When we got into her small white sedan, parked at the back of the lot, she wasted no time pulling onto the road toward the school. It was only a few miles away, but that was enough time to practice my rusty small talk. “How are you finding Torma?” I asked as she drove sedately. “Is everyone treating you well?”

She had both hands on the steering wheel, and it was clear she wasn’t a massive risk-taker because she never removed her eyes from the road to chat. “It’s been wonderful. I petitioned long ago to join Torma, starting from when my mate first rejected me, but it was always a no. And since my pack wouldn’t release me to any alpha weaker than theirs, it left me with very few options. For years, I lived in the same pack as my true mate, watching as he created a life with another. It was torture.”

For a second, I wondered if I’d misheard her. “Your true mate rejected you?”

She cleared her throat. “Yeah, a long time ago. I’m okay now, but it was pretty rough.”

“Yeah, I understand completely,” I breathed.

This caught her attention, and for a brief moment, she actually looked away from the road to meet my eyes. “You understand completely? But how? You’re mated to the alpha and everyone loves and respects you.”

The corners of her eyes pulled into sad lines, and I had the brief idea that she thought I was mocking her. With a shake of my head, I placed my hand on her arm. “When our bond was first realized, Torin rejected me. Quite brutally, actually.”

Sam blinked at me, seemingly as confused as I’d been about her words. “But… But you’re together now?”

I shook my head. “Kinda, not really. I can’t forgive and forget, and with my missing memories, let’s just say… There’s something rotten in Torma and I am not going to rest until I figure out what it is.”

She cleared her throat as she turned her focus back to the road. “I had no idea. The few times I’ve seen you around, you looked so confident and put-together. I figured you were one of those shifters living the fairytale pack life.”

I snorted. “This pack was my prison and hell. I understand your need to escape, far better than you might think.”

Her hands tightened on the steering wheel as she breathed deeply. “Rejection is rare,” she finally said, pausing for a beat to safely navigate an intersection, “and for someone as strong and capable as you are, I’m completely stunned Torin wasn’t over the moon to have you as his mate.”