“No,” Liam says. “And it’s not adefect,if you want to call it like that.”
“It isn’t?”
“You have a peculiar gift, don’t you?” Liam muses.
I feel like an idiot, but I can only stare at him in surprise.
“Animals flock to her,” Elden says in my stead. “Titan has taken a liking to her, too.”
“The demon cat?” Liam asks.
Elden nods.
“Wait, is it truly a demon? I thought Felix and the others were joking!” I remember Titan following me around during breakfastand just staring at me. I thought it felt weird for a cat. “It kind of makes sense, though.”
“The thing is, with such a peculiar or special gift, your wolf spirit might just be weaker to balance out the potential power imbalance,” Elden explains.
I am stunned. All these years, I believed that I was broken, that I was human, but first Felix could immediately tell I am a hybrid by my scent alone, and now Elden and Liam tell me there is nothing wrong with me. “Is this also the reason why I can’t shift?” I ask.
“Possibly,” Liam says. “Although it could also be because you are a hybrid. Not all hybrids can shift.” Before I can say anything, he continues. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It just means your strengths lie elsewhere. There are full-fledged wolves who can’t shift because their gift is too strong.”
“Liam is right. I have a nephew in Paris, and his mate has an incredible gift. But the price for it is that she has the health of a human, and can’t shift.”
“I didn’t know any of that,” I admit quietly, letting their words sink in. It strikes me all of a sudden what it meant for me to grow up so secluded. “Dad and Daniel did try to teach me about everything, but when Dad passed, I guess… There was no one left who could guide me.”
“Do you know your mother?” Elden asks softly.
I shake my head. “She left after I was born. I think she was shocked that I was only half human, you know?”
“For someone unprepared, this had to be a shock,” Liam agrees, much to my relief. I don’t like people judging my mother. It doesn’t mean I don’t feel hurt that she left, but I can also kind of understand how terrified she must have been. Besides, she didn’t leave me just anywhere, she left me with my loving dad, in his pack.
Thinking of it now, I remember something else, though. “There was a moment in my life… I think I was maybe five or six years old. I am not sure. But I remember that Dad was looking for her. I don’t know why he suddenly wanted to find her.”
“Five years could be when you got tested,” Liam muses.
“I don’t think they ever tested me,” I admit.
“Maybe they didn’t because they were idiots and thought you being half human meant you couldn’t have a gift,” Elden says. “But your father may have had an inkling.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Liam agrees, a thoughtful expression on his face. “That’s the age a gift can show up, not in its full force, but a hint of it.”
“Tulip appeared,” I mutter.
“Tulip?” Elden asks.
“My old horse.” I frown. “I was a kid. Dad got him for me. Or… no… I think he suddenly appeared, and then Dad got him for me before he could be taken away.”
Elden and Liam exchange a gaze. “Your father was a perceptive man,” Elden says. “And he obviously loved you. I believe he knew you had a gift, but he also knew that no one in his pack would believe him.”
“That makes sense,” I mutter. “In my pack, there were no pets, and up to today, I don’t know how he made it so I was allowed to keep Tulip.”
“He wanted to make sure to support you and your gift,” Liam muses.
Ever since my dad died, I felt like my heart was frozen. It only melted when I met Felix, and hearing these two strong alphas praise and appreciate my father now heals my heart and soul a little more.
“I promise you, we will look into this further,” Elden says.
I nod. “Thank you. It means a lot to me. You know… you know I don’t have any family left. The fact that this pack accepted me,that my mate and his family accepted me...“ My voice trails off. I don’t have the strength to finish the sentence without bursting into tears.
