"Do they do this every day?" I asked, looking around at the faces of the men who stood watching. I noticed for the first time there were conspicuous absences.
"Yes."
"Are there female Keepers?" I asked.
"Yes. We are only a small group that have been sent to analyze the current situation in the area before we decide if more Keepers are required."
I frowned. Current situation? What did that mean?
"Will more Keepers be sent?" I asked, feeling it necessary to know what their plans were.
He studied me for a moment as if assessing my need to know.
"Not at the moment."
"Why were you sent here?" I asked. Under his gaze I slid my tongue across my bottom lip.
"Usually if there are only a small number of werewolves breaking the law our presence isn't necessary but recently there have been a large number of rogues who have banded together, murdering on a large scale. It cannot be tolerated."
I flinched at the evident hatred that dripped from his words.
"You have no need to be scared of us," he assured me, changing his tone. "We're on your side. We were born to protect humans from werewolves.Theyare the true enemy."
He had no idea.
"What is a rogue?" I asked, cementing the idea I was indeed a human who had no idea what werewolves were.
"It's a werewolf who doesn't belong to a pack."
I waited a moment before asking the next question. "Was the werewolf that attacked me a rogue?"
He nodded.
I let my eyes drift back to the Keepers who were still fighting as Travis stood silently watching Flynn and me.
It was then I got a glimpse of a birthmark on the hip of one of the fighters. I frowned. It was only a brief glimpse of it but I managed to make out a triangle and a circle within it. Why would they have birthmarks like werewolves?
I reeled from what I had just seen. It didn't fit with anything I had previously or currently knew about them. Birthmarks on werewolves matched up mates. Was it the same for the Keepers? Did they have mates?
It was only when I saw the other Keeper with a birthmark when his arm lifted to block a blow that I felt I had seen enough to venture a question.
"Do you all have birthmarks?"
He was quiet for a few moments before he answered, "Yes."
"Is there a reason why?" I asked, giving him a side glance to see if my questions were making him uncomfortable but he didn't seem to mind.
"All Keepers have a birthmark, other than that it serves no other purpose."
I frowned slightly as I tried to figure out why they would have the birthmarks but not have the same significance it had to werewolves. I felt the heat of Flynn's eyes on me. It made me bring my questioning to an end. I didn't want to make him suspicious.
"I need to go home."
He didn't answer me immediately, which made me turn slightly to face him.
"It's not safe." That was not what I wanted to hear.
"Why?" I asked, feeling more hopeless at the situation I was in. There went the only easy way out of here.
