Page 2 of Birthright

“Kee—Mary, there is no delicate way to do this, my dear, so I’ll just jump right in.”

I looked into her eyes. She was trying for a look of empathy but the way she carried herself screamed power.

“I am Doran, High Priestess of the Winds. I’m the leader of all Witches⁠—”

I barked out a laugh but she wasn’t even smiling. I bit my lip to combat the fit of giggles about to overtake me. I’m in a coma and this is a drug-induced hallucination. Not a problem, I told myself, just go along. Don’t fight the madness.

“And the spiritual guide of the Kith in general,” she continued, hesitating for a heartbeat to let her statement sink in completely and presumably prepare me for the rest. “You are my niece.” She waited for some sort of response. She was regal in the way she held herself. She was fit and strong. I could see it in her posture.

“Sure,” I said. Don’t fight it and you’ll wake up in no time, I told myself again as another giggle slipped.

She started again, not the slightest hint of sarcasm in her voice or any acknowledgment of my state of amusement. “You’ve been late coming into your”—she hesitated—“maturity but it has now begun, and we have brought you back to us for the rest of the indoctrination.”

Indoctrination? That sobered me up. So I’m not in a coma. I’ve been kidnapped by some wacko cult. Maybe I’m in more trouble than I thought. I could feel my heart rate speeding up. I tried to brace myself up on the bed with my arms.

“This,” she said, motioning to the green-eyed man on the side of my bed, “is Manus, your guardian. He’s been with you since you were twelve. He is the one who brought you home after the Slaugh attacked you.” I was starting to get a little scared. “We had hoped that someday your magic would mature. As such, Manus has stayed with you.”

“Uh-huh.” I looked back and forth rapidly from her to the man she called Manus. He was an attractive man with a strange sort of light gray hair. It wasn’t the gray men get from aging, but more the gray of a stormy night. He was well built, but not in an overly muscled way.

Then I remembered the guys in the black capes. They were scary enough. At least they looked like bad guys.

These people looked mostly normal.

He smiled tenderly at me. “I’m glad to finally meet you in my human form.”

“Human form?” I’m in so much trouble. These people are cracked in the head. I have got to get out of here! “Look, my family doesn’t have much money. If you want ransom money, you took the wrong girl.” I started to move away from him, which on the huge bed was pretty easy.

Bevin came closer. Her bun flopped to the side. “You are a Witch, young one.”

“Bevin!” Doran snapped.

Bevin tilted her head, and her bun flopped to the other side. “Doran, we don’t have time to be delicate. She is not a child like her sister was. She will understand.”

Doran bowed her head and made a face that I thought looked like concern…or was it disgust? I couldn’t decide.

Bevin continued, “You are one of two who were born to a powerful Witch and then hidden. We sent Manus to you at the age of twelve, when we found your location. Manus is a Shapeshifter, and he has spent the last eighteen years as your guardian in the form of a gray cat.” I looked into his eyes again. The green was the same shade as Clyde’s. His face held the slightest feline shape. It took nothing away from his masculinity, but it was there. “You didn’t come into your powers at puberty as most Witches do,” Bevin explained. “I suspect it’s your Demon blood, or maybe the human, we’re not sure.”

“Excuse me? Demons…Witches?” I rubbed my eyes again, grateful that the pain had subsided somewhat.

“You aren’t yet convinced? Manus, please demonstrate.” Bevin stood up straighter, maybe reaching five feet at her full height. The action sent her bun to the far side of her head.

Manus stood and raised his eyebrows in question. “Don’t you think we can demonstrate another way? We don’t have to frighten her to death.”

“If she is the Priestess of the Wild, she must learn not to be frightened every time she encounters something that is unfamiliar.” She and Manus both looked to Doran, who bowed her head slightly in agreement. He shook his head and closed his eyes…

And began to distort!

Memories from the attack at the house rushed over me. Clyde, my beloved cat, under the patio table, hissing as his face contorted…

I shook off the memory as, before me, the man’s form shifted, bones buckling and body shrinking.

Impossible as it was, there on the floor, surrounded by piles of clothes, sat my precious cat. He was the same cat who had been with me through all the good and bad times of my life, the only creature on earth that loved me unconditionally. I had talked to that cat when I was happy, sad, or frightened. Clyde had been the only thing that had remained constant in my life. He jumped onto the bed and circled close to my legs on the down comforter before reclining and starting to purr.

It was him. There was no way it wasn’t. I’d have known him anywhere.

A sickening feeling came over me. “You’ve seen me pee!” I squeaked. “Slept in my bed.” This was just getting worse and worse. “Oh. My. God! You’ve been in the room when I had…” I glanced briefly at the sophisticated woman, Doran. “When I had company!”

“Manus!” Bevin scolded.