*Soren*
Payne relayed Mila’s background to as we stood huddled around my desk with one lamp on.
“And you’re sure there is nothing else?” I asked, frowning when Payne finished his report. I spoke softly so my voice wouldn’t carry through the quiet inn.
Payne shrugged. “Were you expecting sothing else?”
“It seems strange... there was nothing else to her background?” I asked again for clarification.
“That’s all I have,” Payne said with a heavy sigh.
“All right, let’s go over it again and see if we can find anything else,” I ordered, laying my hand flat on the desk.
“There’s absolutely nothing remarkable about this young woman. Mila was an orphan and a stray. When she was five, she strayed into Saboreef Pack and was taken in by a foster mother. Unfortunately, she was nothing more than a grubby, greedy, gambler,” Payne told again.
“Which doesn’t exactly equal a happy, well-adjusted childhood,” I muttered.
“I asked around about her and most people had to think hard just to rember her, even when I gave her na. I think because of her upbringing she was introverted and a loner. No one claid to be her friend and it sounds like she mostly kept to herself,” he elaborated.
“That sounds about right that she didn’t interact with many people,” I agreed with a nod. There was no way people wouldn’t have a deep impression about her had they seen her face. The reason why not many rembered her, had to be because they’d never seen her.
Besides, based on my brief interactions with her, she was independent and preferred keeping to herself, looking out for herself, and being on her own.
Payne wasn’t telling anything new. We’d already discussed her childhood. It didn’t give any hints to pinpoint why Lee had been insistent on sending her away as soon as possible.
I knew Lee and he wasn’t the type to make a big deal out of these things. Unless it was directly related to him or could lead to so disaster for all of us, he kept his mouth shut. He’d never say anything outright, but his prodding was enough to keep alert for anything in her past that was suspicious.
“Did you think you’d learn sothing different?” Payne questioned.
“Well, yes. Based on Lee’s reaction to her,” I admitted, frowning.
“It is sad, but a lot of orphans end up in similar situations to her,” Payne reported.
“What I don’t understand is why, if her life is so unremarkable, does it seem like she’s in trouble or like she is running from soone,” I pointed out.
“From what I could gather, she was a chronic runaway. Unhappy with her life and trying to find sothing better. She had an impressive talent for survival but as a young kid, she could only get so far before the authorities caught up to her and returned her to her foster mother,” Payne said, shrugging nonchalantly.
“Why’d she run away this ti? She’s an adult now. She can’t be trying to escape a foster mother anymore,” I pointed out. Thoughtfully, I stroked my chin.
“For that answer, I had to look at the pack politics, not her individual life history. Saboreef was rounding up their young, pretty won and selling them to the Norwind Pack,” Payne filled in.
“Norwind... that’s Alpha Chandler, right?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.
Payne nodded in confirmation.
“It was a surprise to , too. Alpha Chandler’s Luna passed away years ago and everyone says he was very in love with her and loyal to her. It seems odd he’d look for a new luna,” Payne said.
“Perhaps he isn’t,” I muttered, thinking of the drunken night I’d recently had with Mila. Sotis, it wasn’t about companionship, it was about loneliness.
“I thought about that too,” Payne agreed. “It’s been a while. A man has needs, besides physical desires, one of those needs is an heir. He may be looking to ease his loneliness or he may be looking for breeders. An Alpha like Chandler has a lot of money and he can buy whatever he wants, including an endless supply of pretty, young won.”
I didn’t comnt on Payne’s explanation of Chandler’s purchase. It was none of my business whether he chose to ease the pain of his loss by jumping into bed with other won.
However, if he truly loved his Luna, what he did wouldn’t make him feel better. If anything, he’d feel worse. He would feel he had betrayed his mate.
That’s how I felt about Rosalie.
Though, when Mila showed up in my bed, she’d been a pleasant distraction from my unattainable yearning for Rosalie for several days...
I scoffed at myself. Afterall, I was just a fucking hypocrite.
Payne’s voice cut into my thoughts.
“When I asked around about the young won being sold, apparently there was one that... refused to be traded like goods. She fell back on a Saboreef tradition, the Trial of Blackfire.”
“What’s that?”
“In Saboreef, if soone can survive the Trial of Blackfire, they are granted their freedom. One of the won being sold chose to test herself against the Blackfire poison, instead of being sold,” Payne explained.
Mila had shown up in bad shape. Poisoned out of her mind and Lee had not been positive about her prognosis until he learned that she had a natural immunity to it.
“It is a very potent, powerful poison, as you know. Most doses are fatal. However, so have survived it in what seems like miraculous cases. I guess this young woman thought it was better to take her chances with the poison than with being sold,” Payne continued.
I nodded absently, thinking about Mila’s determination. She was stupid, taking her chances with a poison that was almost guaranteed to be fatal! What was she thinking? With that face of hers, Alpha Chandler would have treated her well. He would have paid for a luxurious lifestyle for her, taken care of everything she needed, and if she beca a favorite of his, she’d never need to worry about her next al or a roof over her head.
She was pretty enough to beco a favorite of the Norwind Alpha. That was obvious.
And yet, she chose to endure torture, pain, and near death just to win a chance her freedom.
It was insane but...admirable.
“Why’d she co here? Was it on purpose or an accident? What happened on her way here? Were you able to retrace her steps?” I pressed more.
“I wasn’t. It’s like, after she left Saboreef, her trail runs cold. No one saw or knew anything. I’m sorry, Soren, but if you want answers to those questions, we’ll have to get them from her,” Payne said.
“And she’ll be so forthcoming,” I said half-jokingly, looking at Payne.
Payne sighed and bowed his head. “If you’d like, I can go back out there now that things have settled down and try to retrace her steps again. I can start with the areas directly around Saboreef and branch out.”
“No,” I said, holding up a hand as he went to leave. “I don’t need to know those details right now. What we have is enough.”
Most likely she wouldn’t stay here for long, and what we knew was more than sufficient for the ti being. We all had secrets and there was no need to waste more ti and resources on soone who did not belong here.
***
*Mila*
I listened to the conversation between Soren and Payne. At first, I was only suspecting they were talking about , but as soon as I heard the na “Saboreef,” I verified my guess.
It was obvious that Payne outlined my childhood and even what I’d put myself through to get out of there.
How had he learned so much about ?
Apparently, even though I tried to keep to myself, people always noticed .
Well, now that they knew the truth...
I sighed with relief.
Before, I’d felt guilty because I thought Soren was helping , nursing back to health, as a free favor. Nothing in life ca free, which was why I left my valuables.
I could stop feeling guilty for accepting his help because, just like everyone else, he wanted sothing from . Why else would he be investigating my past and who I was?
The last thing I wanted was to feel like I owed him a favor. After all the dical care, the als, and having a place to stay, that would have been a very, very expensive favor to pay back.
This was the rogue zone and Soren seed like the type to collect on his debts. Why wouldn’t he? There was no charity in this world. One must either earn it, or pay for it.
Being in the rogue zone, I could only imagine the cost of that would be even higher than normal. If I couldn’t cover it financially, who knows what he’d want to do for him!
I smiled to myself, thinking how I no longer had to worry about it. He’d been investigating from the start which ant he wasn’t doing this out of the goodness of his heart. Most likely, he wanted to see if there was a way he could use for personal gain.
Now that he knew who was after , I was far too vulnerable in this place—he could offer up to Norwind for sothing in return. Or he could threaten to expose to get sothing out of .
Either way, he was no better than the freaks that were chasing .
Earlier, I felt a little guilty running away without thanking him in person, for I thought Soren really was one of those few good guys out there, it wasn’t enough to pay him back for the help he’d provided.
But now...
Well, now, I didn’t have to feel guilty. I took what I needed to survive, I left appropriate compensation, and I’d discovered that Soren was an enemy. I didn’t owe him anything after this point and I certainly didn’t need to feel grateful toward him.
He saved out of his own greed.
I sighed again, shaking my head. There was no point in hanging around and listening in more. They’d given what I needed to get on my way. Now that I knew the kind of people they were, I didn’t need to linger or look back.
In fact, I had to get out of there as soon as possible. I needed to put as much distance between myself and this place as possible before they realized I was gone.
I thought of the full moon and how her strength filled . It was ti to go!
#
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