Free Mitry and Weni by Becca van Page B

fix.”
    “What are you talking about?” Mit asked.
    “I resigned myself to living my life alone. It was kind of a shock to find out I have two men who want me, who’ve mated me. It’s not that I don’t like you or aren’t attracted to you because I am, but I hardly know you and you hardly know me.”
    “We’ve tried to,” Mit stated.
    Krysta sighed at the hurt she heard in his voice and cringed. “I never meant to hurt you. I’ve been alone for so long and am used to depending on no one but myself. That’s a hard habit to break.”
    “Understandable,” Wen said. “What’s your last name?”
    “Black.” Krysta frowned. “I thought I told you?”
    “You told one of the women who then told us,” Mit answered.
    “Sorry, I didn’t do that on purpose. I wasn’t trying to keep it a secret.”
    “Fair enough.”
    “What was your childhood like?” Wen asked.
    “A living nightmare,” Krysta blurted out and then looked embarrassed as she stared at the floor.
    “You know we were slaves, right?” Mit asked. “We aren’t embarrassed by that fact because we had no control back then.”
    Wen was glad that Mit was trying to put their mate at ease and from the way she sank back into the seat and leaned against him, he guessed it was working.
    “My mom got pregnant when she was just out of her teens, and as soon as her boyfriend found out, he took off. Or that's what she told me, but I don't think she told me the truth." She shrugged. "She was okay for the first few years since her parents were still alive and we were living with them, but after they were killed in a bus accident, things started to go downhill.”
    Wen hugged her closer offering his support, hoping she would continue.
    “She got into bad crowd and began drinking and taking drugs. I ended up looking after her but no matter what I did, she practically ignored me. She died of an overdose.”
    “How old were you when she died?” Mit asked.
    “Eight.”
    “Fuck!” Wen closed his eyes, horrified at what Krysta had been through. “What did you do? Where did you go?”
    “I called the authorities, but after seeing cops regularly because of mom, I was scared of them, so when they came, I hid in the tree house next door. The rental was cordoned off because it became a crime scene for about a week, but I knew I couldn’t stay there anyway, so I took to the streets.”
    “Shit! You could have been hurt or killed,” Mit said angrily. “Where did you go?”
    “I found an abandoned warehouse where other homeless people lived and met a wonderful girl who taught me how to survive. Cyn was the best thing to ever happen to me, at least then she was. She showed me how to forage for food, where the best places to find it was, and how to stay hidden from the law.”
    “She should have taken you to a shelter,” Wen said. “How old was this Cyn?”
    “Thirteen or fourteen.”
    “Geezus, she was just a baby.” Mit clenched his jaw to hold back his anger.
    “Maybe, but she knew a lot. She never told me why she was homeless but from the way she tried to hide from the opposite sex I can guess.”
    “You think she was raped?” Wen asked angrily.
    Krysta nodded.
    “What happened to her?” Mit asked.
    “I don’t know.” Krysta blinked rapidly as if trying to hold back tears. “She just disappeared and I never heard from or saw her again.”
    “How old were you when she le…disappeared?” Wen rolled his neck and shoulders, trying to ease the tension in his muscles.
    “Ten.”
    “Why didn’t you go to a shelter, baby?” Mit drew her gaze. “You would have been a lot safer there than on the streets.”
    “Maybe, maybe not. I would never have met Giovanni if I had.”
    Wen sat up straighter. “That was the man Set was talking about.”
    Krysta nodded.
    “You were the girl he took in?” Mit asked.
    Krysta nodded again. “He died when I was sixteen.”
    “No wonder you have a hard time connecting with people and trusting.” Wen could