"Let's get you out of here and I'll explain everything," Maverick said, reaching his hand out to me.

I eyed him out suspiciously. The place where he had burned me with the strange flower still throbbed.

"I promise it's just to talk." His hand fell away to his side.

I studied his eyes. None of what I was experiencing or contemplating made any rational sense. But one thing I knew was I would follow him.

"Fine," I replied tightly, hating how strange I felt around him.

I would hear him out and then I was determined to figure out how I could leave before they locked me up again. There was no way I was staying here. No way.

I followed him out, scanning my surroundings. If I could just leave I would have been long gone by now, this town a distant memory.

Not once from my cell to his room, did he ever look back to make sure I was still following him. It was like he knew that I had no choice, I was fighting something I didn't understand and I was losing the battle.

It was dark, the path between two buildings brought us to a house. Inside the reception was a large set of stairs. He took a passage to the left before the stairs, he led me into some sort of study.

Cautiously, I entered. My arms crossed over my chest as I studied him while he closed the door to face me.

There was a large bookcase with books that looked older than I was. The room also contained a large desk with a chair behind it with two smaller chairs on the other side if it.

But instead of taking the seat behind the desk he led me to the sofa opposite the books. He indicated for me to sit but I shook my head. He remained standing.

"What I'm about to tell you sounds crazy... "

I shrugged. "Just get it over with."

Just tell me what you need to and then maybe I'll be able to leave. I thought to myself.

"You promise not to freak out?" He lifted an eyebrow.

I couldn't promise that but I nodded anyway. There was no way I would show any weakness.

I held his gaze, unwilling to show any fear or apprehension at what he was about to tell me.

"We aren't human..."

I frowned. Memories from my dream flashed in my mind. It wasn't possible. Deep down I already knew what he was about to say but my mind couldn't process it.

"So what are you?" I asked, suspiciously.

"We are...werewolves."

Werewolves? I should have laughed right in his face. It was ludicrous, right? Absolutely crazy. But I didn't do any of that. I sank down onto the sofa. Maverick stayed standing but watched me closely as I processed what he was saying.

"You know you sound crazy," I whispered, finally looking up to him. And I was just as crazy for even believing him.

He nodded.

"Show me." I needed to see it even when I knew in my heart he was telling the truth. Maybe seeing it physically would help me wrap my mind around it.

"I want nothing more than to be able to do that for you Victoria. But if I shift, I won't be able to control myself around you. Do you understand that?"

"Why?" I already had a good idea. My dream had been very revealing. Mine. The word echoed in my mind, and deep inside me, from a part of me that had felt dormant until now.

"The dream. How much of it do you remember?"

The dream. None of what he was saying made any logical sense. I should have gotten out of there as fast as my legs would have carried me and never looked back. But something I couldn't explain kept me seated on the sofa. Was it curiosity? Or something else entirely? All I knew I was couldn't explain any of this.

"I remember." The words came out in a whisper. I didn't want to remember anything, maybe if I forgot it all I would be able to leave.

"You know what I am Victoria." His eyes held mine, there was no looking away. "And you know what you are."

That wasn't possible. But what my mind couldn't comprehend, I felt in my heart.

"What am I?" I breathed, needing him to say it out loud.

"You are a werewolf."

"You know how crazy that sounds." I gave an echoed laugh. I belonged in a strait jacket, in a padded white room.

"What's even crazier is that you had no idea." He moved closer. "How is it even conceivable that you didn't know?"

I was convinced this whole set up was a cult. Until the dream, I hadn't suspected a thing. Even now when I thought back to when he had found me in the forest. The sound of the wild animal and then he had just appeared. I had explained it away in a haze of dehydration.

"And how is it possible that we can't find any records for you, Victoria?"

I bit my lip. I had been running for what felt like forever, never embracing the identity I had been given from birth.

"Who are you?" His question was simple, the answer was complicated.

I wasn't ready to tell him the truth. I barely knew him, despite what I felt for him.

"I don't trust you Maverick." I stood up and moved away before turning to face him. "You have held me against my will. Treated me like some sort of enemy, asking me questions I didn't know the answers to. And you tortured me."

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants and hung his head. I could see the emotion play across his handsome features. Regret.

"I will carry the guilt of what I did to you for a long time Victoria." He lifted his head to face me head on. "I am the Alpha of this pack and the responsibility of the safety of every pack member lies solely on my shoulders. At the time I did what I believed what was right. Even it kills me to think of what I did to you." His voice was filled with emotion. I watched him swallow, the column of his neck moved.

It was difficult not to be moved by his honesty.

"I was convinced you were a rogue who had an agenda. Not once did I consider that you might not know what you were."

"Rogue?" I questioned.

"A werewolf that doesn't belong to a pack."

The cult. It was all starting to make much more sense now.

A pack. I didn't even know where I came from.

I let out a heavy sigh and rubbed my temple while Maverick studied me quietly.

"I don't know what to do with any of this." I laughed out loud. "I don't know what this means to me."

He rolled his shoulders slightly.

"I don't what I'm supposed to do." Overwhelmed was what I felt. And I wasn't good in situations where I didn't have absolute control.

"It's a lot to take in."

I nodded.

"Do you have any questions I can answer for you?" he asked.

I studied him.

"How did we both have the same dream? How is that even possible?" Those were my first questions.

It had started this whole revelation.

He studied me a a little while, I think he was trying to come up with the best way to answer my question.

"We share a connection."

That hadn't exactly been the answer I was looking for.

"Connection?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. I watched in fascination as his features tightened.

"You're mine and I'm yours."

I swallowed. I had never belonged to anyone, not even my parents.

"You can feel it?" he asked.

I could have lied but I didn't. This seemed more important than egos or control.

Slowly, I nodded. He had no idea how much it had taken me to be honest with him, despite my fear. I didn't want any of this, I wanted to run as far as I could to get away from this.

He moved closer to me and took my hand in his. The warmth of his hand on mine made me feel strange. I exhaled the breath I had been holding and looked up into his eyes.

I saw it. Mine. The word vibrated through me, shaking the foundations of who I thought I was and my past.

"You are my mate Victoria or whoever you really are, and I'm yours."