10. Iris

"Why did you bring me to the middle of the forest?"

Thorne, with a goofy smile on his face, doesn't answer.

The whole way out here, he's been kind of in la la land. I can't really tell if it's because he's happy about how things have turned out or if he's just…

Okay.

He just seems pretty happy.

I want to feel happy too. But it's hard because Thorne's accusations keep burrowing under my skin like splinters.

A flash of white at my feet, however, makes me smile.

The little ermine darts through the forest, following us. He plays in the leaves every few feet, and his antics bring me a ton of joy.

"Glad to see one of us is having fun."

"This is going to be fun," Thorne says.

"If you say so."

We've been walking for about thirty minutes. It's an easy hike, and I'm glad the baby hasn't sucked enough out of me to make me feel fatigued yet. As I go, the world feels a little easier.

A little brighter.

It also gives me a chance to digest some of the weirder things that I've learned.

Like the fact that Thorne is a shifter.

Honestly, I think that some part of me always knew that Thorne was different. He definitely never seemed like a run-of-the mill human, but I always chalked that up to the fact that he is insanely handsome.

Being a wolf too seems like it's just…

Well.

It's super cool.

Once I got over the general shock of the fact that magic and shifters exist, I kind of just… accepted it. I've been out in nature enough to know that some things just feel magical.

Having actual magic makes sense.

Especially if that magic is so tied to the natural world.

If I'm being honest, I'm kind of sad that Thorne gets to be a shifter and I'm... just human.

Because there's no doubt in my mind that I'm one hundred percent magic free, and as human as it gets.

How can you be his fated mate then?

The way Thorne explained it, fated mates were like…a dream come true. Someone who was meant for you, someone whose soul matched yours.

I feel like Thorne is my fated mate. I'm somehow hyper-aware of him. It's like I have Thorne radar. Everywhere I go, I can locate him, and I'm constantly rubbing at my chest.

I think I might be able to understand how he feels. Without him telling me.

It's weird.

Thorne, who has been two steps ahead of me this whole time, stops.

I stop too. "What are you doing?"

He beams at me, then turns. "Coral!" he yells.

"Coral?"

"That's the faerie. Her name is Coral."

My mind whirls. "Did you just say… faerie?"

"Yes."

"Like Tinkerbell?"

He shakes his head. "Not really. Faeries have magic that can be insanely powerful. They like to live apart from the rest of us, in their hives. They can create potions and spells and things like that, and they're pretty helpful to have around in a pinch."

"What type of a pinch?"

"Like finding out why you became fated mates with a human."

"Oh," I whispered.

Thorne turns back. "Coral?"

My heart still feels bruised. What if I am just a human? Thorne seems like he's convinced I can't be human, but what if I am?

I don't think I can handle him rejecting me again…

I huff.

Thorne told the other wolves that he wanted to be my mate. He claimed me, even though he thinks I'm just a human.

The thought gives me a little bubble of hope.

"Coral!" Thorne yells.

I look around. "Are you sure we're in the right place? There's nothing…"

A breeze rushes through the trees, stealing my breath. I shut my eyes against the sudden blast.

When I open them, I blink.

I rub my eyes.

There's a house.

"What?"

Thorne grabs my hand. "Come on. She's ready for us."

I follow him.

It's the cutest little house I've ever seen. Truly, it looks like something out of a fairytale. Whitewashed walls, a thatched roof, and the whole thing is absolutely overgrown with plants.

I don't think I've ever seen some of these. Not in Colorado, anyway.

There's a crushed white stone path up to the cottage. I follow Thorne, the ermine trotting at my heels as I walk.

I glance at the flowers lining the path. I lean down. "Are those fairy slipper orchids?"

"Probably."

They're one of the rarest flowers in Colorado. A cold weather orchid. I've only ever seen one.

And there are hundreds.

Hundreds.

"Thorne, this is…"

"Hi!"

I look up away from the flowers.

In the cottage's door, there's a willowy looking woman. She's average height, but slender. Like a stiff breeze would blow her away. Her brown hair drifts around her like a cartoon princess, and her bright blue eyes glimmer at me.

"Um. Hi?"

She sticks out her hand, palm up. The gesture looks odd, and I glance at her fingers.

Coral pulls the hand back. "Sorry. I thought that humans shook hands when they met. Is that not right?"

"Oh. It's right. Usually, you just stick your hand out straight though," I say, putting my fingers out.

Coral takes my hand. "Great! I'm Coral. Welcome to my home!"

"Hi. Iris. Honestly, Coral, this place. It's… lovely."

She blinks at me.

I can't help myself. "Okay. I have to know. How did you get all those fairy slippers to grow? I've only ever seen one, and I really want to be able to grow them around my cabin, but I just can't seem to get them to grow!"

Her smile grows wide, and I feel like I'm standing in front of a living rainbow.

"I think we're going to be very good friends, Iris."

The thought is… really nice.

I give her a genuine smile. "I'd like that."

"Good. Please, come inside."

I walk into her house, and Thorne follows me.

Inside,the faerie woman somehow makes the tiny one-room cottage look like it's a whole house. I have no idea how she does it, so I end up accepting the only explanation that makes sense.

Magic.

"The fairy slippers just kind of grow wherever I go," she says. She sits Thorne and I down on a couch that honestly looks like it's made of giant leaves stitched together. However, it's soft as air under my butt.

I sink into it and accept the cup of tea she offers me. The ermine prances up Coral's shoulder, laying on her like a mink stole. I close my eyes and sip, then moan. "How did you get jasmine green tea out here?"

"I have a greenhouse. I make my own," she explains.

Yep. I'm going to be friends with Coral. "That's amazing."

"Thank you. So," she says, glancing between Thorne and me. "What brings you here? Evander said it had something to do with the baby?"

I blink. "How did you know?"

"I can sense life, my friend. I knew the minute you walked up to my door."

"Oh. Okay. Must be nice to be a living pregnancy test."

Coral laughs. "I never thought of it that way, but sure."

Thorne nods. "Coral, we need to know what's going on. How is our fated mate bond possible if Iris is human?"

She studies both of us. With her fine bone structure and pale, almost white, blue eyes, it's easy to see that Coral isn't human.

I'm kind of jealous. At least if I wasn't human, Thorne would accept that our baby was his.

Something flashes in Coral's eyes, and she looks between us. "That's not what you want to ask me."

Thorne blinks. "What?"

"You want to know if the baby is yours."

"No. I know it can't be. And Iris has reasons for keeping the baby's identity secret, and I'm ready to accept that. But I just… we're fated mates. I can feel the bond. And I just want to know… how?"

Coral narrows her eyes and stares at him, then looks back at me. "You're so certain that, in a world where fated mates are possible, your mate is still human?"

"Yes," Thorne smiles. "I love that about her."

My heart skips a beat.

Did he just say… love?

"You love that I'm human?"

Thorne turns and holds one of my hands. "I love everything about you, Iris. Of course, I love that you're human. You are perfect, Iris. In every way you can be."

"Even though you don't think this baby is yours?"

"I don't care. I really don't," he whispers.

I shut my eyes. His words are kind, but they still fall flat.

"Why won't you just believe me?"

"Yes, indeed. Why?" Coral muses.

Thorne turns. "Because it's impossible. There's no way that you're a shifter. And you're not a faerie. Right?" he looks at Coral.

She tilts her head. "Iris. May I have just a tiny drop of your blood?"

"Sure."

She leans forward, an elegant needle suddenly poised between her fingers. I give her the hand that Thorne isn't holding, and she takes the tiniest amount of blood from my fingertip.

Coral blots it onto what I thought was a napkin laying out on the coffee table, but on closer examination, it looks like a giant petal. She nods as the petal turns a brilliant, resplendent shade of purple.

"Just as I thought."

She turns to the two of us and smiles. "Iris. Do you love being human?"

"Um. I don't know. I've never been anything else?"

"Wrong!" she chirps.

I blink. "What?"

"That's wrong. It turns out, you have likely never been human at all!"

My mouth drops. "What on earth are you saying?"

She waves the petal at us. "This is a flower that detects the presence of shifter DNA. It's carefully cultivated from a strain of flower that faeries keep around. It also makes a really excellent poultice for wounds caused by silver, actually. That's its primary purpose. But a nice side effect is that it detects the presence of shifter DNA down to the tiniest, smallest amount. The petal turns green when human DNA is present. In the presence of even a small amount of shifter DNA, it turns this lovely color," she waves the petal. "The results are conclusive. You, Iris, may not be able to shift. But that does not mean you are human."

I blink. "I'm not human?"

"Nope," she trills. "If this creature is anywhere near accurate, you likely have some latent DNA. Ermine shifter. Or is it a stoat?"

The ermine rubs his face against her, and she smiles. "Same thing. Either way. Somewhere in your DNA, darling, you are, in fact, a shifter."

"How?"

She shrugs. "Many centuries of shifters have not been able to find their mates in time for their thirtieth birthdays. You may lose your abilities, but the DNA to become a shifter remains. After the magic is lost, shifters can mate with humans. They just cannot transform into their animals."

I glance over at Thorne. He's just as shocked as I am. His eyes are wide and he's staring at Coral like...

Well.

Like she just dropped the bomb of the century on him.

I guess this is news for him, too.

Her face falls and she looks at Thorne. "And you will probably need some time to beg for your mate's forgiveness now."

He pales. "I…"

"You have the room."

With that, the faerie woman breezes out. Thorne takes a deep breath and looks at me.

"Iris. I…"

I roll my eyes. "This better be the best apology ever."