WILLIAM

The next morning I knocked on Eric's office door.

"Come in William," his reply from inside.

I opened the door and he was situated at his desk. He closed his laptop and looked me over. "News?"

I nodded and sat at the wingback chair. Kara's scent then flew up around me, still stuck into the cushions. A slight smile lifted half my face.

"Did you go into your mate's room last night then?" He asked with a smirk.

"Yeah."

He chuckled. "So, did you find the book?"

"Yes, but..."

"What happened?" He sat forward interested.

"She caught me."

His smirk disappeared. "Oh no. What did she say?"

"Well. She kissed me."

Eric's brow widened. "She ...kissed you?"

A full grin hit my face and I let out a heavy filling breath. "Yeah. She caught me when she realized her book wasn't with her anymore. She was going to scream. I grabbed her so she wouldn't and used the mind link. She thought she was still dreaming and basically attacked me."

"That's unexpected." Leaning back in his chair, he laughed heartily. "So she does feel the pull."

I smiled considering.

"I take it, it was a good kiss?"

Nodding, I tried not to give anything away through the mind link. "Yeah."

"So she kissed you and then what, went back to bed?"

"Well, she fell asleep on me and I carried her back."

His eyes widened. "Was the boyfriend not there? What happened to him?"

I clenched my teeth. "No. He was there."

"Wow." He looked impressed. "Putting your mate into bed with another man. You've got some self-control. Don't think I could have done that."

I made a growl to myself. "Don't remind me. But what was I going to do? Take her back to my bed?" I asked incredulous.

"No, I guess not," he laughed. "So you did find the book then? What was it?"

Right. I shook my head. We were getting off topic. "It was a book on healing."

"Healing?" Eric rocked in his chair a moment, fingers templed. "So she thought it was hers merely because she was a veterinarian? Did you find out why she was so adamant that it was hers?"

"Yeah. Get this. It had an inscription inside to her that was from Ralph. He's her grandfather."

He sat forward against the desk, eyes not focused as he thought. "But his family all passed in the fire. Whoa. Does this mean he had another family on the side? That's insane."

"I...I guess?" I hadn't thought of that prospect. That was pretty crazy.

"So what did the inscription say?"

I stared at the ceiling trying to remember the wording. "Something along the lines of 'Benson is going to take you away from here. We need your gifts. Come back to the pack. Alpha Samuel let me give you this book.'"

"My father?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes."

"Huh. I wonder if he knows anything about her."

"It's possible."

"And Benson, you said?"

"I guess so. Do you know him?" I sat up with interest.

"Benson was Ralph's only son. He was supposed to be next in line for Beta, but refused to step up and take the position when he turned twenty-five. I don't know exactly why. He died in the fire too."

I was trying to wrap my mind around the new information. "So Benson knew about the other family? Was going to, what, kidnap her? It doesn't feel right."

"The fire was ruled as started by rogues. What if it wasn't? What if it's tied to this other family?"

My hand rubbed against my forehead. The background on my mate was dizzying.

"She adamantly denied she was a spy, but maybe she's just learned to control her physical cues to lying. Maybe there is something sinister afoot."

I growled at him, my teeth bared.

He sighed. "Yeah probably not. I didn't mean it. I'm just trying to figure out all this too. Did you learn anything else from the book? Did you read it?"

"No. She caught me pretty quick. I wasn't able to read anything else of the book and she didn't calm down in her sleep until I gave it back to her, so I couldn't take it with me. Oh, one more thing. Her grandfather didn't call her Caroline, he called her Kara."

He sat straight in his chair like he had been slapped. It was a long pause before he spoke. "No." He challenged.

"Yes."

"Kara?" Then he shook his head in non-belief. "No. Couldn't be. Kara's dead. She died in the fire."

"She answered to Kara through the mind link. She said no one has called her that for a long time."

"Kara? Are you sure? Kara Day?" He bent forward.

"I guess?"

He leaned back and a grin pressed to his face. "Kara's alive," he spoke with a sort of quiet awe. He then gave a breathy laugh. "Then she's not from an extra family. She's definitely Benson's. They all lived in one house on the edge of the territory. We thought they all died in the fire. I thought she died in the fire."

"She must not have been there then."

"No, I think she was. I took her home that day." He looked to me speaking delicately. "Remember how I said I recognized her scent? We were friends as pups." He gave a breathy laugh. "Best friends. We'd hang out in the beta office with her grandfather for hours. She'd draw forever. Ralph's floor would be covered in papers." His expression flattened as he thought more, then he turned to me smirking. "I've even kissed her."

I rocketed up to a standing position, the chair squeaking across the floor in a dash of heat.

"Whoa! Easy!" He laughed putting his hands up in surrender. "We were eight. You can't blame me. Alpha's family and beta's family, we played like we were mates."

Sitting back down slowly, I let out a soothing breath. "Right. Sorry."

He shrugged. "No apologies necessary. I was trying to get a rise out of you. Guess I should have figured you'd be easier to aggravate when she still has that meathead in her bed."

I tried not to growl.

"Everyone expected us to be mates. I lost my best friend that day."

"You two were that close?"

He nodded solemnly. "She was the one with me this day." He held an arm out so I could see the long white scars that marred his skin. I knew he had them all over his body.

"It's that girl? When you two were attacked by rogues?" Everyone knew the story. It was always told as a warning to keep pups out of the mountains alone.

"The fire was only a week or two after that."

"I'm sorry. That would have been really hard."

"But this is amazing. Kara's back." He shook his head like he could clear it. "Wow."

"She thinks she's lived in Seattle all her life."

He nodded and grabbed a pen from his desk, playing with it through his fingers. "She must not have remembered anything after the fire. Maybe she left with no one noticing and got lost in the woods, caught by humans or rogues or something. Instead of killing her they stuffed her in an orphanage? It would have been traumatic enough to make her lose her memories. And Kara and Caroline are really close. Maybe she didn't even really remember her name?"

I gripped at the arm cushions feeling the fabric between my fingers. "So just a case of amnesia? And a series of coincidences to get back here?"

"Nothing's ever a coincidence. She's meant to get back now." He shrugged and put the pen back. "I don't know. Maybe you're just going to have to find a time to talk with her soon. See if she can remember."

I nodded, trying to decide when and how I could get her alone to talk.

"Seems like we need to change our RSVP's to that wedding." He grinned conspiratorially.

"Can we do that? Blake probably has it pretty set now, right?"

He laughed. "William. We are the Alpha and Beta. We make our own rules. We're going to that wedding."