“Your Shelly witches got that house in Wing territory. That was a big step.”
All three of us stare at Lee.
“Big step toward what?” Ophelia asks, her voice quiet, as if whatever we’re discussing might be illicit.
“Getting rid of the divides,” he explains. “Blocking where we can live. Mythics are pushing back because it doesn’t make sense.”
He’s saying what I never would out loud. Thoughts I had whenever I passed from the Claw section into the Monster one. Would my mermaid mother have stayed if we hadn’t been shuffled off to the farthest corner of Lake Galen? Maybe therewould’ve been less resentment from my werewolf father if he could’ve remained closer to the pack?
“Even if they get rid of the boundaries,” I say, “that doesn’t mean the groups will suddenly forget that I’m a monster.”
“The groups?” The question comes from Ophelia.
I get the sense that she’s the most curious of us. Possibly the most innocent too.
“The pack.” I keep my eyes away from Jack and focused on the quarter that I’m slipping into my machine. “Doesn’t matter that I’m half. Doesn’t matter that the moon calls to me.”
“I’m not with a pack.”
I jerk my head up at that and stare over at Jack, his dark gaze meeting mine, his face revealing nothing.
“You’re not?”
He’s got two to choose from, according to Griffith. Why would he opt to be a lone wolf?
“No. My first alpha was the one who sold me to the sorcerer. Not looking to sign myself over to another.” His voice is flat on the confession, but I get the sense fury roils just underneath. “Both packs here owe me.”
Jack’s attention returns to his machine as he starts to play another round, as if he isn’t rocking my world with every single statement he makes.
“If you want to join one, I will make sure that you can.” He flicks his eyes to me and then away again. “But if you just want someone to run with under the moon, then you have me.”
I swallow. And then I have to do it again because my entire throat is blocked by emotion. I don’t think this wolf understands how much he just offered me.
Even my father never ran with me on the night of a full moon. Since I was thirteen, I change on that night, just like every other wolf does. And on that night each month, when wolves join together, I run alone.
“Thank you. I … I would like to run with you.”
And when I glance Jack’s way, I swear I see the start of a smile on the corner of his mouth.
21
Bo
Cleaningthe library turns out to be a meditative task. I assumed I would hate it in here. That resentment would fester in my chest as I worked to care for the source of the power that had originally trapped me.
But ever since I encountered Delta, I’m having trouble blaming the house. The building had no vendetta against me. The protective magic didn’t seek me out as I was innocently living my life.
I invaded this home and attempted to steal. The house simply protected the occupants the best that it could.
Though I find I still hold a grudge against Dimitri, even with him in the grave. Even if I deserved to be punished for my actions, I think many would argue that confinement to a statue state for seventeen years did not meet the severity of the crime.
He could have told someone. The Council or another witch might have freed me a decade earlier and then handed out a more reasonable punishment.
But the dragon is gone, and I have my agency back. Focusing too much on what I lost will just poison the life I’m trying to rebuild.
Each day, the fury grows more muted, and I’m coming to realize I want to do better this time around. Be the leading role in my life now rather than a side character in someone else’s.
I find a book abandoned on one of the reshelving carts. Picking up the leather tome, I hold it at arm’s length and squint my eyes to read the title.
