I glanced around the kitchen with all the cherished memories I held of her flashing inside my mind. My aunt showered those she loved with delicious meals, sprinkling her kindness and joy into every morsel. I absently traced my hand over the spoons and pots thatlooked untouched in the corner, stacked and cleaned but carrying a light layer of dust from the month since Julia’s death.
Why… Why isshegone?
I turned to find Neera, and I could see my loss reflected ten times over in the creased lines and blackened bags under her tear-soaked eyes. Her head dropped as Shaw moved in behind her, gently cradling her hands as she turned to lean into his chest. Shaw stroked Neera’s hair as her sobs soaked his shirt.
“Neera,” I whispered as her eyes snapped to me. “I’m sosorry.” It was all I could manage to say.
“War with the humans has begun,” Shaw said.
Neera struggled to breathe, let alone articulate a response through her efforts to suppress her sobs.
“When you left, our alpha began gathering our defenses in preparation for an attack.” Shaw paused.
“An attack?” I asked, my eyes widening as I returned to lean over the counter in the center of the kitchen.
“Yes,” Neera sobbed.
“When? How long after I left did—”
“About three weeks after you left, Sky,” Shaw said, his expression grim and cold. “The humans justified their attack, saying it was to protect themselves.”
“Bullshit,” I spat.
Neera managed to calm herself enough to lift her head, granting me the space to round the corner andquickly scoop her into my arms, needing to hold her as much as she needed me.
“How could the humans feel they were in danger? It’s their hunters that are lurking on our lands and stealing shifters for…” My voice trailed off, watching Shaw’s eyes flicker in understanding. “For their experiments.”
“Things here have changed,” Neera said, pulling back to look at me. “Webecame the threat.”
“What changed?” I asked cautiously.
“Everyone in our pack felt it,” Shaw said. “Two weeks after you left for the trials, there was a change in our power. Our magic evolved.”
“Was it from the alpha?” I questioned, not yet brave enough to askwhothe alpha was.
“Yes, well, not just the alpha,” Neera answered, reaching back to grasp Shaw’s hand.
My eyes took note of the casual familiarity laced between their intertwined fingers, and it took all my willpower to keep my mouth shut and just listen.
Neera inhaled deeply, preparing herself. “Weallbegan to shift.”
I raised my brows, glancing at Shaw, who gave me a firm nod to confirm Neera’s account.
“And not just those of age, Sky.”
“What?” I stammered, releasing my cousin, shocked by this news. “Do the elders have an explanation for this?”
“I wish they did,” Neera said. “But for some reason, around two weeks after you left, we felt the call to shift. It was even on the night of a new moon.”
I gasped, my eyes widening as my head began to spin, putting the pieces of all this together.
“Everyone who could sense their animal’s presence was able to shift,” Shaw explained. “The young ones who haven’t sensed their animals yet haven’t shifted, but even some as young as eleven can now change into their animal forms.”
I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt, fidgeting with a strand of my hair as I paced back and forth along the familiar wooden floors of our kitchen. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Shaw glance at my tattoo.
“Did you—” He released Neera and stepped toward me to grasp my left forearm. His fingers traced over the two stars filled in on my skin. “You passed more than just one trial, didn’t you?”
I blinked with a sigh, grateful for Shaw’s clever mind. “Th-the veil,” I stammered. “The trials, they are—”
