caught up to me and grabbed me. I fought him as hard as I could, but he was too strong. He clapped a rag to my face, and the world went black.

"The next thing I remembered, I was lying in a bed in a dark room. There was some light coming in from the windows, but I could barely see anything. He was standing over me, smiling. He kept on touching my face and telling me that I was his."

"Are you fine to continue? If you don't feel comfortable we'll stop right now and we can talk further at Herman's tomorrow."

"No. I'll keep on going."

"Are you really sure?"

"Any friend of Herman's is a friend of mine."

Fair enough, I thought to myself.

She continued. "Mine, that's what he kept on saying to me. Mine. Mine. Mine. The creep. And then he told me was going to mark me as soon as possible and I was going to be his mate. I told him to get lost. He pinned me to the bed and put his face as close to mine as possible. I could smell his cologne, and he had this really dangerous glint in his eyes. I was absolutely terrified that he was going to hit me."

"Did he?"

"No. He told me he was going to break me and make me his mate and then he left."

I heard the door creak slightly. It was Laura. Noticing we were in the midst of conversation, she discreetly left the glass of water on the desk, smiling at Anna as she left.

She reached over and took a sip, holding the glass with both hands.

"Did he tell you his name?"

"Only his first name. It started with a K. Like Kevin or something-"

"Kaden?"

"That's it. Kaden." Her voice carried more than a hint of venom as she repeated his name.

Kaden Lancaster. I remembered back to what Thurgood had been talking about earlier in his office. So this was the reason for his recent erratic behaviour.

"Did he do anything to you?"

"He didn't get to. As soon as he left I got up and tried the door. It was locked, but none of the windows were."

"He's not the brightest tool in the shed."

"You know him?"

"Not that well. I knew his father a lot better. I do have a friend who has to deal with him on a daily basis."

"Are you going to do anything?"

"I'll do what I can. I'll try and talk to him the next time I see him, I promise. Tell you what, I'll tell Herman to keep an eye on you, make sure he never so much as lays a hand on you again."

She chuckled. "He's nearly seventy."

"You'd be surprised at what he's capable of."

"Really."

I decided to let that one slip. "Anyway. So what happened next?"

"I climbed out of the window. I was on the first floor, but there was a roof under me and getting down wasn't too hard. There were some cars parked outside the house I'd been imprisoned in. I found the I found the nearest car and tried the door. It opened. The keys were in the ignition, and I just took off."

"It was that easy? Nobody tried to stop you?"

"No. I just drove straight out of the pack territory. That was the most liberating feeling I'd ever felt. I had no idea where I was going, but it felt so good to be free of that creep."

That was strange. Usually pack patrols would have at least checked on someone leaving the pack.

"You didn't see any pack members at all?"

"No."

"I'm guessing you taught yourself to drive at the dealership."

She nodded, clearly proud of herself.

"How was the car? Was there anything off about it?"

"The car was fine. It drove fine. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it at all."

"So what happened?"

"Well, it's hard to explain, but everything just went out all of a sudden. Brakes, engine, lights everything. It was like a switch got pulled somewhere. I couldn't see where I was going and I went off the road."

I reminded myself to tell Mike to take a look at the Cherokee, which was currently sitting in the shed.

There was another pregnant pause in the conversation.

"Can I ask you a question?" She asked tentatively.

"Shoot."

She hesitated for a moment. "Why did you let me stay here?"

"I don't kick people when they're down." I heard the door open a crack.

Anna jerked noticeably.

It was Laura again. She gestured for me to come outside. I followed her outside.

"Patrol say they've spotted some possible intruders along the northern border. They're a bit worried they're short on manpower, and they need someone-"

"I'll deal with it," I made to go down the stairs.

"No, it's fine, Jim. I'll go. You stay here. You two seem to get along quite well."

"I said I'll deal with it."