My blood ran hot, and I gripped the phone hard enough for my knuckles to crack. “You knew this might happen, and you didn’t think I might need that fucking info? ThatMaddymight need the info?”
I could hear him sigh on the other end of the phone. “I didn’t want to stoke fears based on a hunch. There was no reason tofreak you all out if there was no proof or if there really was no reason to be worried.”
“Well, what the hell is going on? Maddy shouldn’t be able to shift. So what the hell is going on with her?”
“My research goes all through the genetic lines back to when Edemas was assassinated. I’ve gone back hundreds of years. Of course, I can’t say I’ve found every single descendant, but from what I’ve discovered, Maddy is the first instance of a first-born female being born to the bloodline since the fall of Edemas.”
I didn’t understand what that had to do with anything. My frustration was boiling to the surface. “Why does that matter?”
“There have obviously been other females born, but in three hundred years, none have been first-born. Ask yourself this, Nico. What bloodline, out of all the different bloodlines, ever produced female alphas?”
I knew what he was saying. Female alphas were practically unheard of. The only time you ever heard about them was in legends. Stories about… “Oh shit,” I whispered.
“Exactly. If the stories are true—and at this point we have no reason to assume they aren’t—what does that tell you?”
The dots started to connect inside my mind. Puzzle pieces clicking together, revealing a picture I didn’t like. “Maddy’s an alpha?”
“That’s what it looks like,” Kenneth said. “I’d wondered about it. Worried is a better word probably. So, I kept tabs on her. I went so far as to hire a private investigator to stake out her house and watch her as she neared puberty. Nothing. Not a whisper of an imminent shift. I kept watching her until she was almost twenty years old. Still nothing. I’d decided we were in the clear. I didn’t anticipate her finding a fated mate, or that it was even possible. I think now that she’s found her mate, the alpha wolf is trying to break free. To take over.”
“Will it hurt her?” It was the only thing I could think to ask. My concern for Maddy was growing by the second.
“No, I don’t think so. She still shouldn’t actually be able to shift. She’ll just feel all the emotions and feelings of her wolf. It will be intense. You need to be there for her. Treat it just like a teenage shifter getting ready for their first shift. But you need to remember that she’s an alpha. She’s gonna have some bite to her.”
That was true. It was a known fact that alpha wolves were much more aggressive during the initial change. After that first change, the shifter was able to bring it under control and begin the symbiotic relationship that would define their lives.
If you’d never shifted, though? Jesus, how long would it take to control it?
“Okay. Thanks. I need to talk to my dad. See if he has any suggestions.”
“Glad I could help. Call if you have any more questions. I don’t know if I can answer them, but I’ll try.”
I sat for a minute, letting the information ruminate in my mind. The hope I’d had before his call had evaporated. Now, I had more to think and worry about.
Before Maddy got home, I headed out the door and walked down to Dad’s house. I’d never needed his advice more than I did now.
“Nico?” Dad looked surprised by my unannounced visit.
“Can I come in, Dad? We need to talk.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Your mother didn’t do something again, did she?”
I waved him off as I stepped in. “No, nothing like that. I need advice. You have experience with this.”
“With what?”
“Raising a teenage alpha shifter.”
Dad squinted at me. “Uh…do you have some love child I never knew about?”
As stressed as I was, a laugh managed to escape my lips. “I don’t. It’s Maddy.” I went on to explain everything that had been going on with her. Then I told him about my conversation with Kenneth, and the fact that it looked like Maddy was a female alpha.
Dad listened patiently. Once I was done, he whistled and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. “That’s a lot to deal with, son.”
“Kinda what I thought,” I said with a nod. “I can’t even begin to understand how Maddy must be feeling. Like going through puberty all over again, but this time with a wolf breathing down your neck manipulating your emotions. Christ, Dad, it was bad enough when I was eleven, and I knew what to expect.”
“So, we still don’t think she can actually shift, right?” Dad asked.
“No. Kenneth and I both don’t think her blood is strong enough to allow that.”
