At this point, I’m sure your wolf has awoken. I know you’re angry about her being suppressed, but you have to understand why we did it. You have to know what is coming. If you haven’t shifted already, then it’ll happen soon. The suppressants weren’t only to keep you hidden from the royals but from everyone around you too. When your father shifted, he wasn’t cruel or evil, but there were times when the wolf took over. It became more pronounced and exerted more of its personality than typical shifters experience from their wolves.
During the full moon, it was worse. He could sometimes be scary, almost feral. He came home multiple times, covered in blood, needing to clean up before anyone saw. He’d have no memory of the night before. One of the things that weighed on him was that he had no way of knowing if the blood was animal or human. It was terrifying for us, and eventually, it broke your father. He decided he wasn’t going to shift anymore. He was strong enough mentally to hold it back without drugs, but it was a struggle. It was physically painful for him to hold the wolf back. This is what I was afraid your wolf would be like.It’s the other reason I decided to put you on the suppressants. You need to be very careful. I’ve included some articles in this packet.
I slidout several pieces of cardstock that had newspaper clippings pasted to them. The stories were of murders and deaths that had taken place in and around Tampa in the years leading up to Maddy’s birth. The descriptions were of people who’d been torn open and eviscerated as though they’d been attacked by a wild animal.
“Oh, Jesus,” Maddy said, putting a hand to her mouth.
I shook my head. “This doesn’t make sense. When I shift, my wolf comes to the forefront, but I’m always still in charge. She’s saying that your father sometimes completely lost himself in his wolf? That… that’s a little terrifying to think about. A lot of the urges my wolf has are not socially acceptable. If I wasn’t there to temper those desires…” I trailed off, shaking my head, unsure how I’d cope with something like that.
I thinkthose deaths were caused by your father’s werewolf. I used my connections to get blood samples for these victims and did a DNA check. Every one of these people had familial connections to the royals. I think when your father shifted, the wolf took over and hunted down royals where he could find them.
Your father told me the legend of Edemas. You may have heard them too, by now. The thing is, the standard legends are not correct. They are a warped version of the events, propaganda that was propagated by the royals.
The legends say Edemas wanted full-blooded shifter children, that he had a harem of shifter women to complete this desire, that his human wife, the queen, was not givinghim sufficiently powerful offspring, and when she balked at his concubines, he had her killed, which is what started the revolt against him. This is not true.
The hidden part of this story is that Edemas’s wife was murdered by her own family. They were greedy and jealous of Edemas’s power. His wife was killed, as was his eldest daughter, the heir to the crown. His daughter was thrown from the staircase. That is what set Edemas off. The loss of his two most loved family members is what twisted his mind and drove him into madness. It brought about his murderous rampage. He’d always been hungry for power, and yes, he did have concubines, but he was never cruel until the murder of his wife and eldest daughter.
Your father believed he was the reincarnation of Edemas himself. He had it in his mind that he would be cursed to relive the same fate as his ancestor. David often had nightmares, visions, and memories of things from the past. Things he thought were real images from Edemas’s life. He saw things he couldn’t possibly have known. These memories were how he knew that the legends and stories were wrong. He lived the truth in his dreams.
58
MADDY
My whole body was shaking as I read the letter. Each word I read seemed to hit me deep in my soul. My birth mother’s handwriting, the information she was giving me, the pictures? It was all too much. I put the letter down as my wolf began to stir. Was she reacting to my emotions? Or was it the story itself?
In my mind, I spoke to her again.Are you the reincarnation of Edemas’s daughter?
Her hesitation was almost physical, something I could feel inside my brain. There was something she wanted to say, but she was afraid. Then, in the deepest part of my mind, in a voice so small I almost missed it, she answered.Yes.
I gasped, feeling the weight of that statement slam into my chest. Nico put an arm on my shoulders. “Hey? Are you okay?” he asked.
Shaking my head. “It’s true. My wolf. She just told me that it’s all true. She’s the reincarnation of Edemas’s daughter.”
“Seriously?” Nico wouldn’t have looked more surprised if I’d slapped him.
“Yeah.”
“What else is in here?” Nico said, digging through the envelope. We hadn’t finished the letter, but I was curious too.
He tugged out a small, folded stack of papers wrapped in a rubber band. The band was old, dry, and rotted, and snapped apart when he tried to pull it off. Once unfolded, it was obvious what they were. The masculine block letters were not my birth mother’s handwriting. These were journal entries. They were from David Samuels. My birth father. I immediately set my mother’s letter aside and took the stack from Nico, beginning to read them.
May 9th,
I hadanother dream last night. It was the same as two days ago. So damned real. I’m going to write them here so I can try and piece together what they mean.
I was in a strange building, like a castle or something. It felt really old, ancient. It was dark, but there were candles and torches along the passageways and rooms. I was angry about something. Not just angry, but heartbroken. There was a man leading me along the passage, he was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t hear him. We came around the corner, and there was a girl lying on the floor. She was young, maybe around my age. Nineteen or twenty? Not sure. When I saw her in that dream, I can’t even describe how I felt. I was so sad, and I screamed. Not even a scream really, but a howl, like my wolf was sad as well. The girl was obviously dead, her eyes staring up lifeless, and a huge pool of blood spread out from her hair. That’s when I woke up. What does it all mean?
May19th
Another dream.Thankfully, this one was different. I really didn’t want to see that dead girl again. Although, this dream was worse in some ways. I know I was in the same castle as before, but I was outside, walking along a parapet or something. I was yelling at a man beside me. The guy was wearing familiar colors and kept bowing to me as I spoke. He was some type of servant. I couldn't make out the words, but I knew I was not happy with something he was telling me. The dream was more emotional than the last one. Betrayal, paranoia, anger, sadness, and panic were all boiling inside me. When I woke up, I was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. I’m starting to think I know who these dreams are about. If that’s the case, what does that mean?
June 11th
AmI ever going to have a good night’s sleep again? This dream was strange in a lot of ways. I was fighting with a woman. She was beautiful and familiar, though I don’t remember ever remember seeing her in my waking life. She was asking me to stop making children. She seemed to be angry about my harem. I was angry. Didn’t she understand I had to have more children? The only shifter child we’d had was our daughter, who was now dead. The rest had been born with my blood but were not able to become werewolves. I had to have heirs, and they needed to be shifters.
Her anger was enough for me to start to fear her. Was she going to betray me? Could she do something like that? My dream flashed to a massive room that was full of gold, jewels, silver-adorned weapons, carved alabaster, jade statuettes—so much treasure that I couldn’t even focus on any one thing. I knelt and placed a small chest of gold coins on the ground. Iturned and stepped out, sliding the big stone door closed behind me. Next to me, an ancient witch stepped forward and placed a hand on the door, and began chanting, sealing it with magic.
June23rd
