“Well, look at yourself,” she said, pulling an ornate compact mirror from a hidden pocket against her right breast.
“Yes, I’m a cutie. We’ve established that.”
“No, I mean,actuallylook at yourself,” she said more seriously, sliding the mirror across the table. “See what Darius sees.”
I gave her a bit of side-eye and grabbed the mirror before unfolding it and giving my reflection a careful look.
“Is this supposed to be some kind of lesson of self-confidence?”
The image in the mirror rippled before going still again, and my irises took on a silver glow similar to Mosavi’s. My face morphed and broadened into someone older and much more masculine, but I could still tell it was me. I’d never looked so handsome, so refined. When I smiled, my sharp teeth glistened with an ivory sheen in the dancing glow of candlelight.
The more I stared, the more wolf-like I became, my face now warping into a full lycanthropic visage. Gray streaks gave my neat mane a distinguished appearance. I was massive.
“What is this?” I asked, enamored. “Another one of Mosavi’s enchanted toys?”
“Thatis your potential,” Willa said, pulling the mirror away. She snapped it shut and stuffed it back into her brassiere. “Normally, you’d be too old for this stage of lycanthropy, but you’re the special case.”
“So, I’ve been told.” I picked up my glass and took a sip. “This wasn’t supposed to be my life.”
She patted my hand. “You can’t change it, Cody. Trying to hide it away will only cause you distress and bitterness. It was something I wish I’d have been around to help my husband with when he was much younger, but I didn’t know him then.”
“That’s easy for you to say. It doesn’t happen to women. You don’t have your entire life and future upended by whatever the hell this curse is.”
“Curse?” She shook her head. “When you were looking at your future self in my mirror, what did you feel?” she asked, pulling her hand away.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not a hard question. Were you satisfied?”
“I… don’t know.”
“A human life is so banal. You were a nobody living in a bare studio apartment living paycheck to paycheck. You didn’t even have enough money for mayonnaise.”
Another chill shook me.
“How did you know that?”
She ignored my question.
“You want to be more than some boring human with little chance of succeeding in a life they’ve designed to enslave you. You want to be like my husband.” Though her words stung, she said them with such understanding. Flashbacks to what that feral elder told me raced through my head. “Darius seems like a cruel beast, and he is not well-adjusted, but he’s more complex than that. He wants to protect you, but he also delights in depravity—a lingering side effect of his repressive religious upbringing.”
“Are you really trying to paint him as being a good person?”
Willa chuckled. “Do I look like the type of woman who marries agoodperson?”
“I don’t know what type of woman you are. I don’t even know why we’re talking.” I rubbed my forehead. “And what do you mean he’s trying to protect me?”
“Because you’re dangerous.”
I laughed at that. “I’mdangerous? Your husband assaulted my pack, and he’s using his position to threaten all of us.”
“Trust me. Your very existence is dangerous. All elders still alive started out this way, but not all become leaders. If they do, they become the most potent and powerful creatures on this planet.” She reached for my hand and gently grazed her red painted fingernail over my skin. “Your presence attracts a lot of attention from those that crave the power you might possess, but it’s still too early to tell how you’ll end up.”
“Why does any of this matter to him?”
“It matters to both of us, as we both have equal interest in your future.” She chuckled and shook her head. “Now that I’ve met you, I see his usual methods of getting his way aren’t going to work. I know you hate hearing it, but you’re too similar.”
I opened my mouth to protest again, but she cut me off.
