[[OLD]] A Handful of Daffodils (Forgotten Series, #7)

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Two weeks later

My stomach was knotted and the anxiety was worse now than it had ever been. That one question had haunted me and part of me didn't want to delve into it but then Getts had come to my house a few days afterwards. Apologizing for Stenton's behaviour, saying that Menza was such a cruel and twisted female that he didn't want me caught in her web like I had been before. He had really laid it on thick, reminding me that she wasn't a good female, that she stole my daughter, that he always told me the truth and would continue to do so.

It had felt so... forced, fake. The way that he pushed me to forgive Stenton for what he did, the way he continually brought up how I felt with Maeve gone, what I had said about Menza during the time her and Maeve were gone. It felt like I was being pushed towards something I didn't like. It was something I remembered them doing to a lesser degree after the attack and they had pushed me, feeding me this narrative. They hadn't change, not a single fucking bit.

And now I was anxious.

I was anxious because I felt like I had been fed a narrative that wasn't correct and if I had been, if I had been wrong. Then what happened to Menza, the punishment that had been given, was also wrong. There was something terrifying about the thought that I might have allowed her to be punished for something she never did. If it came out that I had been wrong, and I still wasn't sure, I wasn't sure how I was going to react. Just the thought of it made me sick. Things still didn't add up for me but now, with Stenton and Getts shoving at me like they were, trying to convince me of this narrative that Menza was a horrible female, that she would come back and steal Maeve from me again, it didn't make sense.

A part of me wanted to leave it, to not dig deeper, to just keep pushing forward but I wanted to know. I didn't know what I would discover and I knew that in the worst case scenario I participated in the brutalization of an innocent party, but I wasn't a coward who would stick my head in the sand about it. If I had done that, if the worst case scenario was true, I wouldn't hide from it.

"Mike's female told mine that she had gone to that pack...." The male paused as he frowned slightly. "What the fuck was it's name?" He muttered it slightly and the male beside him nudged him.

"Fortis. That one with the female who likes playing at being Alpha." He scoffed slightly and I looked between the two of them. I was asking around, trying to see what the pack was saying, what stories were more consistent. "Said she was there for a bit. Said she was pretty fucking sick as well. I mean you could call them and ask but I doubt Stenton would allow that." The male crossed his arms over his chest as the other one rubbed at his jaw, making a slight face.

"To be fair, it's a bit far fetched. She would have had to survive the rapids, floated for a few hours until she hit the river merge, landed on the opposite side of the river and then walked for weeks, with an infant, while seriously injured." He shrugged and then glanced at me. "It's a big possibility that it's not true. She's weak, she not a strong shifter, she's barely a shifter at all, so for her to survive all that? I can see why it's not really believable." He gave another shrug and I pressed my lips together, chewing his words over in my head right as the other male reached out and slapped the other's shoulder with the back of his hand, his eyes narrowed.

"Hey, don't be saying that!" He shook his head with a touch of disgust. "She survived that fucking brutality Stenton tossed at her. She's got strength, just not like you would have." He pointed at the other male, his jaw ticking slightly. "For all we know, Mene could have had a hand in helping her and we all know what the goddess is capable of. Just because you don't think you would be able to survive that, it doesn't mean she wasn't able."

"Don't get your panties in a twice, Grayson." The other male rolled his eyes. "I'm just playing Devil's advocate for a second. There are certain facts that we need to consider. And who says Mene would even care about a mostly mundane person anyway? Why would she catch her eye? She's a half breed." I rubbed my jaw as I watched the two males. I had started asking the males questions, wanting to see what they thought or believed.  I wasn't liking the way things were adding up.