Page 36 of Found Objects

“Wasn’t your falcon white with black flecks a minute ago?”

“No,” I lied, because she was very clearly blue and green at the moment. And not even in a subtle way where I could say “Oh, yes, those are varieties that appear in nature,” but more like deep ocean colors that no gyrfalcon in the history of ever had displayed.

“Yes, she was.”

I grunted and opened the bag. Ondine hopped down from my shoulder to see what I had, but once she realized there was no meat of any kind, she lost interest.

“So she can just change colors whenever she wants?”

What was I supposed to say? That my falcon was a brat and was trying to force me to reveal that not only was she a magical creature, but so, in a way, was I? And it wasn’t as though I hadn’t planned to tell him everything—I had to if I wanted to pursue anything with him at all—but being pushed was never something I enjoyed.

That being said, as fearless as I was in almost all areas of my life, my heart was something I was far more protective of. But now was not the time to be timid. I needed to be brave. Fortune favored the bold, after all.

“Yes,” I told him. “Because she’s magic.”

He stared at me. “You were going to lie.”

“I was.”

“What made you change your mind?”

I took a deep breath. “Without honesty, what can any relationship ever hope to be?”

“And so you were truthful because you’re hoping for…what, with me?”

“Friends, to begin with,” I replied, even though I knew the conversation I had to have with him about his place in the pack might even preclude that. It was sad really, because I already liked him.

“Always a good start.”

“It is.”

Quick exhale. “Okay, so she’s magic, and so are you.”

“Of a sort. Not like her.”

“I see.” He smiled. “So, more importantly, does she not eat veggies?”

“Never,” I told him. It was pretty great that he wasn’t immediately pressing to learn everything about my magical abilities. That was terribly confident of him, like he had all the time in the world to learn my secrets, and I found that wildly appealing.

“Does she hunt?”

“Yes.”

“Do you let her hunt on your land?”

“She goes where she wants when she wants, believe me.”

Clearly, Ondine didn’t like my tone, because she bit me to show her displeasure, then flew up high to sit on one of the exposed beams in the ceiling.

“That was mature,” I told her.

She fluttered her wings for my benefit, then settled. I noted that she was back to the colors a wild gyrfalcon would normally be.

“So animals can hunt on your land?” Cole asked me, returning my attention to him.

“Of course. Animals don’t kill for no reason, they do it to eat and to protect themselves.”

“But because we’re hunting just to hunt, even when we’re shifted, your land knows the difference.”