“Yeah?”
“He’s gonna shapeshift,” I say matter-of-factly, and feel the air change with Sophie’s curiosity. It’s like she’s holding her breath, watching as bone and sinew snap and morph from human to wolf. The youngster lands on his front paws, the earthtrembling slightly like a breath that welcomes his form, and that’s when Sophie exhales.
I turn to her then, seeing the look on her face that borders on awe and shock, her face paling, her brows furrowed.
“It can’t be…” she whispers, blinking as if to snap herself out of the illusion she thinks she’s seeing.
“Come on,” I say, nodding toward the river where the sound of youthful cheers can be heard. “There’s a school down there.”
“A school…?” Sophie turns her frown to me.
“Uh-huh. And a clinic, as well as a library and a museum.”
She nods hesitantly as she follows me down toward the river until the trees open up to a meadow where children play, collecting clay from the riverbank that will be used in their art class. Sophie watches as the children race back to my sister, and she takes a deep breath, her eyes twinkling as if it’s all starting to make sense.
I point out the cabins housing the library and the clinic on either end, and Sophie’s eyes roam our little sanctuary in the valley with gentle curiosity.
“Werewolves, huh? All of them?”
“Yes. All of us. We live in the valley, away from human routes, hiding, protecting each other and humans from the shadows, so they never learn of our existence. It’s better this way. If they knew, we’d risk being exploited or harmed.”
“Humans fear what they don’t believe in…” she whispers, and I nod gently even though she doesn’t look at me.
“Do you believe now? Everything I’ve told you is true.”
There’s a moment of silence that stretches before she finally tears her eyes from the children and turns to me. “Is that why…?” Her voice tapers off, and her eyes flash with a glint of sadness.
“Yes,” I reply as I hang my head, knowing what the question is even if she doesn’t speak it fully. “It’s no excuse, but it’s the reason why I did what I did in the past. I’m sorry.”
Sophie gulps and tears her eyes away as she crosses her arms over her chest. “I wanna go back to the cabin, please.”
The discomfort is written all over her body, her expression grim as she keeps her lips pursed.
“I’ll show you back to the cabin,” I relent, and begin heading up the way we came, Sophie following close behind me.
A flicker of relief tugs at my heartstrings, just because she hasn’t asked to go back home again. She needs time to process what she’s learned, accept this as the truth, and I will have to give her space to come around.
***
“We have reason to suspect that Sophie is no ordinary human,” Anastasia announces at the council meeting the next day, after being called in from Silver Stone to report her encounter with Sophie the other night. “She’s displayed signs of wielding magic, and this isn’t something that can occur from a fated mate bond with a werewolf.”
Amos nods, adding, “If she received powers through the mate bond, it would have been powers like yours, Alpha Damian.”
While I digest this information, I scan the room, seeing how the skeptics remain unconvinced as Amos continues toexplain, “We’ve done more digging, and we’ve found that the Ashclaw Pack was linked to a coven of witches hidden somewhere in Florence. We found letters that we’ve connected the dots to, and the Ashclaw alpha’s mate was a witch.”
“There was a child…” I speculate, and Amos nods.
“The child of the Ashclaw Pack’s alpha survived the demon attack when his witch mother fled the valley,” Amos concedes. “And we believe that Sophie is a descendant of that child. A descendant of the Ashclaw Pack.”
“But she’s not a wolf. She’s only human,” Conan protests, and Amos turns to him.
“The wolf bloodline must have thinned out, or perhaps the witches did something to hide the child’s wolf abilities. It doesn’t change the fact that Miss Torres is likely from the Ashclaw bloodline, and perhaps a DNA test can confirm this.”
“Is it even necessary?” I ask Amos, to which he shakes his head.
“From what she has displayed, by burning the demon to ashes, there is really no need for a DNA test. I think it is no coincidence that she is your fated mate, Alpha Damian.”
“Yeah…it’s no coincidence…” I murmur, processing this information.
