Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“Will has been helping me modernize the pack records,” Linus says. “It used to be little more than an ancient scroll with a family tree written upon it. Then we moved to a ledger, with more information, and…”
“What do you mean there’s nothing wrong, per se?”
“We have been digitizing records and matching them to DNA samples,” Will says, taking over from his more long-winded father. “In the matter of your missing mate, sir, we managed to find some of her fur stuck beneath the table in the hall. We took the liberty of analyzing it, in case there was some kind of clue to her disappearance there. We did this without mentioning it at the time of her disappearance, not knowing if it would lead to any kind of fruitful outcome. Better to try and to fail in secret than to…”
“You mean you were trying to discover who she really is, why she is a dilute, who her parents are, because that is all anybody in this pack ever cared about?”
If I sound bitter, it is because I am. Kira ran because her aunt summoned her, but the pack had an equal role in making her want to leave. I am still not quite over that. They showed me disrespect when they showed her disrespect. And I can still smell Isabella, but I am starting to think she’s not actually here. Will is absolutely coated in her scent. I suppose that tells me what she has been getting up to in the library. She’s not been doing any work with Linus. She’s been doing Will.
“No, well, yes,” Will says. “Perhaps. But you will want to hear this. We came with evidence.”
I quite admire this young man. It is not easy to be snarled at by an alpha. There is a slight tremor in his fingers as he fumbles with a USB drive.
“Tell me.”
“Your mate is not a dilute,” he says. “At least, not in the way we previously assumed she must be.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Usually, a lighter coat color is seen in shifters who only have one full-blooded parent,” he says. “It is a result of there being a lack of pigmentation passed down from the other parent. So instead of looking like a mix of both parents, a half-breed wolf tends to look like a light version of the one parent with shifter blood when they are in their wolf form.”
“I know that. We all know that.”
“Yes. And that is so commonly the reason for a dilute coat that we discount any other reason for it. But it is also possible for a wolf to have a lighter coat color if she is in fact full-blooded herself, but one parent is albino.”
It is as though the blood freezes in my veins. A surge of dread follows. The implication settles over the room like frost as the hair on the back of my neck and my arms rises.
“There are no albino wolves in North America.” My voice is hoarse as I make that comment.
There have never been albino wolves in North America, at least, not officially.
But there was a white wolf once.
“Who else knows this?”
“Just us, my alpha.”
“Does Isabella know?”
Will’s gaze immediately becomes shifty. “She may have overheard…”
Goddamnit.
Kira
“You should try this,” Abel says, producing a gold wrapped treat from his pockets. “It’s a traditional sweet.”
I don’t want to be rude to Cain’s brother. I know I’ve caused so much trouble here. I need to fit in so that Cain can trust me, and so that I can trust myself.
“What kind of traditional sweet?”
“I think you’ll like it,” he smiles. He has such big, white, intimidating teeth, and he is looming over me in a way I am sure he does not mean to.
I take the sweet and I unwrap it. It smells a little like licorice, and something else I can’t quite put my finger on. Aniseed? I wouldn’t ever eat this on my own, but Abel is looking at me with expectation, and I want to be polite.
So I put it into my mouth. It doesn’t taste great. There’s some sweetness, but there is also a lot of bitterness. The flavor is very strong, and it spreads over my tongue and through my mouth almost immediately. I couldn’t spit it out if I wanted to because it has melted, kind of like a wafer.
I reach for water to wash the taste out of my mouth, but my hand never makes it to the cup. The world goes fuzzy. Furry.
Someone tries to touch me. It’s not Abel. I taste familiar flesh. Isabella.
“Ow! Help me get her under control.”
I have no intention of being controlled. I shift, panicked and drugged and ready to lash out at anyone or anything who comes close to me. The next time I bite her, it won’t be with blunt human teeth. I will rip her open with my wolf jaws, and I will enjoy every moment of it.