NeahMallory guides a crying woman into the office. The red haired woman has her hands clutched to her chest, almost hyperventilating as a wide eyed Mallory ushers her into a chair. “He can’t hurt you now.” Mallory tells her.The bang made sense now. Abraxas had killed someone else. Someone that he had deemed unworthy to even meet me. By the mark on this woman’s neck, my guess is the person was her mate.”I’m sorry.” I mutter, knowing there would be no words to actually soothe the loss of her mate. She is most likely in agony.”He’s really dead?” She splutters through tears.”Yes.” Mallory offers her a smile”Good!” The woman looked so relieved to here the confirmation. Now I was even more confused. “The bastard marked me when I received your link.””You weren’t his mate?” I ask as even more questions develop in my head’It’s a trap.’ Nyx mutters.’You think everything is a trap.’ I snap back”No.” The redhead mumbles. “I was sold to him.”I was starting to see why Abraxas had shot him. “You were sold?”She drops her gaze, her long red hair falls down over her face “It’s not the first time.””You’ve been sold more than once?” Mallory mutters in disgust.The woman nods her head. “When I received your link. I saw an opportunity. I told him I had to come. That you had sent an order.””He was a Wolf.” Mallory adds, explaining why the guy hadn’t heard my link”It was the only thing I could think of. But he marked me. Told me that he needed to keep tabs on me.” She runs her fingers over the mark on her neck.”Why didn’t you just shift and kill him, Maddie?” Mallory presses.The woman’s brows knit together and she presses her lips into a thin line. “I can’t shift.”‘Lies!’ Nyx snaps”You can’t?” I ask while trying to ignore my Lycan. I was starting to feel like there was something seriously wrong with Nyx. She was so up and down. She made me question myself far too much. She constantly tried to make me see the bad in everything. Sometimes it seemed like I wasn’t just fighting the darkness but her too.Especially when she started hating the idea of me trying to link everyone. Something she was on board with at first and suddenly changed her mind over.Maddie shakes her head at me and fidgets with the ends of her waist long hair. “I knew you are going to ask me and I don’t know the answer.””Were you bound?” Her tears had finally stopped”No, I was just their plaything. I can do everything else. I heal quickly, I’m fast. Uh, I have a great sense of smell and hearing. Obviously you can link me. I have just never been able to shift. I can prove the other stuff if you like. Do you have a knife?” ‘Bullshit. She has to have been bound.’ Nyx growls”You said you have been sold multiple times. Did any of them drug you?” I pressShe shakes her head at me. “They didn’t need to.””What do you mean?””A long time ago, I learned that if I just did what they asked, they wouldn’t hurt me.” Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the (ƒ)indNƟvᴇl.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.I wasn’t following her at all. They bought her but didn’t hurt her? Trey, Cassandra had found an excuse to hit me for any reason, even when I did conform.”You had sex with them?” Mallory breaks my thoughts. She looked horrified by the thoughtMaddie bobs her head. “It might sound crazy to you. But as long as I did that, they didn’t hurt me. None of them did until….””Until Enzo?” Mallory asksMaddies eyes drop to the floor again. She had figured out what she needed to do to survive and it sounded strangely like she had come to terms with what happened to her.”How old were you when you were first sold?””A week short of fourteen. They gave me a year thinking that maybe my ability to shift was late. When it didn’t come…..” She shrugs her shoulders.”Your parents sold you?” Mallory frowns”Yep.” She was very open with information. Not something I expected from someone who had gone through that. It had taken me ages to share anything with Dane. “I wasn’t worthy of being their child.”She gets to her feet and flicks her red hair over her shoulder. “Thank you for getting me out of that situation. You have no idea how much it means to me.””More than you will ever realise.” I mutterShe gives me a smile and Nyx mutters something about reminding Maddie who’s presence she is in.”Can I ask why you asked us to come here?””Have you heard of a Lycan called Blair?” Mallory asksShe shakes her head at us. “Not a name I’m familiar with. But then again I have spent the last ten years mostly in the company of men.””How did you know where Black Shadow was?” I ask. We weren’t the easiest pack to find, especially for those that had never been here. “Enzo said he knew the Alpha here.”Mallory stands behind Maddie and shakes her head at me. ‘Dane didn’t act like he knew him’ She links me.