AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, first, just in case,” Marco said, “I think we should take this little party outside, dragons being the size they tend to be. I’d rather not turn this room into a pile ofrubble.”
“Fine.” I wasn’t sure what his neighbors would make of it if I did suddenly turn into a gigantic mythical creature, but I was still finding that possibility hard to believe in the firstplace.
Kylie sprang to her feet. “I’m not missingthis!”
Marco swept through the room. We all tramped out back afterhim.
The second I stepped into the yard, I understood why he wasn’t worried about privacy. The small grassy lawn was framed on all sides by tallpines.
I walked a little farther into the middle of the clearing. The guys spread out in a row to watch, Kylie bobbing on her feet besidethem.
“Close your eyes,” Aaron said. “Reach inside yourself. Try to feel the essence running through you. The core of your nature. Then grasp hold of it and pull it free. It’ll want to come. It’ll helpyou.”
West had snorted in the middle of that set of instructions, but as mumbo-jumbo-y as they’d sounded, I thought I knew what Aaron meant. Ihadfelt the essence running through me before—the flexing of those internalclaws.
Like some kind of beast waiting to get out. But a dragon?Really?
I guessed I was going to find out. I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes like he’d said. There it was, waiting for me. That sharp tingle scraping over my ribs. It did want out. I focused my attention on the sensation.Tell me what to do. Tell me what youneed.
A quiver tickled through my muscles. They flexed as if trying to open themselves up. My skin felt suddenly tight. The tingling inside swelled, as if to burstfree—
And contracted, away from my encouragement. I frowned, squeezing my eyes tighter shut.Come on. I know you wantthis.
A full-out tremor rippled down my spine. I tried to grasp onto that stirring in my core the way Aaron had suggested, but it slipped right through myfingers.
My shoulders sagged. I wavered on my feet, exhaustion rolling over me. I rubbed my eyes before I opened them. How long had I worked at that for? It hadn’t seemed like more than a few minutes, but I felt as if I’d just run amarathon.
The guys were still studying me, West with his usual cynical expression, Aaron looking puzzled, Marco considering, Nate concerned. “Are you all right, Ren?” the bear shiftersaid.
“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah.” But my legs were shaky when I took a step back toward them. Kylie dashed to my side. “I don’t get it. Ifeltit, but it was like it didn’t want tocome...”
The furrow on Aaron’s brow deepened. “Your mother may have suppressed not just your memories, but your powers as well. To make it less likely they’d emerge unexpectedly. But I can’t believe she’d have done anything permanent. She must have left you a way of accessing themagain.”
“You haven’t heard from her at all in those seven years?” West said. “Not even amessage?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. I don’t even know where she was going. All she gave me was the locket.” I opened it up and looked at the flame-like symbol inside. “Does this mean anything toyou?”
I held out the locket to show them. The other three took a quick glance and then looked toward Aaron, who I guessed they deferred to on topics requiring much in the way of research. He peered at the etching, but confusion on his face didn’tlift.
“No,” he said. “I’msorry.”
“She wouldn’t have put that symbol in the necklace if it wasn’t important, would she?” Nate said. “It must be meant to tell ussomething.”
“It could be something she’d hoped the last alphas would have told us.” Marco’s smile was more like a grimace thistime.
“Maybe that’s something I can help with,” Kylie piped up. “I could take a picture and show it around. Out of all the people I know, there might be someone who recognizesit.”
All of the guys looked skeptical at that suggestion, but they didn’t know Kylie yet. “Sure,” I said. “We might as welltry.”
I tilted the locket’s interior to catch the sunlight so she could snap a picture with her phone. She tucked the phone back in her pocket and raked her fingers into her rumpled neon pink hair. “If I’m going to make the rounds, that means I have to go. Do you want to come with? You know you don’t have to stay here with these guys if you’re not sure about all thisyet.”
I wasn’t sure about much, but the one thing I did know was that none of these four guys—shifters—however I was supposed to think about them—wanted to hurt me. And suddenly I wasn’t so sure about the world beyond thishouse.
Why had Mom been so afraid? What had she been hiding usfrom?
I didn’t think I wanted to find out on my own. And besides, between my short, drugged sleep last night, all the crazy news that had been heaped on me in the last hour, and my failed attempts at shifting, the only place I wanted to go right now was to abed.
“I’ll be okay here,” I said. “There’s obviously a lot more I need to learn—and I don’t think anyone can help me withthatexcept these guys. Text me if you find anything out.” I turned to Marco. “I assume you’ve got my phone around heresomewhere.”
