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“Tell me what you want to talk to us about, and I’ll consider it.” Even as Omega, the lowest of the Black Rose Pack, she didn’t back down.
It was for that courage alone that Ithan told her his secret first. “A new future for the wolves.”
* * *
Ithan knew it was due to how loved and trusted Perry was within the Den that so many wolves arrived in the courtyard quickly, as soon as her message went out about a last-minute announcement.
He kept to the shadows of the pillars under the building’s north wing, watching the people he’d counted as friends, almost family, congregate in the grassy space. The red and gold trees of the small park behind them swayed in the crisp autumn breeze, the wind luckily keeping his scent hidden from the wolves.
When enough of a crowd had assembled—a hundred wolves, or so—Perry stepped out onto the few steps in front of the building doors and said, “So, uh … almost everyone’s here.”
People smiled at her, bemused yet indulgent. It’d always been that way for Perry, the resident artist of the Den, who at age four had painted her room every color of the rainbow despite her parents’ order to pick one hue.
Perry glanced toward him, eyes bright with fear. For him or for herself, he had no idea.
“Go ahead,” she said quietly, and stepped off the stairs and into the grass.
Make your brother proud.
Though those words had come from the Viper Queen, Ithan held them close to his heart as he stepped out of the shadows.
Snarls and growls and shouts of surprise rose. Ithan held up his hands. “I’m not here to start trouble.”
“Then get the fuck out!” someone—Gideon, Amelie’s third—shouted from the back. Amelie herself was striding through the crowd, fury twisting her face—
“Everything we are is a lie,” Ithan said before Amelie could reach him and start swinging.
Some people quieted. Ithan plunged on, because Amelie’s canines were lengthening, and he knew she’d be making the full shift soon.
“Danika Fendyr questioned this, too. She died before she could find the truth.”
The words had their desired effect. The crowd went silent. But Amelie still charged forward, shoving people out of the way now, Gideon a menacing, hulking mass close behind—
Ithan looked at Perry, standing at the front of the crowd, her green eyes trained on him. It was to her that he said, “The Asteri planted a parasite in our brains that repressed our inherent magic, reducing it to its most basic components: shifting and strength. Yet even those abilities have been cut off at the knees. All so we can remain their faithful enforcers, as we’ve been since the Northern Rift opened.”
Amelie was ten feet away, muscles tensing to jump onto the stairs, to pin him and shred him—
“Look,” Ithan said, and held out a hand. Ice swirled in his palm.
A gasp went through the crowd. Even Amelie stumbled in shock.
Ithan said, letting the ice crust his fingers, “Magic—elemental magic. It was lying there, dormant in my veins all this time.” He found Perry’s eyes again, noted the shock and something like yearning in them. “A friend of mine, a medwitch, made an antidote for me. I took it and discovered what I really am. Who I really am. What sleeps in the bloodline of all wolves, repressed by the Asteri for fifteen thousand years.”
“It’s a witch-trick,” Amelie spat, making to shove past her little sister. “Move,” she ordered Perry. Not as her sister, but as her Alpha.
But Perry, despite her slim frame, held firm. And said to Amelie, her voice carrying, “I want to hear what he has to say.”
* * *
Ithan spoke as quickly as he could, giving the wolves an overview of the parasite and what it did to their magic. And then, because they were still looking doubtful, he explained what really happened in the Bone Quarter: Secondlight. The meat grinder of souls.
When he was done, Ithan found Perry’s face again. She’d gone ghostly white.
“Queen Hypaxia Enador can verify all I’ve told you,” Ithan said.
“She’s not queen anymore!” a wolf called. “She’s been kicked out—like you, Holstrom.”
Ithan bared his teeth. “She’s brilliant. She figured out how to fix this thing in our brains, to give us this magic back. So don’t you take that fucking tone about her.”
