Page 53 of Shifting Fate
Harper pinched the bridge of his nose, held his breath, then expelled it on a sigh. “A couple of years ago, I took a case that ultimately ended my career, but it also brought me love. It brought me happiness, only for the fates to tear him away from me. Just like my sister.”
“I was devastated. I began my search anew, but the more I looked into the circumstances involving Cross’s disappearance, the more it seemed that the Dreadhunters were to blame. I was unaware that my own twin was the crux of the crows’ dark magic. Not until the energy wave that hit the world like an earthquake, only weeks ago. It was her magic. Magic that still sings to my blood.”
The entire table was so silent, you could’ve heard a pin drop. All eyes were on Harper, and there was no denying the pain in his voice when he spoke. The anguish of someone who’d lost their other half. The thought of losing Espen to the darkness terrified me. I didn’t want to imagine what pain this witch had lived through. What he’d suffered.
Harper continued. “I managed to track it here, to Michigan. I was hoping, praying, that I was wrong, but the massive uptick in Dreadhunter activity in this area, along with last night’s attack, tells me it’s exactly as I feared. My sister is the queen of the Dreadhunters. Her magic still calls to me, but it’s blackened, twisted and frayed, its light shrouded in darkness.”
“I prayed I might find her before it was too late, but I’m afraid my sister has descended into madness…and from that madness will come destruction, if we don’t act soon.” He sagged in his seat, his eyes closed. “I only wish I knew what had happened to her, all those years ago.”
Suddenly, it became impossible to swallow as the truth lodged itself in my throat. I looked up to find both Tristram and Dallon looking at me. “I think I might be able to paint a pretty clear picture,” I uttered in a hoarse voice. “Seeing as my father is the one who set her free.”
Harper’s head snapped up. “What do you mean?”
“Omni are the offspring of a witch and a shifter,” I said. “But there are no rules saying that that consummation needs any sort of consent. Liora was kidnapped by a pack of wolves who only cared about one thing—power.”
The fire in Harper’s eyes burned bright, but I didn’t shrink away from the truth. “She was tied down and forced, repeatedly, into bearing strong offspring, so that the pack might one day become powerful. These men took away her rights. They stripped her of freedom and burdened her with the shame and anguish of being nothing more than a broodmare.”
Harper’s bottom lip trembled. “How? How do you know this?”
“Because I’m one of those children,” I whispered. “My father realized his wrongs and did what he could to fix things. He set Liora free, but it was too late. The damage had been done. He took me and my twin brother, and he fled the pack and didn’t look back.”
“I’m one of those children too.” Ezra said, his head held high. “My father was their Alpha. He was a terrible man. So terrible that he sold his own son into slavery to suffer the same fate. I was fifteen.”
“Wh-What?” Harper stumbled over his words. “She had children? That makes you…”
“Our uncle,” I said. “Yes.”
The witch swore, casting a glance up to the ceiling. “I knew your magic felt familiar, but goddess above, you are my blood?”
Filled with a strange sort of shame, prickling at my magic and turning it hot, I looked down at my hands. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not what you were hoping to hear.”
When I finally glanced back up, Harper was staring at Ezra. Ezra who had the same amethyst eyes. He shook his head, as if in awe. “My nephews… I have nephews.” He chuckled, but there was a deep sadness there. It settled over the table like a thick mist.
My throat tightened at the same time the knot in my gut did. The walls were closing in on me. I needed to get out of there.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, standing up so quickly my knees knocked into the table, making everything shake. My cheeks burning with guilt and shame that should never have been mine to begin with, I fled the pack-house without another word.
