Page 45 of Power Shift
My eyebrows flicked up. Interesting.
Evie’s raven quarked and lifted its wings before it hopped off the couch and glided over, settling into my lap. I froze in surprise. Most animals didn’t like wolf shifters, but Poe was a curious thing. He lifted his beak and studied me with intelligent, dark eyes. “Fee!”
“Wait, Poe,” Evie said. “Lord?—”
“Caelan,” I growled.
Her lips quirked. “Caelan, I am in possession of something my mother wants. Desperately.”
“Oh?” I lifted a hesitant finger and when Poe didn’t move, stroked the back of his head, surprised by the silkiness of his feathers. “Did you steal it?”
Evie barked a laugh. “No!”
“I wouldn’t judge you even if you had. Whatever you have must be important if your mother wants it so badly.”
“It is an anomaly,” Evie said. She sighed and took a sip of her wine. “I find myself unable to offer this treasure the…care it requires.”
I lifted my gaze. “This treasure is living?”
“Fee! Fee!” croaked the raven.
“Patience, Poe.”
My brow furrowed. “Fee?”
Evie leaned forward, intensity burning in her gaze. “I need?—”
I set my wineglass down and rose, carefully lifting Poe. In a few steps I was beside her, mere inches separating us. “What is it? Tell me.”
Evie’s nostrils flared. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Fee,” she said quietly. “Come on out.”
A blur of orange and vivid blue swept through the air. I watched in awed fascination as a being straight out of legend swooped and landed right on Evie Quinn’s lap.
“Well,” I breathed. “Alright. This is what your mother covets.”
Evie rubbed her fingers over the phoenix’s chest. “Yes. Do you know much about my mother?”
The moment I found out who her mother was, I went home, scoured the internet, and sent Garrett out to find whatever he could about her. “She’s ancient, part of the Tuatha, and she owns three legendary birds.”
“But not this one,” Evie said quietly. “Though I’m sure she wants to.”
“What I don’t know is why this one is a phoenix when none of her other birds are all that remarkable.”
Fee’s tail whipped around and landed on my leg, the glowing feathers pulsing with a type of magic I’d never felt before. “You are stunning,” I murmured.
“I have no idea why Fee is a phoenix,” Evie said. “Somehow, either the mom or someone loyal to my mother smuggled the egg out and it landed at the farmer’s market with a man whose booth I frequent. He gave it to me and asked that I keep it safe.”
“And this little girl came along a few months later.”
“Yes. And I don’t think I can care for her the way she needs. Not with all the current…scrutiny.”
Scrutiny I’d put her under. Fuck. “What is it you need from me?”
“I’m not sure what I need other than a space for Fee to be safe. She needs to be able to fly free. I let her out when I can, but I have to put a canopy up that restricts how high she can fly. My property is too close to town, and she’ll be noticed.”
As Shifter Lord, I had an immense amount of land at my disposal. As Caelan, I held even more.
“What do you want from me in exchange?” Evie asked quietly. Her shoulders slumped, making me feel like utter shit.
