I nod, thinking how his own thoughts are mirroring the way I talked myself out of lying to my mates. Lies are so messy and hard to hold on to. Ridge is right—we have to be open and honest if I’m going to have a life here among these people.
I can only hope they give me that chance.
Ridge picks a time after lunch, swearing that recently fed shifters are easier to talk to than shifters who are called into a mandatory meeting without a chance to fill their stomachs beforehand.
He shifts to wolf form on his front lawn after giving me his clothes to carry, and then the five of us head down the road toward the council meeting house. Every few feet, Ridge lets out a piercing howl with three short, sharp notes to it. A signal, I guess, and find myself proven correct as shifters begin to leave their homes and join us on our walk.
In the barn, I hand off his clothes so he can re-dress and then join Archer, Dare, and Trystan in the corner while Ridge stays front and center, greeting the members of his pack as they arrive.
Before long, the barn is packed to the rafters. The few times I’ve seen a meeting take place here, there wasn’t even half this size crowd—not even at the all-pack summit Lawson dragged me into the first day I woke up in Ridge’s house. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that every single pack member has shown up for this. Word of what happened during the challenge has spread far and wide, and even those who weren’t present to see me use witch magic and then shift into a wolf were clamoring for answers.
“Looks like everyone but Lawson and the men guarding his cell is here,” Ridge murmurs under his breath to us. “Never seen the place so full.”
“That’s a good thing,” Archer says, although I get the feeling he’s trying to convince himself as much as us. “If people came, that means they want answers. Hopefully they’ll be willing to listen.”
I try to let his words bolster my confidence, but the knot of anxiety in my stomach doesn’t ease all that much. Most of the pack saw magic leak from my fingertips yesterday, and if I hadn’t shifted into a wolf shortly after that, I don’t know what would’ve happened. Would my mates have been able to defend me? Would Ridge have been able to talk his pack down like he did after I shifted?
If I let myself dwell on those questions too long, I’m worried my breakfast will come back up, forcibly ejected by my nervous stomach. So I shove the thoughts away, focusing on surveying the crowd instead.
Most of the elders are gathered in a small group across the room. Elder Jihoon meets my eye and gives me a small nod and a smile that I can’t read. He was the one who predicted that I had a wolf inside me. He was also the one who suggested we go to the mating cabin and wait for my wolf to choose her mate.
I wonder what he thinks of me now.
With the barn so full it feels like it’s bursting at the seams, Ridge walks out into the center of the room and holds up his hands in a silent bid for everyone to cease talking. The roar of conversation peters out quickly, as if they’d been waiting for the signal, and then an uneasy silence spreads over the crowd.
“Friends and pack mates,” Ridge says in a strong, unwavering voice. “Welcome. Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice. I know you all have things to do today, so I promise I won’t keep you long. As you are all now aware, something strange happened at the alpha challenge yesterday. I know you’re eager to get answers. I’m here to give them to you.” He pauses, his gaze sweeping around the room. The silence is absolute. “Sable, my mate, does in fact carry both witch and shifter blood.”
A ripple of whispers and gasps rushes through the gathered shifters, but it dies away almost instantaneously. Probably because no one wants to miss anything Ridge has to say.
“Many of you witnessed the release of her witch magic when she was worried my life was in danger,” he goes on. “And then moments later, you witnessed her shift to wolf form when Lawson and his friends were attempting to take over the pack. We sought out the man who raised her last night after the challenge to find answers.”
I swallow hard and lean against Trystan, thankful when he wraps an arm around my shoulders. I feel faint, and quite frankly, I’m terrified to sit here and listen to Ridge air all my dirty secrets, even though I know it’s the right thing to do if I ever want to be accepted here. Plus, I don’t want to do anything that might threaten my mates’ rights to be alphas of their packs.
Lawson’s challenge was bad enough, as petty and self-serving as it was.
Ridge walks in a circle in the small empty space left in the center of the room, his gaze moving over the crowd. “Sable was purposefully bred by a witch. He brought together a witch and a shifter and forced them to breed. We aren’t clear on the details—whether they were imprisoned and forced, or bribed, or whether they acted of their own accord. This man’s goal was to create a hybrid witch-shifter. As you can see, he was successful.”
“Is she dangerous?” a voice calls from
