Mrs. Ardilla. She was looking after my daughter. But she adored Eira and would never harm her. My heart slowed a tad as it all made sense. She’d decided to take care of Eira and told Scottie to take the day off. Right. Because she often snuck in during the day to check on her, Scottie told me.
My panic attack was for nothing, and I strode to the window and opened it, embracing the fresh air and gulping it into my lungs. But as the stress was released from my body, I focused ontwo people in the distance walking toward the woods where the shifters took their fur and scales.
One, a woman, was holding a baby over her shoulder wearing a pink knitted beanie that my in-laws had given her. Mrs. Ardilla had taken her out. Any remaining anxiety vanished for a second until I turned my attention to the second adult.
It was a man I recognized because he’d befriended me when I came here and he was aware of my secrets. And he was reaching out to Mrs. Ardilla, wanting to take the baby.
I screamed like a freaking banshee and the pair turned. Mrs. Ardilla put her hand up in a half wave as Professor Shaw grabbed Eira. Mrs. Ardilla yelled at him to be gentle, but her voice was only an echo in my head as I flung myself out of the infirmary and down the stairs. Phoenix House blurred as I shoved students out of the way and focused on how many seconds it would take me to reach my daughter.
I was human and the professor and Mrs. Ardilla had beasts, though hers was a squirrel that I could overpower because the adrenaline speeding through my veins was enough to stomp the life out of a godsdamn shifty squirrel.
It was as though I were flying over the grass, and my vision narrowed to a pinpoint that focused on the professor holding Eira.
“Stop! Give me back my baby!”
Someone with a familiar scent appeared on my right and yelled at me. “What the fuck is wrong with you? He’s not going to hurt Eira.”
Gods, no. The last freaking person I wanted to see washimwhen my daughter was in danger.
“Shut it, brother of mine.” That would keep him quiet and get him out of my way because we never referred to each other as brothers. I shoulder-checked him, and he stumbled.
Atticus
That freaking latent just called me his brother and shoved me! Where did that strength come from? Had to have been from my family.
Of course the whole school knew what he was to me, biologically, and I no longer held the esteemed position in the school hierarchy that I did because of it. But that fool announced it so anyone who hadn’t heard, that handful of people, were ignorant no more. Fucker.
And he was tearing over the grass, screeching at Professor Shaw because the guy was holding the baby. It was kinda odd because the professor was walking away and picking up speed as he ignored Rawling. Mrs. Ardilla was being very squirrely with both hands up to her chest while telling the professor to stop.
What the fuck was going on?
Eira was crying, and I automatically put a hand to my head because that noise hurt.
Rawling’s screams were folding in and blending together until they were just raucous sounds. They were almost feral. And what was he doing shedding his clothes? Was he going to mud wrestle the professor?
No.
My wolf was paying attention, but what did he know about crazed humans protecting their young? But even as I thought that there was a flicker of something inside me, maybe in my heart. Or I was about to be sick.
The raw emotion Rawling was exhibiting tugged at me. I’d witnessed that in wild animals protecting their young. I couldn’tunderstand why the professor was doing what he was doing, but I had a glimpse of why Rawling was so upset.
Except he wasn’t Rawling, not anymore.
Holy shit. No. That fucker, my biological brother, wasn’t latent or human but a magnificent wolf shifter.
Bigger than me.
He was huge, with a white streak slicing though his dark fur that ran over his head and down his back. I braced myself for blood and guts, but his wolf paced toward the professor. He lifted his head and howled, a sound that echoed in my brain and rumbled my gut.
I rubbed my brow as my wolf responded. No one else could hear him because he was inside me, but he recognized that beast.
My brother, my wolf told me.
Damn it, why was everyone using that word? But as my wolf repeated it, it seeped into my bones. Shit, shit, shit. Was this the blood transfusion’s doing? Did I make Rawling a wolf? Crap!
No. He was always there but hidden.
It would have been great if you’d told me that.
