Dropping Torin’s name burned my tongue, but I legitimately wasn’t above using his position in the pack to get the answers I needed. I had to get out of Torma soon, before Torin forced his will on me, but I couldn’t leave until the mystery was solved.

Someone had fucked with me and I was determined to find out who.

7

Brenda’s movements didn’t suggest she was panicked by my question, but I felt her unease. The only things that had stopped her from brushing me off, in the hope of avoiding an uncomfortable topic, were my words about Torin encouraging this. No one wanted to go against the alpha.

“In all honesty,” she said softly, “I haven’t really seen you in town since we were brought back from our stasis. We all figured that you were dealing with your bond, learning how to be alpha-mate.”

I paused. “Torin has only been an alpha of Torma for what… two months? Wouldn’t he be learning it too?”

She blinked. “It feels so much longer, but yes, I suppose that is correct. No doubt the many years under Victor acclimated him to the role much faster.”

The look on her face told me that she really hadn’t stopped to think about it, just going about her daily life for the last two months without questioning how the fuck we’d all been frozen for years.

How had none of them lost their minds too at the thought that the world around us had continued moving while we’d stayed the same? In stasis. Vulnerable to any who’d wanted to hurt us.

When I asked Brenda a condensed version of that, she shrugged. “Most of us never leave Torma anyway. And what’s two years when we live hundreds? We celebrated the release of our punishment, and now we live our lives. You should just be happy with your gifts, Mera. You’re our beloved alpha-mate, and through a quirk in fate, the sins of your family were wiped away in a single instant.”

My jaw ached at how hard my teeth were clenched. Everyone was feeding me the same line. Be happy with what you have; don’t worry about the past; move forward and enjoy your newfound popularity.

I could tell they thought I was being an ungrateful brat who just couldn’t stop poking and prodding at the fabric of our pack. But, seriously, there was something majorly wrong here. I felt it so deep inside that it was butting heads with my DNA.