Chapter 22

Asher stood there with his arms crossed. His cat was at it again, and it felt like he was pacing inside him. He really needed to go for a run. Glancing around, he figured that every single body in here probably did too. He needed to because he could feel the waves of anxiety coming off Journee. Personally, he thought it was too soon for her to be doing this, but he knew the others needed to know what he did. He doubted he could have sat there in front of this group and told them what she was. He didn’t know why they wanted her to tell all that was there. He got team leaders; they needed to know, but why was everyone else here? Twice he almost walked out, and she’d only been talking for a minute. Rayne introduced her and given a little background. The background was their families had been slaughtered.

Journee nodded to whatever Rayne said quietly and cleared her throat. “I—had no idea how long I was gone.” She lifted her eyes briefly and looked at a few of the others closest to the front.

“That’s understandable.” Gia gave her an encouraging look.

Asher looked at a few of the other women in the room, and their expressions told him they were right there with her in this. That was good, he figured, so she wouldn’t feel so on display. Also, she was going to need women to help her through this. There was probably a lot she didn’t know or understand. He barely understood himself, so he was not going to be able to help her with any of that stuff.

“After I finally got off that island—” She looked at Gia now as she spoke. “Successfully. More than once, the way I tried to go with one of the boats didn’t work out, and I—” Her mouth flinched for a second that could have been a smile; he wasn’t sure. “I got very good at swimming. We’ll say that.”

“Do you know where you were when you reached land?” Konner was studying her intently.

“No. Once I realized I had gotten away from the island—finally. I shifted and ran as fast and as far as I could from any people just in case they found out about me.”

Konner nodded but made no comment.

“So, what took you so long to get back then? If you were on land again, you could have just run straight through.”

Asher’s head snapped to glare at Nox. Chairs scraping the floor echoed through the silent room, and he caught Amari and Blaise heading toward him. Rayne stood up and put up her hand up. Both women stopped when she shook her head.

Leah moved out of the kitchen door she’d been standing in and walked right up to Nox.

The slap across his face sounded very loud to his shifter hearing. “You should be nicer.” Her voice was shakey. “It’s very difficult to run to a place when you don’t know where it is.” She nodded her head once and then backed away.

Jesse was up and beside her before anyone could blink. He turned her, and she had her hand over her mouth, shocked she had done that.

“Guess Evanna told him,” someone whispered.

Asher turned to see it was Deacon. Gia shook her head. “That’s not Evanna.”

“Oh.” As he turned to give Leah a gobsmacked look was all Deacon could say.

Jesse ushered her toward the kitchen.

Nox had his hand over his cheek. “I’m...” He cleared his throat and squared his shoulders. “Sorry. Please finish.” He sat down and looked at the table.

Rayne was watching Jesse and Leah, but Devin had squatted down in front of Journee and was talking so softly that even with his animal hearing, Asher couldn’t hear what was being said.

He was sure everyone held their breath until Leah and Jesse sat back at the table. Leah looked down at her dress, and he could see her roll her eyes. Was she upset with herself? Getting up, she flipped the chair around and sat backward as she pulled her hair up.

“That’s Evanna,” Gia whispered to her mate.

“I’m sorry.” Journee held her chin up. “I don’t know what I was saying.”

“You were finally on land and got the hell away from people,” Wynter supplied. “You take your time, Journee, I’ll bash anyone that tries to rush you.” She looked at Nox when she said the last part.

The shocked look on Journee’s face made Asher smile. Wynter Carr had her back, no one would mouth off to her now.

Journee nodded and blew out a breath, “I didn’t think at the time to write down names of places.” Looking down at her hands, she said, “My writing isn’t very good.”

“That’s okay, honey; we know you weren’t in school while you were fighting to survive out there.” Wynter nodded.

“I did later on. Write down the place’s names.” She nodded. “But so many streets and things are the same all over, so I drew things that I hope will help find the way back to that island.”

“Illias has scanned her sketchbooks, and I need everyone to take a look at them and see if they recognize anything.” Devin now stood behind her with his arms crossed. “We’re also going to share them with the International team.” He glanced around the room. “Any questions?”

“I have one.” Kelsey looked at Journee. “For Journee if that’s all right.”

Journee nodded.

“How did you survive? On that island for that long? Without food or anything.”

Devin moved to step in front of her.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind answering.” Journee looked up at him and nodded, so Devin stepped back again.

“I nearly didn’t,” she said quietly. “I had no idea where I was. I didn’t recognize any plants or berries there, so I didn’t touch them.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t stomach the salty water.”

The room was utterly silent. Asher’s heart started beating harder in his chest as he envisioned the picture she was showing all of them. She hadn’t told him that part. She should have told him he would have—he didn’t know what he would have done, but he should have been told this.

“I was not in good shape at all.” She shook her head. “I don’t know how long I had been there, but I was finally desperate enough to go closer to the buildings and see if I could find something to eat.”

“Were you caught?” Wynter was leaning across the table, looking at her intently.

“Almost.” Journee huffed out a breath. “There was this lady; I know she was a shifter, but I don’t know what clan.” She shrugged, “but somehow she knew I was out there.” She nodded slowly. “She started to leave food and blankets out by a big rock.” She sucked in a breath and blew it out gradually. “If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have survived much longer.”

“She was a prisoner, clearly, or she would have turned you in,” Blaise stated with an angry look.

“Yes. There were several women there.” She glanced at Devin. “Not many men at all, they would come and go, but...” She lifted her shoulders and let them drop. “What were they going to do? Swim away? Unless the men were there dropping off supplies or girls. There was no boat left behind. It was scary during storms. Being there and not knowing if you were going to make it through them.”

“Do you know any names of these women?” Gage had his arm around Kelsey, a concerned look on his face.

“No. They never called each other by name, and once she was helping me, I didn’t go too close to the camp. Just enough to check on my sister mostly.”

“She wouldn’t still be there.” It wasn’t a question, but Webb still said it.

“No. I—I don’t know when they moved my sister off the island. I was sick for a while, and when I recovered, she was gone.”

“Sick?” Wynter spoke quieter this time.

Journee nodded. “After one of the swims back to the island.” She closed her eyes for a second as if she were remembering something. “I swear someone helped me—in the water, but I think I just washed up on the shore and passed out.”

“Do you know anything about the older women that were there?” Calum came over and sat on the end of the table closest to the front.

“Not much. I could describe them, but most weren’t there very long.” She stared at him. “The lady that helped me would have had dark hair when she was younger, but there were a lot of greys when I got there.” Titling her head, she held his look. “She had very green eyes. I remember that about her the most.” She sat straighter. “She only spoke to me a few times. Once she told me not to talk because shifters have great hearing.” She nodded. “And she said something I will always remember, and it was what got me back.” Calum didn’t move as she spoke. “She told me to pay attention. The answers were out there if I looked hard enough.”

Calum stood up. So did Gage. They both turned to look at Devin. Asher didn’t know why that was significant, but the expression on Calum’s face was the coldest he’d ever seen. “Was this woman still alive when you left?” His tone was low and without any emotion.

Journee nodded. “She helped me get on the boat, so I wasn’t trying to hang on and be dragged in the water again.”

Calum nodded several times, looked at Devin, turned, walked to the back of the room, and left. Shaelan was on her feet and hurrying after him.

“What just happened?” Gia asked Kobie in a hushed voice.

Kobie shook her head.

“I think the green-eyed woman was Calum’s mom,” Blair whispered.

Asher looked at the door Calum had gone through. Had it been him, he would have kept going to a vehicle and to find that damn island.

“I’m going to put the sketches up on the screen outside the operations room.” Nate stood up. “Everyone needs to take a few minutes to look at them.”

Asher turned to see Devin and Rayne talking to Gage. Their gazes kept going back to the door Calum had gone out. Journee sat there with an expression on her face that said she wished she was somewhere else right now. Straightening away from the wall, he went over to her.

“I think that’s enough for today.” He said it softly but was willing to call anyone out that objected.

Rayne looked at him and nodded.

“Come on. Let’s go see what your pup has gotten into while you were gone.” It was just a way to get her out of the spotlight, but he also meant in. That little wolf was probably outside right now, finding every weak spot in the fences.

“Okay.” She tried to use the wheels to push her chair and turned it into the table.

“I got it.” He stepped behind it and waited for her to move her hands so he could push it. “You did good.” He told her as they reached the doors.

“It was hard. There are so many people here.”

He grinned. “Not a fan of crowds either.”

“Journee?”

They turned to see Wynter following them.

“I just want to thank you.” She nodded. “We’ll find that island and put a stop to that happening to any girl again. You have my word.” Her expression was hard. Then again, Asher had never seen her when it wasn’t. “Those girls will be saved, and it will all be because of you. And your sister, if she’s out there somewhere, we’ll find her.” She nodded abruptly, “Now, I have to go have a word with Nox,” she growled his name, turned on her heel, and went toward Nox and York.

“She’s a little scary,” Journee whispered.

Asher snorted, “Yeah, she is.” He jerked his child toward Raymond Hardy, where he stood talking to Griffin and Blair. “He’s, I feel, the scariest.”

She nodded. “I agree.”