The council head sighed. He’d probably heard enough from me, but he motioned me to continue.
“I can’t predict how shifter society will treat my birth parents, but one of the many things I’ve learned is that hatred and fury hurts the person carrying it in their heart. Professor Shaw wasthe perfect example of that. It ruined his life and ultimately led to his death.”
Squeezing Phelan’s hand because I needed a reminder of why I was doing this, I continued. “I forgive my birth parents, and I don’t want them exiled. They made a choice, and they have to live with it.”
With my free hand, I yanked Atticus up. “But this guy is not responsible for what his folks did. Like me, he was a baby and had no say in abandoning me in an orphanage.”
Atticus grumbled, and I elbowed him and told him to shut it.
“But he’s my twin and I am his big brother, and he didn’t get lucky like me and grow up in a loving home.”
“It was a minute, Rawling. You’re sixty seconds older than me,” he hissed.
I ignored him. “So if it would please the council, I would like Atticus to be allowed to stay at Sombertooth and live a normal shifter existence. Maybe I can teach him a thing or two.”
“You teach me? Unlikely.” But he gave me a shoulder bump.
“You’re staying?” Jack leaned over Atticus and hugged me.
“Assuming we’re allowed to.”
Atticus was blinking rapidly and wiping his eyes. Awww, somewhere deep down inside him, he was a softie after all.
The council members talked among themselves and agreed with my plea about my birth family.
“But I have one last question.”
The members of the shifter council checked their watches and shuffled papers, but the head told me to make it quick.
“Why did the hunter part of Atticus appear just after the professor died? Professor Shaw wasn’t a hunter. You just said there was only one family with the hunter gene remaining.”
“Your wolf made the kill and settled the blood debt. But the universe has a quirk. It likes balance and symmetry. One cycleclosed and another has to begin.” The council head shrugged. “History contains many examples.”
Phelan put up his hand. “Sorry to interrupt, but may we stay at Sombertooth if we choose?”
The council head was standing, as were the other members. He pushed in his chair and it screeched across the floor.
“I do not approve of all the half-truths and subterfuge you engaged in, but you and your friends and mate did it for the right reasons. Friendship and love. So yes, you have my permission.”
“Excuse me, but my brother is under the impression this ruling means I have to be friends with him and like him!” Atticus made a face.
Laughter broke out in the room, and the council head smiled, sort of.
“That I can’t help you with, but my advice is, the time you spent together before birth counts for little. Now you have the opportunity to create a friendship, even love, something many people are denied. Don’t mess it up, Atticus.”
EPILOGUE
RAWLING
“Ready?”
This was almost a recreation of the scene the day my wolf slayed Professor Shaw.
My beast puffed out his chest inside me.Awww, you make me sound like a dragon.
I didn’t ask how he knew about dragons. Maybe he was “born with” a memory containing all the shifter knowledge from centuries past.
I was talking to Phelan who was packing the car, and our friends gathered around, but this time we weren’t leaving for good, just for the Christmas vacation.
