"I want to, I really want to, but it is not my secret to tell."
I felt like I had hit a brick wall again. Frustrated, I stood up and began to pace, trying to find another way to approach her but my mind was feeling fuzzy from lack of sleep. I was finding it difficult to concentrate.
"You have to get her out of there," Claire said. I turned to face her. She stood and walked over to me. "She is as good as dead if they discover who she is."
I knew that already. If they found out she was a werewolf who wasn't linked to a pack, her life would be in danger.
"We are doing everything we can to get her out unharmed," I assured her to ease the worry lines in her face. "But the Keepers are strong and we need to come up with the best plan to rescue her."
"You have to do it now!" Her almost distraught tone took me by surprise.
"Calm down," I tried to soothe her, leading her back to her chair.
"You don't understand," she mumbled, trying to brush the glistening tears from her eyes. "You can't waste any time!"
She was getting more and more upset. Worried that it would harm her health, I sent for Curtis to bring me a sedative.
He arrived ten minutes later, looking half asleep. Claire was still trying to calm her racing heart and erratic breathing. I was worried she would end up having a heart attack.
"I need you to give her something to calm her down," I told him, sweeping my hand in Claire's direction.
"Sure," he said, looking through a black bag he'd brought with him. He gave Claire an injection. He then helped me settle her in her bed.
"What happened?" he asked softly as the sedative began to take effect, her earlier panic beginning to ease.
"I told her Crystal was being held by the Keepers."
She mumbled a few things while she began to drift into a deep, medicine-induced sleep.
"They can't find out…" For a moment her eyes focused on me and she grabbed my hand. "You have to protect her from them."
"Sleep, Claire. I will keep her safe," I murmured to her softly, hoping that would ease her stress.
"She's not like us…"
Before I could find out what she meant by that, her eyes fluttered closed and her breathing evened out. What the hell had she meant by that? Curtis and I shared a side look.
"What did she mean?" Curtis asked, looking back to her sleeping form.
I shrugged my shoulders, still deep in thought. "I have no idea."
I couldn't ignore her last comment.She's not like us.
"You need sleep," Curtis said to me, and I shook my head. He was right but too much had happened for me to feel that I could get the sleep I needed.
"If you don't sleep, you can't function."
"I know. I'll try and get some sleep soon," I assured him so he would get off my back.
A few minutes later Curtis left but I stayed watching Claire, trying to figure out what she'd meant by 'not like us.'
It made no sense. She was a werewolf and my mate. How could she not be like us? But no matter how long I tried to figure out what she had meant by that I couldn't come up with any reasonable scenario that would explain it.
Exhaustion finally pushed me out of the room and to the main house. The house was dark as I ascended the stairs. The tiredness that made my body ache wasn't enough to shut my mind down and allow me the solace of sleep, though. In the darkness of my room my mind continued to cycle through the events of the day.
The thing that stuck most in my mind was what Claire had said. Was it true or was it just muddled words she'd said in her drugged state?
Feeling more frustrated, I turned onto my side, trying to get comfortable. I had to get some sleep or I wouldn't be able to cope with what lay ahead. Even if I just managed to get a few hours' sleep it would be enough to keep my mind clear and focused.
