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My brow furrowed and I looked over at Malcom. His face contorted into a very confused expression. “What?”
“It could be lucrative for you to keep the claim,” Star said.
“I don’t want anything to do with him,” Malcom spat.
I wasn’t sure I believed that Malcom was protected from our father finding him, but I didn’t think he was trying to maintain the claim on purpose.
“That’s never going to happen, anyway,” I assured him, setting my hand on his upper arm. “We’re going to stay safe. Together.”
“Cute,” Star said. “One big, dysfunctional family.”
“He’s not family,” I said quickly. “Our dad, that is. Malcom, is my family.”
Malcom looked down at me with the most genuine smile I’d ever seen from him. He lifted his chin. “Thanks, sis.”
Warmth spread in my chest. The only family I ever had was my mom and she let me down when I needed her the most. I’d felt that connection with the feral wolves, but Malcom was blood. I didn’t realize how badly I’d wanted that kind of connection.
Star whistled. “Seriously. I don’t know what’s going on with feral shifters, but I’ve never seen this much goo.”
“Goo?” I asked.
“Sentimentality,” she said.
“Yeah, we’re pretty awful,” I agreed. “Maybe we should just do the spell and move on?”
“Please, and thank you,” Star said. “There’s a gazebo through here that will be perfect.”
How about that, there was a white gazebo nestled in a circle of trees. The river that flowed from the waterfall ran around the back of it, making it possibly the most peaceful looking place I’d ever seen. “Do you still have fairies living here? Cause this place is magical.”
Star glanced back at me and actually smiled. “It is nice, isn’t it? My coven thought I’d die on my own. Imagine if they saw me now.”
“I thought it was just wolf shifters who were awful to their young,” I said.
“Oh no, there’s terrible parents of every kind. Humans, shifters, witches, fae…” She walked up the steps to the gazebo, then stopped in the center. “Alpha girl up here, brother, down there.”
“Lola,” I said.
“I know,” she said. “But I’ve never met a female alpha so I’m enjoying it.”
“I’m not alpha yet,” I said. “I just have the mark.”
“Your future isn’t as set as some I’ve seen, but you have a chance,” she said.
“Well, that’s reassuring,” I deadpanned.
“It’s a good thing when your future isn’t set in stone. It means you have the freedom to make choices and those choices matter. If your ending is already written, it doesn’t matter. You could go left or right, it won’t change. There’s power in an open ending,” she said.
“How about me?” Malcom asked.
“You should never ask about your future,” Star said. “If the information isn’t freely given, you don’t want to know.”
“Well, that’s fucking foreboding,” he said. “It sounds an awful lot like you’re telling me my future is going to suck.”
“I’m saying you shouldn’t ask. I didn’t tell you why,” she said.
I had to agree with Malcom, it didn’t sound good. But I wasn’t going to press the issue after her warning. A subject change seemed best. “So, what’s next?”
Star lifted her arms dramatically and black ribbons shot from her fingertips. They widened and grew until they were like long swaths of fabric.
