Page 109 of Truthfinder’s Promise

“It’s magic. But it’s not doing magic. It’s not making things happen. Other kids were afraid of the stories everyone told about Aspecters. About them summoning storms and being able to punch through rock and stuff. But I liked them.

“When I was little, I used to think I could hear the wind talk. I wanted it to be true so bad I even thought I made a dust devil in the back yard once. But Grams told me I imagined it and I needed to stop playing make-believe before someone got the wrong idea.” Natalie sighed. “She was right. I already didn’t fit in. I wasn’t a very good Shifter.”

Uneasiness settled in Meredith’s gut. Jace, who had a secondary affinity for air, used to say that it was like talking to the wind.

Jensen’s mother had just dropped Natalie in his arms. No mention of who her father was. And she’d told him to protect her—not to take care of her, which should have been the more natural word choice.

“Anyway, I know I should have told someone but they would have killed him, and Julian was—I thought he was—my friend. He didn’t bring the leopard stuff up again for weeks. Nothing bad happened. Then one day he asked another question about what it was like. Shifting. It seemed harmless, so I answered. It was nice, having someone to talk to about everything, and he listened to me.”

Her face hardened. “He was just using me as an information bag. The questions started getting too detailed, almost technical. And then one day he asked if he could meet another Shifter, and he got angry when I said no. Then he tried to smooth it over, so I pretended to go along with him.

“I knew I had to get home and tell Jensen everything. But Julian must have figured out it wasn’t safe to let me go. His magic pinned me and I couldn’t move. It was like I was paralyzed.” She squeezed her eyes shut, a tear trickling out the corner of her eye. “I told him I’d never tell him anything else. That I’d never tell him where to find another Shifter.

“He said I didn’t have to. He said he’d already found everyone he needed to by watching me.” The tears were spilling down her cheeks now. “So it is my fault. If I’d told Jensen about him the first day, none of this would have happened.”

Meredith took her shoulders gently. “Even if it were true that Jensen could have stopped this, it still wouldn’t be your fault. But Natalie, Julian already knew you were a Shifter. He’d probably been following you for months by that point. He already knew where to find the rest of you.

“If you hadn’t answered his question that first day, if you’d blown him off, he’d have known that you’d go home and tell someone. He would have taken you that first day and everything else would have happened the same way. Just a little sooner.”

“Why me? How did he find me?”

“I don’t know.” Oh, but she had an idea.

“Jensen said he’s in jail. I want to see him.”

“That’s up to Jensen and Rebekah. But if they okay it, you should know Julian probably won’t recognize you.”

“What do you mean?”

Meredith hesitated. “Did Jensen tell you what I did to Julian?”

“He said you made him tell the truth.”

Meredith laughed. “He gave you the G-rated version. I’m a Truthfinder. If a Truthfinder is strong enough, they can do what’s called a Truthfinder’s Telling. It makes a person confront the truth about themself. Every facet of themself that they’ve hidden from, they can’t anymore. It usually screws people up for a few days, unless they’ve always been very honest with themselves. I hit Julian with a Telling, but I was kind of hopped up on a magic power crown at the time.”

She thought maybe she should feel guilty about that but she just…couldn’t.

Natalie gave her a look full of teenage skepticism. “Really?”

“Really. It warped the Telling. Julian didn’t just confront his own truth as he saw himself. He confronted it as everyone else saw it, too. As I saw him. And then he confessed it.

“There isn’t a gentle way to say this. I fried his brain and I can’t undo it. If Jensen says you can see him, then someone will take you. But if you’re hoping for some kind of explanation from him, there isn’t enough left of him to give one. I’m sorry.”

Natalie shook her head. “It’s fine.” Two words that meant next to nothing. “Thanks for talking to me, but I think I’d like to be alone for a bit.”

“Okay. If you need anything, you can come to me.”

Her hand was on the doorknob when Natalie blurted out, “Can I stay here? In Seclusion, with you?”

Meredith’s heart constricted.

“Please? I don’t wanna go back home. I already didn’t belong there and now everyone hates me. Don’t you need people to stay here? Shifters? That’s the point of this outpost? To show everyone we don’t have to be afraid of each other? And if I can do that, it should mean something, right?”

“Natalie…it isn’t my choice to make. I’m not your guardian.”

“But Jensen is, and you’re his wife. Under Shifter law that makes me as much yours as his. Please let me stay, I can’t go back there.”

Natalie burst into sobs, the full-on, wrecking ball kind. Meredith crossed the room and wrapped her in a hug, her heart breaking. Probably the adult thing to do was to tell her that running away from her problems wouldn’t make them disappear, and she should go back home and face them.

But honestly, Meredith thought it was shit advice. Going back into a toxic environment where she didn’t fit in might prove Natalie was tough enough to endure it, but it wouldn’t make her happy.

Meredith squeezed her eyes shut. Jensen was going to kill her. “I can’t make you any promises. But if Jensen agrees, of course you can stay.”