Page 60 of Awakened Light

“Wait,” I stuttered. “Are you trying to tell me he’s a werewolf?”

I didn’t think it was possible to hate the man more than I already did, but knowing he was the vile creature I had thought I eradicated from this world six hundred years ago made my blood start to boil.

“Yes.” She nodded as she kept staring at the ocean. “Uradech’s bloodline all carry the shifter genes.”

Opening and closing my mouth like a fish, I tried to process this blow to my sanity. “But how can that be? We killed them all.”

She lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “Not all of them.”

“Holy shit. We thought they were all dead.”

She peeked over her shoulder at me. “You thought we were all dead too.”

“True story.” I chuckled, then it petered off as I started to process what she’d said. I furrowed my brow and lifted a finger. “Wait a minute. If your leader has to marry a werewolf, then that means your father was a werewolf. So, does that mean you’re a werewolf?”

Lucky for my already strained sanity, she shook her head.

“My father was a werewolf, so I do have the werewolf bloodline. But because I’m a Pict witch and the heir to the throne, we don’t turn. It only takes one parent with the werewolf gene to pass it on, so our ancestors worked it into the magic that created werewolves that it wouldn’t affect the leader of the Picts. It ensures there is no way the wolf line could find a way to overpower the Picts and rule.”

I exhaled a deep breath. “So, no wolfing out for you?”

She sucked on her cheek. “Nope. No wolfing out for me.”

“This is so mind blowing. I can’t believe werewolves are still alive. Annella is gonna go wild when I tell her. She hated those fucking things. I swear she took out half of them herself.”

She scowled as she turned to look at me. “Why would you hate them? We created them to protect us from you. Then you went and wiped them out.”

My eyes bulged. “Is that what you were told?”

The judgment in her eyes faltered, and she answered with less confidence. “Yes.”

Snorting, I shook my head. “They weren’t created just to protect you; they were created to eradicate us. My clan was just going about their business when a pack of very lethal werewolves hunted us down. They killed some of us, we killed some of them, but we were highly outnumbered at the time. After they killed our Chieftain, Lothaire inherited the position, and we retreated and hid out for awhile while we regrouped. But they were incredibly adept at tracking us. But jokes on them... we could make new vampires, and they couldn’t make new werewolves since they can only be born as one. Once we realized we were at risk of extermination and that they couldn’t turn more werewolves, we turned hundreds of humans into vampires to help us fight back. In fact, the only reason there are so many vampires today is because we were forced to create an army to fight them. It worked though, and we eradicated them.” I rolled my eyes. “Or thought we did.”

Catrain sat silently for a moment, then shook her head. “Once again, our history tells a very different story. I had no idea they hunted you down. No wonder you wiped them out.”

“It was survival of the fittest... and it turns out the original Pict protector model was the winner.” I lifted my chin.

She chuckled quietly. “They are very powerful. Far more powerful than humans, and as powerful as vampires, but with several safeties built-in.”

“What safeties?”

“As long as the pact is intact, they cannot kill anyone on my island. It’s built into the magic that they can never turn on us. And of course, they can be killed by Pict magic... unlike vampires. They aren’t immortal and live a normal lifespan, and as you know, they can’t turn other humans into werewolves and multiply.”

“You’re saying your people learned their lesson after they created us.” I laughed.

“I suppose they did.” She joined me.

Our laugher petered off, and I exhaled a long sigh. “So, when are you marrying the dog?”

“He’s not a dog.” She looked at me and rolled her eyes. “And it’s not like I want to marry him. It was the agreement that was struck. They become shifters who protect us, and in exchange—”

“He gets to marry you,” I breathed, finally understanding.

“I cannot break the treaty. It could trigger a war.”

“When?” I asked again, noticing she’d avoided the question.

A soft breeze lifted her hair. “We marry under the next full moon.”