Hayden walks through the door first, Remy is right behind him. I already have whiskey poured for them. I’m not much of a drinker. They say it helps them maintain their Third Form, when blending in with humans. I guess I don’t have that problem.
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this personal visit?” I ask, putting their glasses down by the couch and sitting in a chair. “It’s been years since either of you came to my place.”
“It’s important,” Hayden answers, picking up his glass of whiskey before sitting down. “But first, have you read anything about a Scion with blood abilities?”
“Blood abilities?” I raise a brow. “I got your message about the vampire not being able to bite Ansley. Did something else happen?”
“Yeah, Hayden let her give blood because her best friend needed a transfusion,” Remy interjects. “Now Daisy seems to be immune to vampires, too.”
“Huh,” I say, pondering it for a moment before standing up. “Hold on, I was looking for stuff about Scions who had visions or premonitions or could sense when people were watching them. I came across something about Scion blood, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. Wait right here.”
I hurry back to my library. My desk is covered with scrolls and old books. I can’t remember which one had the information about Scion blood, so I quickly look through them until I find a scroll. It’s damaged and I had it sealed in mylar years ago to stop the decay. Some of it has already been lost.
“Found it,” I say, walking back into the living room. I sit down and carefully read it, translating the text in my head as I do. “Okay, this is a story. A fable, really. I’m not sure if it’s true, but it talks about a Scion who shared their blood with a pack of wolf shifters. It made them stronger… The rest of that part has been lost.”
“How did the Scion share their blood?” Hayden asks.
“The wolves drank it,” I say, continuing to read past the part that is missing.
“Like fucking vampires?” Remy growls.
“Like I said, it’s just a story. It might not even be true. There are a lot of old stories like this that are obviously just embellishments or exaggerations,” I say. “Same with human stories, even their religious texts, unless you believe in angels, demons, talking snakes, and giants. Although, I’ve always wondered if the giants were shifters.”
“Could be,” Hayden says. “We don’t really know how long our kind have been around. If you believe some of the stuff the older wolves used to tell, we were here when humans still lived in caves.”
“No way to know if those cave drawings were left by wolves or early humans,” I say. “But we should test this. If Ansley’s blood made Daisy immune to vampires, it could do the same thing for us.”
“I’m not drinking her blood,” Remy says, shaking his head and sipping some of his whiskey. “I don’t need that to fight vampires.”
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that either,” Hayden adds.
“She’s your mate, so it’s your call,” I say, putting the scroll down.
Remy tenses up, an odd look on his face. “Yeah, about that…”
“That’s the real reason for this visit, Wyatt,” Hayden says, downing some whiskey and leaning forward. “Ansley isn’t just my mate. When Remy met her, he felt the same pull towards her. She’s his mate, too.”
“Impossible,” I say, shaking my head. “Sure, a wolf can fall in love before they find their mate, like Jaxton did, but even in the oldest books, a she-wolf only mates with one wolf.”
“But Ansley’s not a she-wolf. She’s a different kind of Scion. One you can’t even identify, no matter how many old books you read,” Hayden growls.
He’s right, and that stings more than I want to admit. I’ve spent centuries preserving our history, and now I’m faced with something completely outside my knowledge. It’s humbling. And terrifying.
“There’s more. You know how our kind react when someone tries to come between us and our mate,” Remy continues. “I thought Hayden would go for my throat when I told him I felt the same pull towards Ansley that he did.”
“Well, you’ve still got your throat,” I say, trying to make sense of it. Logical sense, because it sounds like my brothers have lost their logic. “Really, Hayden? You didn’t feel jealousy? No rage?”
“Nothing at all,” he answers, sipping his whiskey. “It just felt right. Almost right. It still feels like something is missing. Like the mating ritual can’t be completed until all the pieces are in place.”
“That’s where you come in,” Remy says, leaning forward. “It’s time for you to meet Ansley.”
“I figured I would eventually. Hopefully before she was wed into the pack,” I say. “But why now? You think…”
“She could be your mate, too,” Hayden finishes my sentence. “You’re the youngest. If you have the same reaction we did, then it likely means Storm and Jaxton will as well.”
Okay, maybe they haven’tcompletelylost their sense of logic. “Jaxton… no, he’ll never go for that.”
“I know he won’t react well,” Hayden says. “That’s why we want you to meet her before he does. Then Storm. If the four of us all have the same reaction, we’ll figure out how to approach Jaxton with it.”
