Jack spoke up. “I’ll look in every room, question everyone until I find her. Wait here.”
Sara clamped down on his arm.
“Buzzkiller,” he murmured.
One of the young women came toward them. “You must be Sara Medlar.” She offered her hand to shake. “Come with me and I’ll take you to Meena.”
Kate turned to Jack to mouth, “Meena?” but he was smiling at the women they passed—who were all smiling back at him.
They were led into what was probably the main bedroom of the inn. It was a large room with a bed at one end, sitting area at the other. The bed was heavy, dark wood and carved extensively. On the floor between the two areas was a woman on a yoga mat, her face turned away from them. She was twisted into an impossible posture.
The woman who’d escorted them in left, closing the door behind her.
“I’ll be with you in a moment,” the woman on the mat said.
The three backed up until they were sitting on a large chest at the foot of the bed. They couldn’t take their eyes off the woman in front of them, who was twisting and turning into yoga positions.
“Jacobean,” Sara said softly.
“What?” Kate whispered.
“The chest we’re sitting on is Jacobean. Bed is Elizabethan.”
“That was my number one question,” Kate said.
Jack was watching the woman and said nothing.
She brought her body back to what a person would consider normal. Her back was to them as she sat cross-legged, hands behind her, clasped in reverse prayer mode.
Finally, she turned to face them. She was older, true, but her skin was flawless, her brows perfect, her lashes sooty black and thick. Combined with her body, she was an extremely attractive woman.
They stared at her in wonder. This couldn’t be Poorwilla. Could it?
“I see that you’ve been told about me.”
“You are Willa?” Kate asked.
“I was.” She picked up a blue silk robe off the back of the couch and put it on. “Shall we sit and talk?”
They took their seats. “You used to be Willa?” Sara asked. “But now you’re called Meena? Maybe as part of Wilhelmina?”
“Yes. Willa was too close to ‘willing’ whereas Meena is more ‘I mean what I say.’”
“I’m intrigued,” Sara said.
Kate leaned forward. “We want to know about your time with the Pack. Oh, sorry. I meant the—”
Meena smiled. “That’s what we were called. It’s an accurate label. And just like in a real pack, as long as we each did exactly what was expected of us, it was good.”
“Clive was part of that?” Sara asked.
“Oh yes. The others needed both of us. For all that they sneered at him, he took care of them. But then, he was as afraid of being tossed out as I was. But I do think I was more desperate than he was.”
“What happened if you didn’t do what they wanted?” Jack asked.
There was a quick knock on the door and one of the pretty young women came in and handed Meena a clipboard full of papers. In large letters across the top was the name Renewal. She glanced at the papers, signed, then the woman left the room.
“Where was I? Oh yes. When I didn’t conform to their plan, they let me know of their displeasure. I found that out when I was attracted to a young lawyer here in the village. I saw him yesterday.”