Sky touched her nose. “I’m a shifter. I can scent it. Although Torrent touched you, he didn’t rut you. You are a liar.” She narrowed her eyes.

“Are you sure?” Maybe this woman was right. She prayed she was right. “Do you promise me that you’re telling the truth?”

“He didn’t rut you, female. He barely touched you.” Then she stared out the window for a half a minute. “You genuinely seemed relieved. Did you really believe that he had raped you?”

Candy swallowed hard. She nodded once, feeling her eyes prickle. “I didn’t feel sore… done there.” She glanced between her legs. “So I hoped not, but…” She made a noise of frustration. “He told those other guys that he was claiming me fully and then he pulled up my dress.” Her lip quivered. “Unfortunately I can’t be sure what happened after that because I blacked out. It was a terrible ordeal, my body shut down.”

The shifter had her hands on her hips. She was difficult to read. Candy wasn’t sure why she even cared what the other woman thought about her but she did. “I swear to god, I thought he had raped me. You can’t blame me for thinking it. Not after what those other shifter women said.”

Sky narrowed her eyes. “What women? What did they say?” Her stance softened, just a little.

“Their names were…” She had to think about it. It felt like forever ago. “Scarlet and Ash. They said that we would be hunted and rutted. That the shifter men would tear us apart. We would be used and”—she paused as she thought of the exact words—“mated and impregnated, if we could survive the hunt, that is. You’ve just told me that your men are honor-bound, that they don’t force women. Something isn’t adding up.”

Sky grit her teeth and shook her head. She walked away.

“I swear I’m telling the truth. We were petrified, and when”—she swallowed— “Torrent, is his name Torrent?”

Sky turned sharply and gave a nod of the head before putting a palm to her forehead. Her jaw was set.

“He grabbed me and pushed my dress up… I thought the worst.”

“He must have had his reasons for doing it. You will need to talk with him about it. The only thing I can tell you is that he didn’t hurt you in that way. Our males are… they don’t do things like you just described.”

“Why am I here then?” she whispered.

Sky glanced at the tray. “You need to eat. I think it would be best if your… if Torrent explained things to you. He sure as claw has a few things he needs to explain to me.” She said the last under her breath.

“Just tell me.”