Page 84 of Truthfinder’s Promise

“I’m a freak of nature,” Hel said bitterly. “Too helter skelter to get tied down to one animal. I can be whatever I want.” She turned to Rebekah. “Which is why I need to be the one to go. No one will notice one more bird flying around.”

“No.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Serenity said. “You want her to grow up but you won’t stop treating her like a child. She’s twenty-one, not four.”

“Do you know what she did just last week? She put the kettle on for tea, then decided to go for a run and left it on. Six hours later she finally came home. Her apartment wasn’t on fire but she sustained third-degree burns on her hand because she couldn’t think to put on an oven mitt before she picked up the kettle.”

“Maybe if someone gave her attention any time other than when she’s screwing up, she wouldn’t do it so much.”

“And maybe she wishes you would all stop talking about her like she’s not right fucking here.” Hel’s hands were planted on her hips. “I know you think I can’t do anything right, but no one’s ever let me try. Every time I’ve tried to do anything, you’ve stopped me. When I wanted to go to cheer camp you told me I’d get distracted mid-somersault and break my neck. When I wanted to join the volleyball team, I’d also get distracted, and then a coach would yell at me and I’d be too emotionally thin-skinned to handle that and I’d cry in public and embarrass myself. Should I go through your responses when I wanted to learn piano, sign up for track and field, or join the 4H club?”

Rebekah’s lips pressed into a thin line. The anger in her eyes wasn’t that of a leader outraged that she was being talked back to—it was the look of a woman realizing that maybe, somewhere along the way, she had messed up, and now she didn’t know how to handle it. Certainly not publicly. She was going to respond with something critical that would shut down the conversation for good. It would hurt Hel, and Rebekah would regret it later.

“Hel?” The sinking expression on Hel’s face told Meredith she’d pretty much forgotten everyone else was in the room. “Can you do this?”

Hel’s eyes hardened with resolve. “Yes.”

True. She believed it.

“Can you memorize everything Valkyrie tells you, do exactly as she says, and come straight back here?”

“Yes.”

“Then go with Val. She’ll run you through everything you need to know.”

Hel hesitated, looking to Rebekah. Rebekah didn’t look back. Her gaze was focused on Meredith, something that looked almost like gratitude in her eyes. She nodded.

Seeing the look of hope and excitement in Hel’s eyes as she followed Valkyrie out of the kitchen, Jensen pitted a lifetime of knowing his cousin against his hope that Meredith’s belief in her wasn’t unfounded. He’d never have put his objections in words as harsh as his grandmother’s—which probably meant he’d make a shitty protector some day—and he’d never have laid it all out there so publicly, but he didn’t disagree with Grams’ assessment.

Not once in her life had Hel managed to stay on-task for longer than fifteen minutes. But…Serenity’s comments had gotten to him, too. Hel wasn’t a kid anymore. In his head she’d probably always be the teenage hellion who’d stolen Mike Carter’s tractor and driven it into the local pond.

Hel was right. Somewhere along the way they’d given up on her. Everyone loved her—she was impossible not to love—but they’d stopped expecting anything out of her. Stopped letting her even expect anything out of herself.

Meredith had given her what no one who loved her seemed to be able to: trust.

He wanted to kick himself and kiss Meredith at the same time. Except what he needed from his pretty wife right now was her absence, so he could talk to her ex. He caught Grams’ eye and gave a slight nod at Meredith.

“Meredith, dear, take a turn about the gardens with me, won’t you?”

Had his grandmother actually just said take a turn about the gardens? How many period dramas had she been watching without him around to rein her in?

Meredith took this in stride, even accepting the arm Grams held out to her. Be nice, he mouthed. His grandmother flashed him a large smile. Everything about it was polite and sweet, and yet the very sight of it could instill terror in the entirety of the enclave’s members. He was certain that somewhere way back in the day, a wolf Shifter with that exact smile had inspired the Little Red Riding Hood folk tale. Fortunately, he’d developed an immunity to it somewhere around age fifteen.

He gave Dom a look and his cousin took the hint. “Come on, Ren, let’s go make sure Hel understands what tactical instruction is.”

Random cast a single glance from Jensen to Jace and said, “Jace, I’m borrowing your wife.”

“What for?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Don’t make me punch you on principle, man.”

“As if.”

Siren rolled her eyes, leaned in and kissed Jace. “Jensen wants to talk to you, so we’re leaving.”

“It’s as good an excuse as any.” Random swept Siren into his arms and carried her toward the back porch.