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Flicking her long, dark ponytail over her shoulder, Adriane licked her lips "I’d offer you coffee, but" But she didn’t want theht to the point," said Shaya "We’d like to knohy Hector hates shifters soher head, Adriane asked her, "Do you have pups?"

Shaya shtly "How old?"

"She’s three"

"You love her" The light in Adriane’s eyes diine you have no idea what it is like to be terrified of your own child"

Jesse blinked, taken aback

The huaze as her expression took on a faraway quality "Even as a toddler, it was obvious that so with Hector His eyesit was like looking into a bottoh He was stubborn when it ca--wore diapers until he was seven The other pups made fun of him for it, but he didn’t seem to care He didn’t behave like a child at all"

Adriane’s head whipped back to face the People are always quick to screa parents and a supportive pack It was like he was just wired wrong or soesture "I wasn’t assuave a curt nod

Nick said, "You said he was cruel How?"

She fiddled with her fingers "He would threaten ive him what he wanted, he would urinate all over his shoes and clothes He wasSo spiteful I swear one look froive me an icy chill Punishments didn’t work because he simply didn’t care"

"The pack didn’t help?" Nick asked

"They would have, but they didn’t see the real Hector for a long tiht they wanted to see"

A little like Clive, Jesse thought

"I suppose you can’t truly know a person until you’ve lived with them To the pack, he was polite and quiet They were all ‘poor little Hector, he can’t get the hang of potty training’ The truth was that he had the control to use the bathroom, he just didn’t want to use it But they didn’t know that, and they felt bad for him One of the other mothers said she’d ‘teach’ hiht him the control, to make me feel inferior The others all decided I was just a bad ht that was funny"

"What about his father?" asked Nick

"Thad saw hi fire It didn’t"