Chapter 20

Lauren's POV I didn’t know how he had found out what happened in our pack, but somehow, the vampire knew. Maybe one of his men had the gift of clairvoyance. Oliver had a gentle way of guiding us back on track whenever we got off-topic or avoided speaking about the past. Halfway through the conversation, I felt a tingling sensation on my hand. Ashton had reached out to comfort me. He could sense that I was about to share something far more difficult than what Maya had endured. Maya had been the one to suffer most at the hands of the pack, until they murdered our parents. That pain was different. Deeper. And still too raw to talk about openly. Their deaths had been sudden and senseless, all for the sake of taking us against our will. What we wanted had never mattered. I honestly don’t know if I would have been able to say any of it if Ashton hadn’t been silently lending me his strength. When he heard what they had done, his lips pressed into a tight line. He was holding back, trying not