12. Anna

12

Anna

"It wasn't me," Janelle repeated for the hundredth time as we all stared at the damage done to the trees.

I wanted to be annoyed with her, but I knew what it was like to always be on the defensive. To know that if anything went wrong, everyone would be looking at you.

That didn't mean that I trusted Janelle, but in this, I trusted her. She didn't see any lingering magic, and neither did I.

Jax and Amelia were trying to pinpoint London's whereabouts. We'd been to what looked like the start of whatever had happened, although none of the evidence made sense. The woods were completely normal until whatever happened in this spot. Had a car dropped the beast off? There were no tread marks.

Had something dropped it from the sky?

"Nobody thinks it was you, Janelle, but if you keep saying that we might have a different opinion," Finn snapped.

Janelle's eyes narrowed in his direction. Good. I was happy to see the witch with a little backbone.

"This is weird," Kenzi said as she wrinkled her nose. "I don't like weird."

"Shocking," I muttered.

Before she could retaliate, a group of wolves and guards arrived, all headed up by London.

"Anna," London greeted casually, as if he didn't have a giant beast running around his territory. "I hope you weren't awakened by the commotion this morning. I've promised you rest and relaxation while you are here."

"Kind of you to say, but I suspect that's not your biggest concern." I looked behind him. "Jax and Amelia aren't with you?"

"Should they be?"

"They went looking for you, and you're kind of hard to miss with all this entourage." I waved my hands as the wolves spread out and established a perimeter around the area.

"True, but I have not seen them."

Weird, I thought, echoing Kenzi. Jax and I had raced out of the room so quickly that I hadn't had a chance to grab my phone. "And the monster who went rampaging through your house this morning?"

"Disappeared."

I waited for him to elaborate, but he just focused his attention on Janelle. "And this seems to be where it appeared. I have to assume it's magic."

The witch's eyes widened in horror. "It wasn't me. I swear! Anna brought me out here to see if I could sense any magic, but I can't!"

"I woke her up from a dead sleep," Kenzi chimed in. "And Cindy was in the room. She said Janelle hadn't left the room this morning."

"You asked her that?" Janelle asked, a little miffed.

"She's still sleeping with you?" I added. "What is going on?"

Shame crossed her face. "She thinks someone needs to keep an eye on me."

"Interesting. Why is that?" London asked.

"They've been traumatized. It makes sense that they're clinging to each other," I said quickly before London got any ideas. "And for the record, I can't sense any magic either, but you should verify it with your own witch if you don't believe us."

London sighed. "Ava is still analyzing the scene where the creature disappeared. She has said that there are no traces of magic, but she's still there to make sure. Nothing else makes sense."

I was inclined to agree with him except that we simply couldn't find any magic. "Did anyone get a good look at it? What did it look like?"

"Like a wolf on steroids," Cruz growled. "Big. Fast. Ugly."

Size usually made things slower, not faster. "What do you mean by ugly?"

"Bulging muscles. Sort of hunched over. Patchy fur. I never got a good look at its face. I don't think anyone did. We followed a trail to one of the storage buildings. It went inside, but there was no trace of it after that."

"You have cameras, don't you? Has anyone reviewed the footage?"

"They're being collected and sent to my office as we speak." London inclined his head. "Would you like to join me?"

Chasing down a monstrous creature? My pulse fluttered in anticipation, but this was not our pack or our land. I didn't want to interfere, and I certainly didn't want to get involved in anything else where people could die. "No. We are all supposed to be relaxing," I said firmly. "And resting up for our journey home. If you need assistance, though, we're here."

"What? I totally want to help," Finn argued.

"Oh, yeah. Really want to help," Kenzi breathed.

"Then you should find Jax and make sure he's okay with it." I glanced around the group and frowned. There was someone missing. "Where is Saul?"

It was half an hour before I could get back to my phone and saw that Jax had gotten caught up at the security office and was reviewing the footage. I'm sure London was going to love that his guards just let another alpha take a look at secure feed, but Jax was persuasive, and camera monitoring was usually handed down to the youngest recruits because it was a boring job. I imagine London's guards did the same, so this would be a big day for them.

Apparently it was a big day for Jax too. It seemed everyone was excited about the prospect of a giant wolf.

Maybe I was a little, too. Anything to take my mind off my mother.

And Jax. In love with me.

I still wasn't sure how to handle that. I'd never experienced love before. Parker, I think, loved me like a seriously gruff and emotionally stunted father, but romantic love?

Here I was, the woman who didn't believe in happily ever after, impatiently waiting to go home so I could thoroughly explore mine.

Saul wasn't in his room, and it smelled like he hadn't been there all night. Concerned, I headed to the infirmary. A blonde woman, a few years older than myself, was sitting at the front desk scowling at the computer. She brightened when she saw me. "Hi! Do you need anything? A broken bone mended? Or maybe a tonic for your upset stomach?"

"Hi. Wow, you're eager to heal, aren't you?"

"It's my first day being at the infirmary alone. Usually Makayla is overseeing things, but I feel like they really trust me now." She practically vibrated in her chair. "Oh, but I promise I'm good. It's not like, my first first day or anything. I completed all my coursework and training two years ago."

"Good to know. I'm sure you're doing a great job, but all my bones are in place, and my stomach is just fine. I'm looking for Saul."

The light dimmed in her eyes. "Oh. Yes. The Black Diamond pack healer. He's been here all night. Do you know if they sent him to keep an eye on me?"

So, the majority of London's pack didn't know about Makayla or the serum. I wasn't sure if that was good news or not. "No. He's just doing a little research. The infirmary is all yours. Excuse me."

I skirted through the infirmary to the lab. When I found it locked, I frowned and knocked. "Saul? It's Anna. Let me in."

When he didn't answer, I pounded on the door. "Saul? Don't make me break this door down!"

"I have a key," the woman in the front said. "Somewhere. Give me just a second."

It wasn't necessary, because the door opened a second later, and Saul blinked at me bleary-eyed. "Anna? What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."

"If it was the middle of the night, I'd be asking you what you're doing here," I said pointedly. "And I'm still going to be asking that since it's nearly nine the next morning, and you haven't been in your room."

Yawning, he rubbed his face and stepped back to let me in. "I'm sorry. I must have fallen asleep. I didn't mean to worry you."

"Something has you invested if you're here all night, considering you're always telling me to get more sleep," I said lightly as I glanced at the computer screen. Nothing on it made sense to me.

"Well, you are always nearly getting yourself killed. Perhaps if you slept more, you'd make wiser decisions."

"Uh-huh. So, you've been missing out on a few things while you were sleeping. London thinks my mother is a witch."

Saul cocked his head. "It's not unheard of for a wolf and a witch to mate, although they only take on the characteristics of one parent, usually not both. You are an odd little thing."

"Thanks for that. Jax told me he loved me."

"Then I retract calling him an idiot earlier."

Oh. "I think he'll be glad to hear that. Also, about an hour ago, some weird enormous monster wolf went rampaging through the territory before suddenly disappearing."

Saul stilled, but I noted what was absent in his eyes.

Surprise.

"Yeah. I thought it probably had something to do with this formula. Please tell me that you haven't been here all night, testing it on yourself."