Her eyes.
“What about them?”
I jump, my other arm latching onto Ares like I can use him as a damn shield. “Holy fuck,” I breathe.
“Language,” Freya chides, but I can’t bring myself to feel repentant right about now.
I look between Ares and Cole, but both of them are just looking at me like I’m nuts. When I glance down to Osiris though, he’s looking right back at me, every muscle tense.
“Did you just…?”a male voice sounds in my head and I stiffen so much a harsh breeze would be enough to knock me over.
…Ozzy?
There’s a lengthy pause before Cole jumps to his feet. “Is he serious?”
“About?” I squeak, heart trying to leap out of my chest as I cling to Ares’ arm.
“You can hear him?” Ares asks incredulously.
“What about us?” Cole rushes out before going silent, but nothing happens.
“That’s because she likes me best,”Ozzy brags, coming over to weave between my legs and purring.
“Bullshit,” Ares snorts, but his grip gets noticeably tighter.
Zora has her hands out, shaking her head. “Woah, woah, woah. Humans can’t have pack links.” She turns to Freya for confirmation. “Right?”
The tension in the room rises to such insurmountable levels that I’m impressed I manage to draw in another breath. Not sure where to look, my eyes fall on Sarah again. She’s sitting there just grinning, and if it wasn’t for the pallor of her skin, I’d never imagine she was sick.
“See?” She just holds my gaze, though I know she’s speaking to her parents. “Osiris said not to lose hope and he was right; apparently anything is possible.”
Tentatively, I try reaching out to Ozzy, feeling about ten different shades of idiotic all the while.Is it rude to ask if she’s shifted since she got sick?
“No, but what does that have to do with anything?”comes his instant reply and it’s only my death grip on Ares that keeps me standing.
Her eyes. They don’t look like the rest of the shifters. Have they always been that color?
His head whips to her and back.“No, they’re usually much brighter. But that isn’t unusual when a shifter’s sick. The magic that lets us change forms is harder to access when we aren’t feeling well. Typically we spend a few days curled up in one form until we ride it out.”
So if someone screwed with that connection? The mages did something to you and trapped you like this, but it had to be for a reason. I doubt they would have gone through all of that effort just to torture you, no matter if they hated your kind or not. They had to have an ulterior motive.
“But I’m not sick, I just can’t shift,” he tentatively disputes.
And there were multiple who also carved into you. But what if it was just one mage that didn’t know what he was doing? We know so little about them or how they work; their entire society is incredibly tight lipped and thinks themselves superior to all of us.
“This is absolute torture,” Cole states and I startle. “No wonder you hate it when we do it. What’s going on? What are you guys talking about?”
I bite my bottom lip as I face Sarah. “Any chance you remember if someone maybe bumped into your shoulder or something? Anything that made you feel annoyed or just…off?”
She frowns, mulling it over as Freya cuts in, frustrated. “Just what do you think is going on?”
My gaze whips between them and Sarah, unsure if I should say anything in front of her. But at Osiris’ urging, stating she deserves to know anything concerning her so she can be a part of the conversation and weigh in, I relent.
“I think it’s worth exploring the idea that a mage did something to her.”
Rushing out my theory, I realize what a conspiracy nut I sound like, but I can’t recall the words once I start. There are just too many coincidences not to consider it.
“But why?” Zora asks, looking on the verge of angry tears. “We keep to ourselves, don’t bother anyone. Why sort of point could they make by hurting a little girl?”
