Bleh. There went my appetite as an old memory assaulted me. When I’d been about twelve, this bitch had watched with a callous expression as a group of shifters had kicked the shit out of me in the field behind her house, on the east side of Torma. At the time, I hadn’t blamed her for not wanting to get involved, but even when she’d hurried off, no help had ever arrived for me. She hadn’t told anyone, and that was what I wouldn’t forgive.

At that age, I’d been lucky not to get raped; I was fairly certain it was only Jaxson and Torin putting their foot down that had stopped it from happening. I probably owed them for that.

Whatever.

“Brenda, hey,” I said to the petite brunette, forcing the dark memories down.

She leaned forward against her front cabinet, all of five feet, petite and pretty. Despite being at least fifty years old, she didn’t look much older than me. Her mate was an enforcer, their two-year-old twins absolutely adorable.

She lived the life I’d always wished I could, but now that I was here, it just tasted bitter.

“I’ll grab a jam tart, two of the apricot pastries, and a small jar of chocolate sauce,” I said, my voice quieter than I’d wanted it to be. Pushing the memories down only got me so far, and both my face and voice acted as mood rings in these situations.

She nodded before hurrying off to package everything up. As she bustled around, I wandered along the cold display, deciding to take advantage of the empty shop. “I have a few questions for you,” I called out. “If that’s okay.”

“Of course,” she said instantly, her voice still light and open.

That would probably change the moment she heard my topic of conversation.

“I’m trying to gather information about what happened in Torma after we woke from our stasis punishment. With my memory loss, I’m worried that I’ve missed something important.”

Her head jerked up from where she was sliding a pastry into a white paper bag.

“Has Torin not said anything?” she asked breathlessly, her dark grey eyes wide and shiny. “I mean, he’s your true mate, right?”

I shot her back my best fake smile. The one that said we were old friends and confidantes, and she should feel secure in sharing all of her secrets with me. “Of course, Torin and I have discussed it in detail, but he remembers nothing of significance and suggested that I question a few of the more upstanding citizens in the pack. In the hopes that from another perspective, there might be more information out there.”