Chapter One

"She's no better at all?"

I searched the pack doctor's face, and he shook his head grimly.

"I'm sorry. I wish I had better news for you."

"No," I said, exhaling heavily. "I understand. I knew she might not be. I guess I'd just been hoping…"

Cole rubbed his hand over my upper arm soothingly, but it did nothing to soothe me. My mom's mental health had been in a downward spiral these last five weeks, and it wasn't likely to change just because I wanted it to.

"It's not your fault, you know," Cole murmured in my ear, but we both knew that was a lie. Guilt clawed at my throat.

"She's been getting worse ever since I pressed her about my father. I shouldn't have done it."

"You had no choice. Finding out your father's true identity is your best chance of silencing the council."

"Screw the council!"

The doctor pretended to be too busy looking through a case file to hear my outburst, and Cole rumbled a chuckle.

"I should have found another way," I said. "What if she doesn't recover from this?"

"Enough of that," he said firmly, and tucked one finger under my chin, using it to draw my eyes up to meet his. "You had no way of knowing, so stop blaming yourself." He softened his tone. "She's in the best possible place. The doc will help her through this, you just have to give them time."

"I hope so."

"Come on, let's leave the doc to work. My father will want an update on your shifting progress, and if we don't go to him soon, he's going to come in search of us."

I swallowed. There was no part of that I liked the sound of. Cole's father, and alpha of the pack, had taken a dislike to me when he discovered I was his only son's fated mate, on account of me being human. You'd have thought my unexpectedly turning my arm into a wolf leg complete with razor sharp claws would have come as a relief to him at least, but if anything, the opposite was true. Now I was worse than a human—I was an unknown quantity. Because the whole pack agreed I didn't smell like a shifter.

But worse, there was no progress to report. It was like I'd imagined the whole damn thing, for all the success I was having making it happen again. And I was in no hurry to admit that to Alpha Cain and give him even more reason to hate me. No, what I needed right now was an excuse.

"There. That's her."

I whirled round to see Cain himself, flanked by three heavyset guys—and if the uniforms hadn't given them away, the callous expressions on their faces would have. These guys were enforcers for the council.

Shit. That was very much not the kind of excuse I'd had in mind.

"What do you want with my mate?" Cole demanded, stepping in front of me.

A dark-haired enforcer with a jagged scar running the length of his forearm made a jerking motion with his chin.

"Council business. Step aside."

I placed a hand on Cole's bicep before he could say anything to land us both in hot water. We'd known this was coming, after all.

"It's okay. Astor said they'd be coming, right? We just kind of assumed they wouldn't keep us waiting six weeks."

I directed that last part at the scarred enforcer, and he grunted in reply.

"The council keeps its own schedule. It's not for the likes of you to question their decisions."

"The likes of—" I snapped my jaw shut, intent on not giving him the satisfaction, but the glimmer that flashed through his eyes told me he was enjoying my frustration just the same. I forced a smile. "Never mind. I forgot I was talking to a messenger boy for a moment there."

His jaw clenched and then turned to the other two. "Take her. Bind her hands."

"You've got no grounds to arrest her," Cole snapped, his eyes warning the enforcers back.

"She's not under arrest, boy. But she will be if she refuses the summons of the council."

"It's fine," I said to Cole, trying to keep my voice steady—because this asshole had us, and we all knew it. "I'll answer their questions and be back in no time. I haven't done anything wrong."

"That's not what I hear," the enforcer said with a sneer. He jerked his chin at the other two, and they advanced on me, keeping one wary eye on Cole as they pulled my unresisting hands behind my back and snapped some kind of cuffs around them…but I'd have bet my mate bond that they weren't ordinary handcuffs.

"Bring her. We've been here long enough."

The enforcers led me toward their boss, and I saw his eyes fix on Cole behind me.

"Need something?" he asked coldly.

"I'm coming with her," Cole said.

"Sorry, pup, the invite's for one."

"She's my mate," Cole growled, "and you have no right to refuse me."

"Intended mate, I hear," the scarred enforcer said. "Unless you've sealed the mate bond in the last hour?"

My gaze snapped to Cain, because it must have been him who'd told them, and he didn't even have the decency to look ashamed. But then, why would he? He'd made it clear what he thought of me.

"Fuck that," Cole snapped, starting towards us. "She is my mate, claimed or not, and—"

"Stand down," Cain rumbled and I could feel the power of his command shudder through me, even though he wasn't my alpha, and I saw it shudder through Cole, who froze like he'd walked into a barrier. He snapped his head round to glare at his father.

"We can't let her go alone, whatever you think of her," Cole protested.

"We can," the alpha replied, approaching his son, "and we must."

"She needs someone to speak for her."

At that moment, I very much wanted someone who could speak for me, because I had a horrible suspicion the council were determined to fit me up for something I hadn't done.

"Not possible. She isn't a member of this pack."

"She's my mate!"

"And you haven't sealed the mate bond yet—a blessing, given the nature of the crimes of which she has been accused." He lowered his voice, and I got the distinct impression his words were for Cole's ears only, but I heard them as clearly as if he'd been standing right next to me. "Don't worry, son. There may yet be a way to dissolve the mate bond."

"Time to go, human," the scarred enforcer said, snatching my attention from Cole and Cain before I could catch Cole's reaction. There was a portal directly in front of us—the enforcer must have conjured it while my life was falling to shit. I didn't get a chance to dwell. The two enforcers marched me forward and straight through the portal, and a split second later, my feet were touching down in the center of a small, circular, stone-hewn chamber, facing a desk and a bored looking woman standing behind it.

"Interrogation room seven," she said in monotone, and a chill ran through me. Interrogation? They were just supposed to be asking me some questions, that was all. I opened my mouth to protest but the enforcers were marching me forward again, this time through the door to the woman's left, and into a brightly lit corridor.

They paused at the seventh door and the scarred enforcer touched his palm to the brickwork set next to the entrance. There was a flash of light under his hand, and then the door swung inwards. A rough hand around my arm moved me inside, and led me to a chair on the far side while I tried to take it in. It was a small room with almost no furniture—just a table that seemed to be carved of the same stone that made up the rest of the building, as though someone had chiseled out this whole room and left the table in place, and then someone had added a plastic chair on this side of it and two on the other. A metal ring was fixed into the stone tabletop, presumably for restraining the more difficult suspects.

"Sit," an impatient voice ordered me, and I reluctantly sank into the chair, hands still bound behind my back.

Without another word, the three of them turned and marched from the room, shutting the door behind them and sealing me in here alone.

Great. Just great.

There was no way to mark the passage of time, but it felt like a lot passed while I was sitting there alone. I'd memorized every inch of the featureless walls and floor and ceiling, and I was starting to lose the feeling in my hands when the door finally swung open.

A heavy-set man stepped through, with a craggy, weathered face that had clearly seen its share of conflict. He carried himself like a soldier—back straight, shoulders squared, suspicious eyes. His uniform was crisp and tidy, but had a lived-in look that suggested he'd been doing this a while.

Close behind him was a woman with a slight build but a commanding presence that left no mistake she was the one in charge here. Her face was smooth and ageless, with high cheekbones and penetrating green eyes that took in every detail. Her hair was long and straight, falling gracefully down her back like a curtain of black silk. Fae, I suspected.

A broad shouldered, uniformed guy stepped in behind them and shut the door, then stood guard in front of it.

"Enforcer Brennan," the guy said curtly. "This is Councilor Verena. And you are…"

"Sick of sitting here waiting for you," I snapped. "And not interested in playing games. You know who I am or I wouldn't be here."

The woman—Verena—ran and appraising look over me, then nodded to Brennan.

"Unbind her hands."

"Do you think that's wise, Councilor? She doesn't seem…compliant."

"I doubt she's foolish enough to attempt something reckless," the woman said, eyeing me meaningfully. I was pretty sure she was deluding herself about the extent both of my foolishness and my recklessness, but if it meant I was going to get some feeling back in my hands before they dropped off, I was willing to roll with it.

"I'm not looking to cause any trouble," I said, and Brennan snorted. I snapped my gaze to him. "Hey, I'm not the one who's done anything wrong. And I'm also not the one who dragged anyone away in chains."

"They wouldn't have been necessary if you didn't resist," he said.

"Resist?" I gave a short laugh. "What part of coming without a fight did your men deem ‘resisting', exactly?"

"I'm not here to answer to you," he snarled.

"No, you're not," the councilor said before I could reply and land myself any deeper in the shit. "But you are here to follow my instructions, and I would appreciate you doing so. Kindly unbind her hands."

He jerked his head at the guard by the door, glowering the whole time, and the man hurried forward. I twisted round to offer him my bound hands, whilst resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at Brennan—just.

"You stand accused of attempting to conceal your true nature from the council," Verena said bluntly.

"I've never even met the council," I protested. "Before today, I mean."

"The administration at Darkveil Academy is council-appointed," Brennan said, curling his upper lip in an unmistakably smug sneer.

"Fine. But it wasn't like I deceived them deliberately."

"So you do admit to deceiving them?" Verena said, canting her head a fraction as she regarded me. Shit.

"I'm human! I don't know how I did the partial shift. And it's not like I've done it since. You have to believe me." I looked from one to the other and found—unsurprisingly—no support. This was bad. And I needed to do better than this. I drew in a steadying breath and narrowed my eyes. "Actually, no, you don't have to believe me. You have to believe the instructors at Darkveil, and Alpha Cain. It never happened before or since. Unless you're accusing them of lying?"

"You have a shifter's fiery spirit," she said.

"Also not a crime," I ground out.

"Defying the council is a crime," the enforcer snarled, and I snapped my gaze to him coolly.

"And if I'd defied them, I'd gladly answer for that. But I haven't."

"Yes," he said, his lips twisting into a smile. "Plenty of crimes you have committed for us to focus on."

"And I'm still waiting to hear proof of them." I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms across my chest. If they thought I was going to lose my temper and give them something to fit me up with…well, they were probably right, but I was at least going to make them work for it.

The councilor snapped the fingers of her left hand, and a manilla file materialized in her hand. Out of thin air. I blinked at it and tried to act like it wasn't the first time I'd seen magic before, because it wasn't…but that was a lot of power to be throwing around needlessly.

"Nice trick," I said. "I could use that at the academy. It'd save me carrying around so many books."

"You're assuming you're going back to the academy," the enforcer said, sending a chill down my spine. He smirked in satisfaction as I felt my face pale, so I shot him a smirk of my own that felt entirely faked.

"Supernaturals are council-required to attend the academy. So make your mind up—I'm either human, or I'm not."

"Prisoners don't attend the academy."

I swallowed hard. Yeah, there was that. And I would very much like not to find myself locked up any time in my future. I clamped my mouth shut.

"I don't believe you've committed a crime," the councilor said, but before I could breathe a sigh of relief, added, "Intentionally."

"That's important, right? That I didn't do anything wrong on purpose? Because I couldn't conceal something I didn't know about."

"Indeed," the councilor said. "And I am satisfied that your true nature was unknown to you prior to attending Darkveil."

"It's still pretty damn unknown to me now," I muttered under my breath.

"That is the reason the council will not be charging you at this time."

"You're not?"

"No."

"Oh, thank God." My eyes slid closed in relief for a brief second, then I lurched to my feet. "Then I can get back to Cole?"

"Sit down, Ellis," the enforcer snapped, his hands braced on the table, and I flicked a glance at the councilor, who nodded. Reluctantly, I slid back down into the chair.

"You're done when we say you're done," the enforcer said, menace radiating from him in a way that reminded me how fragile I was compared to whatever the hell he was, and that it was probably a smart idea to stop provoking him.

"Knew you'd warm up to me eventually."

On the other hand, I'd never been all that smart.

"Tell me what you know of your father," the councilor said, and my attention snapped back to her…and the file in her hand.

"Nothing."

She arched a brow at me.

"I mean it. Nothing. My mom would never tell me anything about him. He got her pregnant and then ran off and left her. He's a deadbeat."

"Some of the council's top researchers have been studying your energy signature over the last few months," she said. "Attempting to discover how you—an alleged human—was able to achieve a partial shift."

"And?" My mouth abruptly went dry, and my gaze drifted back to the file, drawn as irrevocably as a moth to the flame.

"And their research continues."

I slumped back in my seat, feeling defeated, but at the same time, frustration started to uncoil in my gut. I stared at her through flat eyes.

"So you dragged me all the way in here to tell me I didn't commit a crime, and that I'm fully human."

"No."

"But—"

"They have determined that your father was not a shifter."

"Right. I'm human."

"No, Ms. Ellis. He wasn't a shifter. He was a vampire."