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“Yes. But there were those who blatantly defied human taboos. They fought to go back to what we were trying to change.” Isaiah rubbed his mouth. “Begging them to comply didn’t work, and they were putting us all in danger. Sometimes entire families. If a Varu labeled as Mah had children, they were often refused their birthright for fear of retribution for stripping away the Fenrir of their parents. We took away the most important thing in their existence. The reasonwhyany of us existed.”
Luca could only imagine the pain. “Because they didn’t agree with you?”
“Because they were going to get us all killed.” Isaiah balled up a fist. “We were close, Luca. Close to finding peace with humans. We were at the precipice of being accepted.” He bumped his hand against the table. “It could have been so different than it was.” He took a breath. “Thenithappened.”
“What?”
“The Black Wolf.” And Isaiah said it like it was the most horrific thing he’d ever seen.
* * *
Isaiah still couldn’t remember what had seized his heart and made his blood run cold.
What had caused all of them to go quiet. What silenced the jeering, the laughter, and made the derogatory comments vanish.
But it had caused everyone in that chamber to hold their breath and had drawn the attention of their Fenrir.
“I don’t get it,” Luca said.
“Color defines your rank.”
“You mean like Alphas and betas?”
“There are also deltas and omegas. Black was abnormal.”
“What are the normal colors?”
“Alphas are gold, all betas are blue. Deltas, silver or green. Omegas, coppers and browns.”
“And those are the only ones?”
“No. There have been whites, reds, bronze. Maybe others. But they aren’t common.”
“Then why was the black wolf a bad thing?”
Isaiah lowered his gaze. “Because it wasn’t natural. The other colors hadn’t…” Erupted from some internal abscess. Poison freed from the core of a man.
“Sometimes a Varu stood before a Cana and there was no wolf for them.”
“Why?”
“No idea. But it was always traumatic for the Varu and their family.” Varu had collapsed in shock, unable to walk out on their own. Unable to look anyone in the eye. Broken because they no longer had a reason to live. “On rare occasions, a Varu would try again. But it was rare. Most were too humiliated.
“Ari stood three times.”
Ari had seemed as confused as everyone else, then his expression morphed into what might have been pain and again into realization. As if, for the first time, he understood why he was different, why there was no wolf for him, andwhathe really was.
“He got his wolf?” Luca said.
“No, the Cana still had no wolf for him.”
“Then where did the wolf come from?”
Isaiah touched his sternum. “Here. From within.”
“Why was that wrong?”
“Because our wolves are their own being.”
