Page 14 of Forsaking His Mate

“We have many powers and gifts, thanks to Revna’s blood,” Hester says.

I glance at Apryle, wondering what she can do.

She brushes her brown hair over her shoulder. “Ican dream walk,” she says, as if she can read my mind.

Can she?

“You can just… wander into someone’s dreams?”

Apryle smirks. “Don’t worry; I won’t come into yours unless you ask me to.”

“The type of power we have varies from tau to tau.” Hester cleans my back with the wet towel. I flinch at the first touch, which sends a jolt of pain through my body. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I say. “Just keep going.”

The pain in my back, which I hadn’t been able to feel before, has my teeth clenching together now. Whatever chemicals she’s using to clean the wounds burn like acid.

“Can any of you shift?” I ask through clenched teeth.

Hester blows out a breath. “The ability is latent in most of us, but it’s not impossible. There are tau wolves that can do it.”

Apryle shrugs. “I’ve tried so many times, but my wolf just can’t break free.”

Mine is the same, though she seems settled here, as if she knows we’re home. It’s a strange word to use; the pack was always my home.

I should have been shunned, rejected, turned away, but I was always treated well.

My father would not have allowed anything else.

“Papa tried to draw my wolf out at my first moon ceremony,” I explain. I don’t know why I tell them this, but the shame I usually feel when I discuss my latency doesn’t come. Maybe it is because these women understand what it’s like to have their wolf side trapped or because I feel like these people care about me, even after such a short amount of time.

“What happened?” Apryle asks.

I think back to that night. I repressed the memory for so long, but it’s there, if I delve deeply enough into the vaults of my mind. “It was…” Traumatic. Terrifying. I swallow the lump developing in my throat. “I’ve never felt pain like it.”

“I don’t know if Revna expected our inability to shift to be a side effect of her union with Torsten. I like to think she hoped we would have the strength of the wolf, but also the power of our magic,” Hester says.

“It would have made us stronger than any alpha,” Apryle says, a hint of bitterness in her words. “Then we could hunt them instead.”

Hester hushes her. “Revenge solves nothing.”

“Doesn’t it? They track us down with the purpose of ripping us apart like meat, but we shouldn’t seek revenge for that? How many tau wolves have they destroyed under the pretense of protecting the shifter bloodline?”

I lie quietly, not speaking as the air crackles between them. I wonder if this is an argument they have had before.

“Hunters are our enemies, not other wolves.”

“They’re all our enemies,” Apryle snarls.

“My pack cared about me,” I counter. “They were never cruel and they hid me, even knowing what it might cost them.”

“There are good wolves out there. Allies that we need. Hating everyone doesn’t solve anything.”

Apryle scoffs, but doesn’t say anything back. I seize the silence to ask, “Will I ever be able to see my father or my pack again?”

Hester doesn’t answer immediately, taking the time to keep securing gauze to my back. “It would be too dangerous for you to go to them. I’m sorry, Tessa.”

Tears prick my eyes, but I don’t let them fall. I can’t because once I start, I’m not going to stop.

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