Sage has lost his mind, after all.
“I can’t.” I take a step back from him, chest tight with fear. If I let myself become a full wolf, I’ll be lost, an animal. He’s not gone, I know that, but I’m different from him. I was born a werewolf, not created by this new means Belaisle and Rupe have concocted. I’ll be gone, my humanity given to the wolf and I will never, ever, return.
Won’t I?
Charlie, Sage sends, standing, shaking himself before fixing his green eyes on me. Says who?
Says… centuries of werelore. Says the Black Souls.
I cough, choke, try to breathe as anger and deep, echoing sadness bubble around inside me, aimed at the horrible sorcerers who enslaved my people, not just with their magic, but with the power of belief. Even now, standing here, I understand how deeply my people’s loss of freedom runs, that we are far from the liberation I thought we won the day Syd loosed us from the power of the Black Souls.
“You have a lot of old preconceptions and teachings to work through,” Demetrius says in a soft, kind voice, as though seeing into my stunned and confused mind. “But I believe Sage is right, Charlotte.”
“Except,” I gasp, clinging to the old ways though I wish I didn’t, “Sage is a wolf now, and can’t turn back to human. If I take the same path, risk this shift, I’ll be trapped like him.”
The small sorcerer opens his mouth, closes it. Vindication burns with regret. Before I can quit, run and hide from all the years of teachings that beg me to never consider such madness again, Demetrius turns to Sage and offers his hand.
“If you would allow,” he says. “I’d like to see why that is.”
Even as I gape and struggle with the ingrained werelore controlling my fear, Sage goes to Demetrius immediately, placing his muzzle in the man’s hand.
Please, my love says.
I stand there, frozen and aching, as the wolf I love is engulfed in darkness, Demetrius’s sorcery licking over him like the vines of a starving plant. If I could move I would go to him, pull him free of the sorcerer, but I can’t make my muscles respond, instead staring, eyes tearing as the pair stand there in silence, linked by magic.
Nothing happens for a long moment, except the swish of a silver tail as Sassafras begins to purr. Demetrius grins at the cat, nodding to him as a touch of demon fire whisks over the black. Shenka reaches out with the family magic moments later, blue flames dancing in time with the amber, the darkness not so much absorbing the two as welcoming them. And then I understand. We are made of demon magic and witch. And sorcery.
And the three together might make a miracle happen.
Sage’s fur shudders, the white crescent glowing a moment before he whimpers. This time I can move, the instinctual lunge for him born from my need to protect him. But Demetrius is already stepping away, the power of the three dissipating, while Sage shakes himself, panting.
Blue eyes meet mine, smiling. “Now, my dear,” Demetrius says. “See what you can see.”
I reach for Sage immediately, hope making my heart skip a beat. Is it possible this can be reversed, that my love can take human form again? I will throw aside everything I ever thought I knew if only I can have him back again.
What I feel when I touch Sage’s power rocks me back on my heels even as his body shifts and changes, forepaws lifting from the ground, fur shrinking back from him.
He is powerful. So powerful I can hardly comprehend him. And he is truly perfect.
By the time he’s done, standing before me in human form, I’m crying, weeping openly, hands covering my mouth as I try to keep from sobbing. His magic is so beautiful, his wolf the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt. I’m in awe, breaking down in front of all of them. Sage comes to me, green eyes glowing a little, strong hands grasping my upper arms as he pulls me to his naked chest and cradles me there.
Charlie, he sends, voice strong in my head. It’s really going to be okay.
“I believe Tallah was correct,” Demetrius’s soft voice interrupts. “Sage is, somehow, the final incarnation to what werewolves can evolve. Rupe’s experimentation succeeded where the Black Souls failed.” The sorcerer shrugged. “Possibly on purpose. After all, we’re looking at the worst fear those evil magickers could ever have conceived.”
I glance up, see Shenka is blushing, holding out her robe to Sage, her thin tank top and pajama bottoms revealed. He smiles at her, covers up in the fluffy pink terrycloth while I stay close to him, wiping tears from my face, running my fingers through his dark hair. It’s been somehow restored from the horrible bleach job I gave him, as soft and rich in color as ever.
“Of course,” Ethpeal says. “The Black Souls knew they created an immense new power. All the controls in the world would never have saved them if the weres had figured out how to evolve on their own.”
Demetrius nods. “Exactly, my love,” he says, still smiling gently at Sage and me. “And even more so, if the werewolves had been permitted to find their true form—to become full wolves—they surely would have worked it out.”
“So we don’t lose our humanity,” I whisper.
“No, my dear,” Demetrius says. “Though it seems the sorcery will lock you in wolf form the first time until you’re freed of sorcery by one strong enough to do so.”
I weep for all the wolves lost to us because we believed full form meant they were animals. It happened rarely, but enough, by accident or out of grief, weres sometimes retreated to the body of the animal to escape the life we were forced to endure. Now I know the full extent of the lie and can only feel grief for those who thought relief awaited them, to be trapped in a wolf’s form with a human’s mind forever.
I wish the Black Souls still lived. I would make sure they suffered as much as my people for this.
“It’s time to talk to those who need to back the hell off.” Sassafras’s tail twitches. “Namely, the Enforcers.”
“Agreed,” Ethpeal says, voice snapping with irritation. “I’ll deal with them myself if I have to.”
I laugh out loud, euphoria taking over a moment as I wipe tears from my face. So much has happened, so many revelations, I’m a wreck. But this swing to happy is preferable to the tears I shed for my people. Sage smiles at me, kisses me softly. I touch his face, run my fingers over the scar on his shoulder. “That won’t be necessary,” I say. “Sage and I will go talk to Erica personally. And then we go home and put an end to the slavery of my people once and for all.”
I feel the snap of the shields around the house, tense as Shenka flares with blue fire. My hope for the future is forgotten at the intrusion. Quaid rushes for the stairs to head off the invader, but we all hear the footsteps running through the house, the pounding of them moving down the stairs so fast he doesn’t have time to act. I stare in shock as my father staggers the last step, falling into Quaid’s arms.
“Raoul.” Ethpeal approaches him, touches his arm. My father straightens, dark eyes full of anxiety. I’m surprised to see him. I haven’t heard a word from him in a very long time, not since his decision to leave the pack and wander on his own. He ignores Ethpeal, pushing free of Quaid, before turning on me as the family magic flutters around him. It must have let him in because he’s my blood, but it’s unsure of him, as much as I am.
“What are you doing here?” Ever since my father abandoned his duty to Syd, he'd chosen to live a lone wolf, outside of the pack. Which means he’s no longer eligible to take the throne. I still feel bitterness toward him for his second failure to fulfill his duty, so my tone is sharper than perhaps it should be. But I’ve been through a great deal and I’m in no mood to coddle him.
“Charlotte.” He grasps my arms where Sage once held me, shaking me a little. My love growls at him as though still a wolf but my father ignores him. “You must return home at once.”
I pull free, shaking my head. “You gave up the right to give me orders years ago,” I snap.
“You don’t understand.” His voice holds a wail of despair. “It’s not for me I beg you.” Fear laces through my stomach as he sags before me, a broken werewolf, long damaged. “Your grandfather is in terrible danger. Cicero Caine has been elected wereking.”
***