“All of them, from all clans.”
“I don’t believe you,” I snap.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures, Branson.”Fraser narrows his eyes at first me and then Elias.“I had no idea they’d organized a meeting, but it just goes to show their wisdom must always be respected.Their willingness to lay down arms and collectively solve a problem is to be admired.”
“And did they?”Maisey asks.“Solve the problem?”
“You met with Raif,” Fraser says to her.“And that one meeting gave him a springboard to finding out who and what you are.”
She swallows noisily and looks at me.“Okay.”
I smile reassuringly though I’m feeling distinctly twitchy about the entire situation.Panther elders are known for their reclusiveness and short tempers, it was hard to imagine them heading away from their dens on a cold night.
“Your scent holds ancient ash.It circulates in your blood.Faint, but still there.”Fraser looks steadily at Maisey with his piercing blue eyes.“It means...”
“What?”she asks.
“That you are related, many years ago, to the High Priestess Grindaya.”
“Who?”She frowns.
“Grindaya.She was a great witch and a great friend of all creatures, including shifters.She is much revered not just by wolves but by panthers.”He gestures to me.“Bears, coyote, leopards, all of us in this underworld.She never judged, only sought to help.”
Maisey nods.“Elias and Brandon talked about my witch heritage.”
He nods.“Do you recall if your mother or grandmother had special powers?”
She looks at the table and withdraws her hands.“I was adopted at birth, I have no knowledge of anyone other than my adopted parents who live upstate.They are wonderful people but could tell me nothing other than I had been found outside a police station on a cold December night.”
“As a newborn babe.”
“Yes.”She takes a sharp breath and I know this fact about her origins hurts her.
“And you survived.”Fraser nods.“The animals of the night cared for you.”He pauses.“Shifters kept you warm against their fur until you were discovered.”
“I ...what ...I mean, who kept me warm?”She looks at me and then Elias.“You?”
“No, we were youngsters.”Elias strokes her forearm.“I don’t know who.”
“It was Raif,” Fraser says.“He recognized your scent today.It took him back nearly thirty years to a night as cold as this one.”
She blows out a breath and shakes her head.“No wonder he was so interested in me.And I owe him a lot—my life.How could I ever repay him?”
“There is a way.”Fraser nods seriously and spins the pin in his fingers.“And it has been asked of me to request it of you.”
“Request it?”I say cautiously.“What do you want her to do?”
“Moon fever will destroy our world if we do not destroy it first.That is what happened in Argentina a century ago.It obliterated an entire population of shifters.No animal was safe.Toucan and sloth shifters went extinct.”
“I still don’t understand,” Maisey says.
“Your blood.”Fraser points at her with the pin.“One drop on the tongue will prevent us from getting infected.That’s all it takes to protect the shifters of New York from moon fever.”
“One drop.How can that be?”she asks.
“It’s an ancient spell cast by your ancestor, the High Priestess, and she meant for you to know it.Or to at least carry it within you.”
She shakes her head and my instinct to hold her close is almost overwhelming.
