Chapter 32: Family History
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"Your mother thought the same thing," he said bitterly. "It got her killed."
I froze. "What happened to her? To Elizabeth?"
Something like grief flickered across Richard's face. "She died protecting that abomination she called a husband. When our hunters finally tracked them down, she stepped in front of our silver bullets. Nathaniel Grey escaped, but not for long. We found him a week later."
"And me? Why didn't you take me then?"
"We didn't know you existed until after it was all over. By then, you had disappeared into the foster system." He studied me with clinical interest. "But now you're here, and you're going to help us finish what we started thirty years ago."
"I won't help you hunt werewolves," I said defiantly.
"You already have," Richard replied with a cold smile. "Your research on that moss—the one that helps ease their transformations—it's the key we've been looking for. A way to identify werewolves when they're in human form."
Horror washed over me as I realized what he meant. "The tracking device on my car..."
"Was just the beginning. We've been monitoring your research, analyzing the samples you collected. With a few modifications, your herbal remedy won't ease transformations—it will force them. Imagine: a compound that could expose werewolves hiding among humans, make them reveal themselves in broad daylight."
"That would be a death sentence," I whispered. "You'd be exposing them to public fear, to violence."
"That's the idea," Richard confirmed. "And you're going to perfect the formula for us."
"I'll die first," I said with more courage than I felt.
