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“And that’s why we don’t hear anything about Dawn Chaser, Nightsinger, or Winter Wind anymore,” Gage explained. “They’re all gone. Any survivors joined other packs… or took their chances in the wildlands.”
I remembered the map in Gage’s study back at Moonblessed. I didn’t recall seeing any of those packlands listed on the map. They’d been wiped out.
Ingrid frowned. “Some say it was Lilith’s fault that Denraider initially took interest in the Winter Wind pack.” When we all looked at her in confusion, she added, “Your mother.”
I treasured hearing my mother’s name, even though I didn’t understand why anyone blamed her.
“What? Why?”
It was one thing to learn more about my mother’s history. Something else entirely to hear she might have brought it on herself.
“Because Lilith already had two wolf shifter mates when she took a mage for a mate as well. Denraider hates witches, even ones not affiliated with a coven.”
“Three mates?” I gasped, and for some reason recalled the memory of the woman from Snow Moon kissing the three wolf shifters who’d been involved in the Howling Echo’s last job.
Ingrid nodded. “Your mother and your uncle were different from other wolves, truth be told. Their eyes never turned golden like other wolves when they shifted. They always stayed pale blue, just like yours. Rumor is that both littermates were late bloomers, but I didn’t know Liam until he came to Nightsinger with Freya. Poor man never mated or married, but that made him the ideal person to take you in. Nightsinger was a bigger pack, and they thought a little hybrid like you might be safe with us.”
I was already shell-shocked by everything she’d just said when she added off-handedly, “I don’t know what became of your sister.”
It was like I’d been struck dumb, so Flint asked for me, “Freya had a littermate?”
Ingrid laughed like he’d said something ridiculous. “Mage offspring are born singly, not in litters. No, this was Freya’s older sister, a full-blooded wolf shifter whose littermate died at birth.”
“Why wasn’t she with Freya?” Heath wondered.
Ingrid shrugged. “From what I pieced together, the girl didn’t grow up in Nightsinger, but was exchanged with a rival pack as part of a peace treaty when she was very young, perhaps even before Freya was born. She may have been exchanged with Denraider themselves, for all I know. I didn’t want to pry. Liam was obviously torn up about what became of her.”
She sniffed, and I wanted to reach out and shake her. This woman knew more about my family — and extended family — than anyone I’d ever met. But she still didn’t know enough.
“Where is Liam now?” Gage asked, as if he could read my thoughts. Maybe the pack bond let him pick up my frustration, and he guessed at the source of it.
“Dead,” Ingrid shook her head. “I’m sorry, child. He never made it out of Nightsinger packlands.”
“And my mother and her mates?”
Ingrid shook her head. “Liam said Lilith didn’t make it after the Winter Wind pack fell. He made it sound like her mates fought and died trying to protect her. I’m sorry, child.”
My heart ached as though I were losing them all over again. Tears pricked my eyes, but I wiped them away. “I’ve spent my whole life wondering why they’d abandoned me. Thank you for telling me.”
“They knew Denraider hated mages,” Flint mused. “Since you were a hybrid, they left you behind to protect you. To draw away the enemy.”
Ingrid nodded. “That’s the way Liam described it to me.” She gave me a gentle smile. “He said your mage father made a big spectacle of himself to draw Denraider’s attention while Liam spirited you away.”
My heart shattered at the thought of my father giving his life for mine. It stole my breath and made it impossible for me to think of what else I should ask.
“How late did Lilith and Liam shift?” Heath asked, surprising me.
While I was still reeling in shock, my three new packmates were trying to get as much information as they could on my behalf. The realization warmed me.
Ingrid shrugged. “I didn’t know him back then. He never told me how late. But it must have been after they turned twenty, at least. Unheard of.”
Twenty had come and gone for me already, but somehow Ingrid’s words gave me hope anyway. Maybe there was a reason I hadn’t shifted late, because maybe they’d shifted late, too. Except…
“Liam and my mother were full wolf shifters, weren’t they?”
“As far as I know.”
“Did Liam ever mention Freya being cursed?” Flint asked.
