Weeks passed.
I was settling into my new life, attending training and helping out with the day-to-day work in the packhouse.
Most of the people in the pack still saw me as an outsider. But after the dinner with Sonny’s family and friends, I noticed a change. Jerry would nod at me in the hallway. Allison would smile. Claudia had always been warm, but now she would seek me out, almost as if—as if she saw me as a friend.
Vincent wasn’t any friendlier, but at least he stopped openly glaring at me.
Perhaps they told the others my tragic history, or perhaps the rest of the pack just took their cues from these well-respected members. But one way or another, the change began to ripple out to others as well. People didn’t treat me with hostility. I was becoming a familiar face to them, and soon, I knew, they would trust me.
I was happy about all this. I knew it would help me complete my objective.
But I still felt a pang at the thought of betraying that trust.
