Hunted

Chapter 36: The Interrogation

We stopped halfway down the hallway my father grabbed my hand and sighed. “No matter what happens in there. It won’t bring your mom back.” The words looked like the burned him as he looked down at me. “I know this.” I told him taking a deep breath. I walked the rest of the way and stood in front of Tom’s cell. He was laying in human form in the middle of the floor. He didn’t even look up when I stepped in front of the bars.

His clothes were full of rips and he looked like he hadn’t been in human form in a long time. My father told me that when a shifter went mad they would spend more and more time in their shifted form. This must have been the case for him. He said that when they lose their hold on humanity it slowly will drain away from them until all that is left is the animal. How close was Tom?

“Tom?” I sighed and forced my hands down by my sides. He brought his head up to look at me. He looked human…but his face…he looked like he was being destroyed from the inside. There must be a war going on in his head between the shifter spirit inside of him and his human one. I could tell he was having a hard time focusing on me. He would look up at me and then back down at the floor multiple times.

“Lorraine.” He pulled himself up and stumbled over to the bars. He was just about to touch them when a shock went off and he dropped to the ground in pain. I couldn’t help but flinch. I didn’t know they had an electric barrier. I tried very hard to not get nauseated by the smell his skin made after being electrocuted by the barrier. I know it was there to protect me and in a way to protect him. I’m sure my father put it there to prevent him from killing Tom himself.

“I’m not Lorraine. I’m her daughter.” I said frowning at the man. Did he think I was my mother this whole time? “You killed my mother. You murdered Lorraine.” I glared at him taking a step closer to the bars. He thought I was my mother?

“No.” He whispered still on the ground. “I would never hurt her…” He muttered moving to sit back up. That was simply not true. I saw what he had done to her. How could he possibly say that? He had a mate. His mate had died. My mother had a mate and a child. Why was he so interested in her? There had to be more to the story that I wasn’t being told.

“I would never hurt you Lorraine.” He was lying. He had to be. How could he sit here and tell me that he would never hurt my mother when he was the one who I saw the day she was murdered. What I knew about my mother when I was a baby wasn’t much but wouldn’t my father tell me if she had some secret? I guess if it was a secret he really wouldn’t know about it.

“I saw you…I watched you..you were about to attack me!” I took another step closer to the cell. What was wrong with this man? I should have known that he wasn’t going to admit to me what he had actually done. “You attacked me when I was 12 years old. Why?” I asked him glaring down at the pathetic shifter laying on the floor. I wanted to tear him apart. I had never felt anger like this before. He was going to tell me what I wanted to know.

“I don’t know.” He mumbled looking anywhere but at me. “I don’t remember attacking you Lorraine. I would never hurt you.” He moved back towards the wall muttering more to himself. He looked like an empty shell. He was barely even functioning. How could this be the person who bested my mother?

“Don’t lie to me! I know it was you! I saw your wolf. I know you were the one who attacked me!” I was nearly screaming at this point and I couldn’t control myself anymore. “You killed my mother.” Tears were slowly falling down my face. This monster who had nearly killed me and killed my mother was nothing more than a rotting shifter who could barely put sentences together.

“That’s enough Emmry.” It was my father. He wrapped his arms around me and started to pull me away from the cell. “He didn’t admit to killing her. He needs to admit to murdering her!” I yelled out as he dragged me away. As soon as he had gotten me past the main door he didn’t have to say a word. The door slammed shut behind us. “No!” I yelled and tried to pull away from him.

“Honey you need to stop. It’s over.” He whispered trying to calm me down. We somehow wound up sitting on the ground with my father holding me while I cried. He was right and wrong at the same time. He was right because the man who had murdered my mother was captured. He was wrong because he was not the man who r***d me. “It wasn’t him.” I said through my tears.

How could this be? When I was first attacked I only ever saw the wolf. That wolf was the same one I saw the day my mother was murdered. I would bet my life on it. The day that I was r***d…I never saw the wolf. I felt the claws and at some point heard growls but he was in human form..I don’t even remember his face but I remember his voice. That disgusting excuse for a shifter in that cell was not the owner of the voice who haunted my nightmares.

I didn’t know what to do with the fear. On one hand we had captured the person who stole not only my mother but he stole my dad’s mate away from him for years and why? He seemed like he could barely put two thoughts together let alone follow me and mother all across the country. I didn’t understand how it all made sense. He also most definitely was the one who attacked me in the woods. What was even happening?

I was going to want to talk to him again. I just wasn’t sure if my father was going to allow it. Someone was going to have to find out. I wanted to be that person but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle talking to that man over and over again. He seemed like he was completely out of his mind.

“What wasn’t him?” My father asked confused. He was trying to wipe my tears away but they continued to fall.

“He wasn’t the one who r***d me. It wasn’t his voice.” I whispered. More tears streamed down my cheeks. I couldn’t believe it. I thought that now that monster was caught even though I still needed to hear him say what he did I would have some peace. All this has created was more fear.

“Are you sure?” My father asked. I scoffed at him without realizing it. I know it was just a question but really? I heard his voice just about every night while  I was asleep, and even sometimes while I was awake. I do not think that I would forget it or mistake it that easily.

“Yes I am sure.” I nodded trying to calm myself down. “We will find him.” My father assured me bringing me closer into a hug. I wanted to believe him I really did but there was no way I could.

My mind just kept saying the same thing over and over.

 It wasn’t the same shifter…there was another one out there still hunting me.