“No,” Mae said. The room fell silent. “He is an Ancient, that is true, but he’s a vampire.”
Everyone erupted.
“Oh, hell no!” Jason slapped his palm to the table.
“No. Fucking. Way,” Davin exclaimed.
Disbelief written on his features, Range shook his head, over and over, slowly.
Asa had no reaction. He was still absorbing.
“Easy.” Griz’s voice was low yet commanding.
All fell quiet.
“So, you see,” Mae spoke. “Your father is an Ancient vampire. Your mother is the daughter of an Ancient shifter and a shifter herself. And your memories—of those early years—were taken by another Ancient. Magnus asked Vayne to clear your memories before you were brought to me. Catriona had abandoned you. Well, actually, she vanished. So, it was assumed you’d been abandoned, for you see, no one has seen her since.”
“And now, Magnus and Omar are here to see you. Omar didn’t find out about you until recently. He’d assumed Catriona’s baby wolves had died. But Vayne told him she’d bewitched four wolves to forget everything about their early life. Magnus couldn’t raise you, so he brought you to Mae,” Griz concluded.
“Why couldn’t he?” Jason asked.
“Why, Mae?” Range tipped his head to the side, the same expression on his face he used to have when they were younger and he was studying something he couldn’t quite wrap his head around. “Why did they take us to you, Mae?”
Mae sighed. Her eyes flashed indigo before she peered down at her hands, which she was wringing. “I have an elemental which lives with me.” She lifted her gaze to Eira and Emme while she explained. “A being who is eons old. They brought the boys to me, not because of me, but because of my elemental, Benithe. She is familiar with Quake, and he recommended Magnus bring the four young wolf shifters to me to foster.”
Asa chanced a glance at Emme. She was wide-eyed and listening intently. It didn’t seem like she was as familiar with all the other types of supernatural beings. He wondered how this was for her, all these new revelations. He squeezed her hand, which he’d not let go of yet. She glanced his way, nodded slightly.
“Our wolves have let us know that we are littermates,” Asa told them. “Somehow, whatever Vayne erased, either she missed that part of our memories, or they came back.”
Mae frowned. Griz scratched at the scar on his face, deep in thought.
That line of conversation ended when the door opened.
Four individuals walked in.
The room was filled with power so potent it made the air heavy.
The first was a woman. Long, red hair hung past her shoulders. Her hair was so red it could have appeared black in the right lighting. Her skin was pale. Her eyes had an emerald sheen. She was attired in jeans, a black T-shirt, and a green leather jacket that matched her eyes. She took in the sight of those in the room, appraising. She practically crackled with power.
She was followed by a brown-suited man with blond hair pinned back in a ponytail. Nordic features. Lean but muscular. His blue eyes held confidence.
Griz stepped aside. “Vayne,” he indicated the woman with a wave. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I had to see if it was real.” Vayne folded her arms before her, standing tall in knee-length boots. Her gaze traveling from one Wulfsen to the other until she finally settled her gaze on Asa. Her eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.
“You’re the one who took our memories,” Range said.
“She is,” the third man said. “But that was at my request.” His hair was light brown, his eyes dark brown. He was dressed formally, also in a suit, though his was black. His hair was not as long as the blond man’s, but his build was slighter, as though he didn’t make it to the gym as often. “I’m Magnus. And that,” he pointed toward the blond pony-tailed man, “is Quake. This,” he indicated the man trailing him, “is Omar.”
Omar was shorter than both of the other two Ancients. His body was stocky, reminding Asa of his own build. He was thick about the chest and neck, with arms that were unrivaled. His hair was black, his features saturnine. Sporting a trim goatee, he resembled a barbarian crossed with a Bedouin.
The odd thing about these Ancients, not a single one of them looked older than their mid-thirties, if that. And yet, their eyes were old.
Eyes are the window to the soul, Asa thought, and with these Ancients, that’s indeed the case.
“You are such a rarity,” Vayne told Asa and his brothers. “You have magnificent sons, Magnus.”
Magnus tipped his head in acknowledgment.
“Why are we a rarity?” Asa asked.
“Offspring among Ancients are rare.”
“Not only do they have a father who is an Ancient, but they are also born of the daughter of an Ancient,” Omar boasted. He had a voice smooth as honey and an accent Asa couldn’t exactly place—Middle Eastern perhaps?
Vayne nodded. “More or less, the only ones we know of, are they not?”
“Indeed,” the one called Quake said. “They have done well, staying alive, being kept hidden. We must keep it that way.” He turned to Mae. “How is it you could not talk them out of this study that they took part in?”
“She tried,” Asa said.
“Yeah, she did,” Range admitted.
“It doesn’t matter whether she could have or couldn’t have talked them out of it,” Griz interjected. “They were grown men and made their own decision. Suffice it to say, Mae did more than her part, harboring the children of Ancients, raising them, keeping them safe.”
Magnus hissed. His eyes turned red, vampire fangs exposed. “No one is sayi9ng Mae is at fault here, shifter,” he snarled at Griz.
Griz stood his ground.
Asa jumped back. “Those eyes.”
Magnus whirled in his direction, gaze narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Range’s wolf’s eyes and mine, they both turn red.”
“Have they always?” Omar stepped forward and put an arm around Mae. “No one blames you, habibi.”
Asa stared at the Ancient. A wolf shifter, like himself. “No, they haven’t. Just noticed it after the study. What does habibi mean?”
Omar’s face split into a smile, teeth brilliant and white against his dark skin and black goatee. “It means darling in one of the languages I am versed in. Arabic.”
No shit. And this would be his grandfather. A man who looked like he’d be an older brother. Then again, so did Magnus, who was their father.
“You did not bring me here to assess blame,” Vayne interjected. “I believe we are here to come up with solutions. They said your wolf is trying to kill you.” She stepped closer to Asa, took his arm, raised the sleeve of the thermal. She touched the Freyja’s Redemption armband and flinched. “Sorcery.” She looked about the room. Her gaze landed on Eira then Emme. “Valkyrie,” she whispered, the tone reverent. She turned to Quake. “You knew they were bringing Valkyrie to your building? Does Freyja know?”
Chapter Sixteen
Emme’s head was spinning. “Freyja? She’s real? She’s alive?”