“Okay, let me get this straight. You're saying you’re... werewolves?”
Reid cautiously nods. “In a sense. It’s the closest comparison, at least.”
Her brow furrows, and though she’s looking in my direction, she’s not really seeing me, lost in her head. “And one of your ancestors was a real son of a bitch?”
That has me pausing, joining her in her confusion. “What do you mean?”
“By the way you’re describing it, it’s not a species issue. If we’re using paranormal stories as a baseline for example, it’s not like all vampires thirsting for blood, or demons having to trick you into making a deal before they’re able to use their abilities on you. In this case only the men suffer, not the woman, like a forbidden fruit scenario. So if we’re running with fairytales, it seems reasonable to assume that some asshole hundreds of years ago pissed off the wrong person and ended up cursed. I’d hazard a guess it was a lover since this has a real ‘girls rule and are the solution to all of your problems, and boys suck,’ feel to it.”
My mouth parts in shock, gaze whipping to Reid who’s as stunned silent as I am. That makes sense, honestly. A lot of it.
“If someone had the power to actually do that,” Reid murmurs, “then someone could theoreticallyundoit. Get rid of our wolves entirely.”
His words hit me like a massive punch to the gut, but I manage to mask my reaction before he picks up on it. “And that would mean we’re not the only ones out there.”
Sabrina is still rambling her theories aloud, distracted as she responds, “You guys turn into wolves and are really surprised there might be other supernatural species?Somethinghad to happen to make that even possible in the first place, because evolution would just have humans growing adaptations to be better predators, not change forms. And if there’s some type of magic or whatever you want to call it at work, why would it only be wolves of all animals? That’s weirdly specific. There’s probably a secret society of bears, and tigers, or witches, and-”
Cutting off mid tangent, her head snaps up, the shock wearing off as her common sense finally catches up to her brain. “Okay then, let me see.”
Reid is careful not to touch her, scared of being the thing to set her off when so far, things are going way better than we ever could have hoped. By the same token, I don’t move my hand, not wanting to draw her attention to it still on her leg by suddenly releasing her.
“We can’t, remember?” my brother carefully states. “Not unless we’re claimed. Only women can shift, and even then, it’s only at night.”
“Yes, the magical vagina shaped key, how ever could I forget that lovely part of the story?” she retorts.
“That's just a perk, it's actually the bite that does it. That’s what Carter was trying to force out of Emmy that day; she was only naked because she was too far from home when the sun came up and forced her to shift back where she was. The son of a bitch probably would have tried to rape her after his wolf was free and had a say in it, but it was more a case of him trying to cut through all of the red tape everyone else was going through because he knows she’d never accept someone from Stonewood’s Pack.”
“So she doesn’t even need to get married,” she points out in disgust. “Could just run down the line biting people and send them on their merry way.”
Gently, Reid explains, “Our other halves are a bit more... possessive, than traditional wolves. Once she claimed them, they’d all feel like she was theirs and wouldn’t simply walk away from her. And if her mates couldn’t get along, they’d turn on each other until weeding down the pack to the strongest and ones they felt were most worthy of sharing her with.”
With a shake of her head, she gestures to my shoulder. “Well you're officially bitten, right? So shift away.”
Reluctantly, I explain my theory about why I can’t, what I think is going on, and ending with how biting us finally coaxed her wolf to start waking up. It’s clearly the worst possible thing to say, because she hadn’t connected all of this information to what it meant forheruntil my statement, and now it’s hitting her like a brick to the face. Jerking her leg out from under my touch, she scrambles out of the bed and begins pacing.
“You say you can’t shift unless you’re bitten, and now that you have been, you still can’t prove it? This is all guesswork and maybes.Magical maybes,at that.” She rubs the heel of her hand over her chest as she pivots on her heel, and I share a quick look with Reid, neither of us calling her out on it, but knowing we aren’t wrong.
“But I can,” Emmy nervously offers, cracking the door open to peek her head in.
When Sabrina doesn’t comment, but ceases her pacing, Em slips into the room, leaving the door partially open. Bo and Slade stay in the hallway out of sight of Sabrina for now, scenting the bitter tang in the air from her rising panic.
Keeping my focus on Sabrina’s face, Emmy strips down, giving her another minute to pull herself together a bit more. After the scent of panic lessens, decreasing the likelihood she’ll have a total meltdown at the sight, Emmy shifts in a fluid motion that makes it look painless, as easy as breathing. A lithe, golden wolf with a white underbelly stands amidst my sister’s discarded pajamas, watching Sabrina intently as she lies down, attempting to show her that she isn’t a threat.
My mate stops breathing, silent tears beginning to stream down her face, but she doesn’t run screaming from the room. She remains rooted to the spot, and I swear, my rib cracks as my other half furiously slams against the confines of his cage, her pain and fear calling to him and demanding we fix it.
We never had any worry about her accepting this part of us. Sabrina lives on logic and facts, and seeing really is believing, so she won’t be able to deny our claims now, even to herself. Innately, most humans want to believe that there’s more to life than working until you die, endlessly searching for anything that will bring them a shred of joy in their miserable existence.
We all want someone to steal us away to a magical world where everything is better, and convince us that our lives are worth more than just pointless suffering.
“That’s why you insisted I come here?” she finally croaks.
Shifting back in a blink, Emmy tugs her shirt and shorts on before rushing over. “No, I swear, I didn’t know!”
She takes a cautious step back. “You’ve been pushing me towards them since day one.”
Emmy doesn’t deny it, her golden eyes begging for her to understand. “I really needed a friend, and I didn’t want them to be alone when I left. You were just... perfect. For all of us. Our missing piece.”
“I don’t want to be.” Her words finally make my insides settle down, dousing us both with ice water. “I don’t want that kind of responsibility!” Anger starts to battle her tears for dominance and she juts a hand in my direction. “Hell, you’re clearly wrong anyway, because I can’t help anyone. I don’t have some mythical key, I’ve got a rock to bust the lock so that no one else can open it, either!” She swipes her arm over her face. “Maybe if I was like you, it’d be better, but I’d rather be normal than some defective supernatural. Normal is freeing; no expectations, so no disappointing anyone. This? This would be a slap in the face and a constant reminder of everything I’m supposed to be and not.”
