“Poppy…” Wolfe warned, grabbing one of the blankets dangling from her fingertips. He shook it out, spread it over my shoulders, and started to rub my arms again over the enormous blanket. “Get to the point before I lose it.”
Her expression fell in the next instant.
She nibbled on her bottom lip and looked at him.
Her brown eyes unfocused as she thought of what to say.
Then it hit me. Poppy didn’t want Cassander to know she was human again. She wasn’t ready to tell the fox.
Shit. Fuck. Damn.
I sighed heavily and lifted my eyes to my shifter. I had to be the one to ask. “If I tell you a secret, will you promise me, your mate, that you won’t tell anyone until Poppy is ready to tell her truth?”
His golden eyes narrowed to thin slits. “It’s that bad?”
“It’s not bad, but it’s not ours to tell anyone else.”
Ever so gradually, Wolfe nodded his head. “Yes, I’ll keep the secret you tell me.”
I flicked my gaze to the redhead. “Is that okay?”
Poppy growled under her breath but nodded. “I don’t want you to have secrets between each other. Especially because of me.”
My regard raised to the man pulling me closer and gifting me his warmth. “The spell that Joshua Striker gave Poppy had another effect other than bringing Cassander back to life. It turned Poppy back into a mortal. She’s human now.”
“What?” Wolfe’s voice lowered an octave.
I nodded slowly. “Poppy didn’t know what was happening. She got a paper cut this morning, and it didn’t heal, so she went directly to the source to ask. Joshua. He confirmed that she’s human again. She’ll have to be more careful at work, and all that.”
Wolfe hadn’t blinked yet, his thoughts racing.
I added pointedly, “It’s quite the shock to her.”
There was a blink. He grumbled, “Yes, I imagine that’s quite shocking.” Wolfe swiveled his head to her. “Are you okay, Poppy?”
“I think so,” she murmured honestly, wrapping her blanket around herself and tugging the ends together against her chest. “Has this ever happened before in the history of shifters?”
The wolf-man shook his head, his mouth pinched thin from the gravity of the revelation. “No, not even rumors of it happening. Some shifters and mates have spent their entire lives trying to figure out how to become mortal, for some ungodly reason, and it’s never been found.”
Poppy shivered where she stood. I didn’t think it was from the cold, either. She mumbled, “Joshua made an immortal human.” Her red brows puckered together. “I bet it’s something Cassander can do, too, but he’ll never tell. Not if some shifters and mates are fanatical about it. He would be hunted if they knew and, possibly, tortured forever until he broke. Everyone breaks at some point.”
Wolfe held me close in his arms, now rubbing my back instead of my arms. “It would turn him dark.” Wolfe was the one to shiver this time, staring over my head at nothing. “No one would live if he turned dark.”
I poked him in the chest through my blanket, gaining his attention. “What is his special power?”
Wolfe shook his head slowly. “Just as Poppy has her secret, he has his own secrets to tell. That’s not for me to divulge.”
I repeated his words from earlier back at him, “It’s that bad?”
His answer was different—and I wish it weren’t. “Yes.”
Poppy nibbled on her bottom lip, studying the boots on her feet. She kept her head down as she asked timidly, “Wolfe, how do you think Cassander would take the news that I’m human again?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure, Poppy.”
“We’re such good friends.” Her sigh was heavy in the air. “I can’t imagine he would take the news well. I wouldn’t if it happened to any of you. I’d have to watch you grow old and die.”
Wolfe grunted.
