Their hands are in my hair, and their arms are around me, comforting me. Alpha Arnold murmurs something I don’t catch. It sounds sympathetic. Jordan answers him in a low voice, and I hear Alpha Arnold’s footsteps as he leaves us alone.

“He doesn’t blame you,” Jordan whispers.

“I should have told him.”

It should never have gotten this far with my father. I wish I had said no to him. But who else would he have sent? At least this way I came here and ...