Her words hung heavily in the air, and Inez could feel her heart jumping to her throat. "But that’s unfair!"
Someone outside the lodge shouted in glee; as a thud followed suit at the door of her lodge, it was most probably a child playing with his friends. Even though most of the pack had accepted her, there were still a few people who hadn’t accepted her. Because of this reason, there were countless unwelcome gifts like dead rats, pigeons, or sometimes cats and dogs, that were thrown at the front of her porch.
And yet Inez had no time to turn around and chase those children away. Who would have thought that, till yesterday, her biggest worry was how to deal with the bloody rat lying outside on her porch, and suddenly it had shifted to being hunted down by dark witches and wizards who killed people at the drop of their hats?
"There is nothing fair in this world. Even if you run now, they will find you," she continued in a matter-of-fact tone as if she didn’t just drop yet another bomb, but then again, maybe this was her love language. Dropping bombs on unsuspecting people. "And they will still attack this pack for taking you in, for giving you a place to stay when they shouldn’t have. At least if you are here, that mutt will pay attention to the security and the trespassers, but if you run away, then he too, like your ex, would pay more attention to hunting you down rather than paying attention to the safety of his pack."
"I believe that you already know that, don’t you?"
Inez frowned lightly. She did know that Dominic was looking for her and had known it for a while now, which was why she had told him to quit doing it because it was annoying as fuck. She had hoped that the man would wake up after getting a reality check from her, but it seemed like he was still on it from Tracy’s words.
As for the mutt that Tracy spoke of, she knew it without asking that she was talking about Killian. Inez pursed her lips and said, "Then what do you suggest? That I stay here and do nothing."
Even the very idea left her with a bad taste in her mouth.
"My solution is that you deal with one thing at a time. There is no point in panicking when things cannot be changed. So you might as well be comfortable. Anyway, you are not in danger at the moment, so what is the point in running away? Better to calm down."
"Okay, well, I am calm," said Inez as she leaned forward on the coffee table and stared at Tracy with all the patience that she could recollect at the moment. "But can you at least tell me how to deal with the ones who are trying to hunt me? Or at least you can tell me why they are coming after me? Why me?" Inez was trying her best to keep her voice controlled. She didn’t want to raise her voice at Tracy, as the woman was her benefactor. Even though she wanted to push the woman too hard, she couldn’t do it.
Tracy tapped her feet together while looking at the ceiling above them. "I wish I could tell you everything—but I cannot. Because I don’t know everything myself. I just know that you are in danger, but I don’t know from what or who. Do you understand me?"
"Well, that’s not surprising. Sometimes I too don’t understand a lot of things. Including myself," mused Tracy.
Inez frowned and straightened up. Running her hand through her hair, she questioned the woman, "Just tell me whether you can give me a proper answer or not?"
Tracy raised her head; her eyes met with hers, and strangely, those stormy grey eyes seemed to be moving with a flicker of electricity. She wasn’t even kidding; she truly noticed a thunderclap appear and disappear in the eyes of the woman. The air in the living room turned heavy, and Inez swallowed hard, feeling stifled and a bit troubled.
"What is proper for you?" she tapped her fingers on the armrest of the couch. "Just because my answers do not satiate your curiosity does not mean that they are not proper answers. They are—just not what you would have liked."
Something inside of her snapped, and her siren rushed to the surface. Inez said to the woman, "Look, are you really here to help me or not!? Because from what I can see, you are of no help." It wasn’t that she wanted to lose her temper and say such harsh words to Tracy, but it wasn’t helping. She was not helping. Why couldn’t she just tell her what she knew or who this big, bad dark witch was who was after her? A single answer – even a single word – could be much more helpful than what the woman was giving to her.
Tracy tilted her head to one side. She looked at the window that was showcasing the setting sun, and Inez heard her say, "I think you are taking your frustration out on the wrong person. Let us be honest, Inez. Without me, you and your mutt won’t even know what kind of danger you are in. You have too many enemies; you would have had a hard time narrowing them down. By the time it would be too late, I believed that you would be a bit grateful for my intervention."
She sighed. "It seems like they were right; no matter what, the people of your kind and world would always be greedy and not grateful."
Heat rushed to Inez’s face, and she was not sure whether it was due to anger or embarrassment. She pursed her lips and said, "I am not being ungrateful. I just need an answer to my questions, and you have the answers to these questions. Don’t you?"