Aurelia, who’d been listening more closely than Dani liked, shrank back against the cushions at that. Fenred’s eyes flicked to her, then back.
“Enough,” Dani said, voice sharp. “Don’t talk about her.”
He lifted both hands, palms out, as if to show he meant no harm. “Only making a point,” he said. “We’re going to need every advantage we can get. Wolves. Witches. Vampires, even.” His gaze dragged over the fire again, hungry. “And witches like you…you could tip the balance. My people will need you.”
There it was again.
Mypeople.
Notour.
Dani’s magic, which had been settling, twitched under her skin like a startled cat.
“You keep saying that,” she said. “My people. You talking about Nordan or your own little fan club?”
Fenred’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “You think small, Daniella,” he said softly. “Like a witch. Coven here, pack there. This is bigger than one valley. You always were single-minded with your passion and your spirit .” He chuckled, a low, rough sound. The fire threw shadows across his face, hollowing his cheeks, darkening his eyes.
For a second, the scent of the room shifted.
Not much. Just a note, sliding in under everything else, under wolf and woodsmoke. A faint, wrong tang she’d only smelled once or twice.
Her heart lurched.
Fenred’s pupils blew wide, swallowing the pale ring. When they shrank again, for a heartbeat, the color around them wasn’t the clear Nordan blue she remembered.
It was a sickly, unnatural yellow.
Dani’s mouth went dry.
“You’re not wrong,” Fenred said quietly, “we will need witches like you.” His head tilted, bird-like. “It’s just a question of who gets to claim that strength, isn’t it?”
Her mind flashed, too fast, through the last weeks. Fenred’s apology in the bar. The way he’d watched Arthur. The strange restraint when Alex baited him. Kiara’s quiet voice in the meeting, saying they can look just like us.
Human. Wolf.
Whatever they needed.
Fenred stepped closer.
The wards on the door hummed, suddenly ominous instead of comforting.
“Fenred,” she said, pulse slamming. “What exactly do you—”
He smiled.
And his eyes flashed that wrong, glowing yellow again, bright as a predator’s in a car’s headlights.
“Dani,” he said, almost kindly, “I thought a witch would have noticed sooner.”
Cold swept through her that had nothing to do with the mountain.
Fenred wasn’t just Nordan.
He wasn’t just a gruff old wolf trying to make amends.
Fenred was a hybrid.
Chapter 20 - Arthur
