Page 84

My heart pounds harder as the truth serum is pulling at my windpipe, readying its own sort of answer.

The forged bond between Memnon and me is the one thing I really, really don’t want to share. The more people who know about it, the more people might exploit it.

I will have to butcher a lot more people to keep them from coming after you.

My hands begin to tremble. “He is bound by magic to serve me.”

There are a few scattered gasps, and I hear a low growl start up, one that seems to catch and spread across the room.

“The same way Cara was nearly bound to another?” someone asks.

“No.” The serum permits the answer because the context matters. “Memnon offered to bind himself to me to earn back my trust. It is not a forced bond between us but aforgedone.”

“Why would a man who is already your mate do such a thing?”

At the wordmate, I see Kane glance down.

I assess the rest of the room, wondering if the truth serum will be enough for them to believe my next words.

“Memnon isn’t just any sorcerer.” The words come out tentatively. “He’s an ancient one who happens to be my long-lost soul mate. There’s lots of complicated details that I could overshare about that situation, but basically for the last couple months, he believed I betrayed him, so as revenge, he framed me for the murders of the witches found on Henbane’s campus. When he discovered I didn’t betray him, he offered the bond as a type of”—I search for the right word—“restitution.”

Silence. Absolute fucking silence.

“If your mate really did what you said he did,” a shifter finally asks, “how do we knowhedidn’t kill those women?”

I squeeze my hands together. “He confessed his innocence to me while under a truth spell of his own.”

More murmuring.

“Why isn’t he here?” a woman calls out. “We should hear this from him as well.”

This evening feels like it’s spun wildly off course. I knew I’d be retelling the events that unfolded with Cara, but I didn’t expect the truth potion or the informal inquisition I’m now getting. And I definitely didn’t expect to get Memnon involved. The thought of him in this room, politely answering questions for the lycans, is laughable. He’d sooner gut them all.

“Even if you wanted him here,” I say, “he answers to no one.”

Vincent gives me an intense look. “No one—except you.”

CHAPTER 21

I spendanother thirty minutes answering more follow-up questions, and my tongue trips over itself as I try to explain various aspects of the same few topics—the night of the spell circle, the witch murders, and Memnon.

Eventually the questions peter out until there are none left. I stare at the room as several long seconds tick by.

Vincent stands. “Thank you for coming here and speaking to us about all this, Selene.” He turns to face his pack. “Now we vote.”

Wait, there’s avotefor this? One I have to sit in on?

I slide a panicked look to Kane, but his eyes are on his alpha.

“A simple majority will determine whether Selene becomes a friend of the pack. By a show of hands, who is in favor of her?”

My heart races as most of the room raises their hands. I exhale.

“And those against?”

Only a few hands rise into the air.

Vincent turns to me. “By the laws of lycans and men, I formally welcome you, Selene Bowers, as a friend of the Marin Pack.”