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“Here, let me try,” Austin said. He knelt down and as he grabbed the zipper, he froze.
“I like Auntie Naya,” Maizy went on. “She’s pretty, and so is Misha even though she hides from me.”
“What’s wrong, Austin?”
He was staring at her back. “What’s this?” he asked in a whisper, pointing to a mark on her shoulder blade.
“It’s a birthmark, silly.”
He leaned in and looked closer, rubbing the pad of his thumb over it. “I’ve seen that pattern before. That’s no birthmark.” Austin yanked up the zipper and Maizy took off.
“What was that about?”
Austin stood up and covered his mouth. His eyes were sharp and wide.
I shoved his chest, coaxing him to talk.
“I met an old woman when I was up in Wyoming. She was one of the ancients—a Chitah.”
“What the hell is a Chitah?”
“It’s not just Shifters out there, Lexi. Chitahs live much longer than we do and while they don’t shift, they have an animal spirit within them. The woman had the same exact mark on her wrist.”
“So?”
“Some are born into the Breed, but not everyone. Humans can be transformed into a Mage or a Vampire if chosen, but the rules are pretty cut and dry. Breed can’t have babies with humans. She told me she was once a human, which is impossible because a Chitah isborninto their race. She said there are a rare group of humans called Potentials, and there’s something special about their DNA. She didn’t seem to know much more than that, other than they all carry the same exact mark.”
“I don’t get it; so she shares the same mark.”
“This changes everything,” he murmured.
Now he was really freaking me out. I stepped closer until we were just an inch apart. “Changes what? Don’t scare me with some old wives’ tale.”
“Maizy has the ability to absorb Breed DNA and fuse it to her own.” He looked down at me and I still wasn’t getting it. “When she’s a woman of age and beds a man, the first Breed male she takes in, she’llbecomethat Breed. No take-backs. If she stays with human men her whole life, she’ll be nothing more than a human herself. What that means, Lexi, is if Maizy sleeps with a Mage, she’s going to become a Mage. If she sleeps with a Shifter, she’ll become a Shifter.”
Now we were both pacing in small circles and cursing under our breath. “Why isn’t this common knowledge?” I asked.
“I’d never heard of it until I met the old woman, but some of the ancient ones know about it. There’s always rumors floating around and half of them are bullshit. Or so I thought. The old woman said Potentials come from human parents, and she thought somewhere way up in the line, there must have been a crossover of some extinct species. She was a little batty, so she had a lot of theories I had to listen to.”
“Then maybe she was crazy and—”
“It’s thesamemark. It can’t be a coincidence. Do you want to take that chance?”
My stomach turned and I stepped back, gripping the handle to the oven door.
“You’ll have to tell her what she is when she’s older, Lexi. It wouldn’t be fair to her not knowing what she could become, but it has to remain a secret.” Austin placed his hands firmly on my shoulders and backed me against the wall. “No onecan know. Not even your mother. There are Breeds that can’t have or make one of their own. She would even be appealing among Shifters or Chitahs because she doesn’t know the rules or how women of that Breed behave, so a deviant man would find her… trainable,” he almost growled.
“I won’t say anything,” I promised. “But can you do me a favor and stop springing all thislife-altering shit on me, Austin!” I shrieked.
That was it. I’d finally had more than I could take and flew out of the room to take a shower and curse as I gave myself an angry shampoo.
* * *
Naya wasa gem and agreed to watch Maizy for the day. I actually felt more safe with her over there than in my apartment; McNeal didn’t seem to know about Maizy, so it kept her out of danger. Naya had a day planned of movies, pizza, and shopping.
I drove to Sweet Treats to check on April and see how she was holding out on her own. It was over a hundred degrees outside and I dressed for it in my jean shorts, long T-shirt, and a pair of flip-flops. When I opened the door, a cool breeze didn’t smack me in the face like it usually did. It was sweltering, and April was on her knees with her hands in a canister, lifting a gooey mess and chucking it into a trash can.
As her eyes floated up, she wiped her brow with her forearm and her lip quivered.
