Chapter 41

Forty-One

IZZY

“ E xplain,” I say to Ansel as soon as we pull out of the parking lot.

He looks distressed. Defeated. His shoulders slump, and a strand of brown hair falls forward, momentarily obscuring his right eye from view.

“I fucking knew it,” Emery says again. “I fucking knew it.”

I whirl to face him, my jaw clenching. “You did?”

Is this another secret he and the others kept from me?

What the fuck?

Emery’s hands clench around the steering wheel, and he flicks his gaze to me before immediately looking away.

He swallows. “I didn’t know for sure, I mean. I suspected.”

“You suspected that the boy I’ve been hanging out with is a supernatural and didn’t think to tell me?” Rage saturates my tone. As does hurt.

So much fucking hurt.

I feel as if someone took a meat cleaver to my body and sliced me open from throat to navel. I know I shouldn’t take all of this so personally, but it’s hard not to. It’s really fucking hard not to.

All of these lies are piling up on me, encasing me in a coffin of cement, and sooner rather than later, I won’t be able to escape. I’ll suffocate under the weight—if my oxygen supply doesn’t run out beforehand.

“We weren’t positive,” Ethan tells me from the back seat, his tone gentle. “But…”

“But at the football field when you were tackled, Ashton… He saw something.” Emery’s jaw clenches at the memory.

Phantom pain reverberates down my spine. There’s nothing quite like getting tackled by a two-hundred-pound, muscular football player.

Okay. That’s a lie. I wouldn’t mind getting tackled by certain football players, but that’s beside the point.

“What are you saying?” I demand.

My heart pounds in my chest. The noise is deafening. I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire car can hear it.

Ansel’s voice is soft when he speaks next, practically a whisper. “I healed you.”

“What?” I once again whirl around to face him.

He leans forward, placing his head in his hands, and repeats, “I healed you. I used…magic to heal you.”

Lightning zips through my veins as time stands still. Everything seems frozen in this superficial tranquility. But I can feel the tension pulsating.

My mind drifts back to that night—to the pain ripping me apart from the inside out. I swore all of my bones broke and was moderately surprised when I discovered I didn’t even have a concussion.

Is that because of…Ansel?

I open and close my mouth repeatedly, feeling like a gaping fish plucked out of the water.

Ansel keeps his head in his hands, not meeting my searching gaze. “I didn’t know there was a name for what I was, what I could do. I’m…different. Always have been. I can do things that don’t seem possible.”

Understanding dawns on Ethan’s face. “You were adopted, weren’t you?”

At Ansel’s nod, Ethan and Emery exchange an indecipherable glance.

Emery slides his gaze towards me before refocusing on the road. “I’ve heard cases of this before. Of supernatural children finding themselves in the system and being taken in by human families.”

Automatically, I think of Jake.

Me.

Even Lissa and Seth, though I have no idea what they are.

“You had no idea what you were?” Ethan asks softly, his brows creased.

When Ansel shakes his head, I feel my heart crack into thousands of pieces.

God, what must it feel like to live your life with these unexplainable powers and have no idea why you have them? Ansel must’ve felt so alone. So scared.

I don’t blame him for not telling me. We’ve gotten close over the last few weeks, but that type of secret… It’s life-changing. Damning, if word got out. Ansel didn’t know I already knew about the supernatural world. He was under no obligation to tell me.

Unlike the furry shit brains in the car with us.

“None of you seem surprised with…this.” Ansel slowly lifts his head and pierces us with a glance.

His gaze lingers on me a second longer before he drops it back to his lap.

I make a decision quickly. “We’re not.”

“Izzy…” Ethan warns, his voice a rumble.

“Oh, shush.” I glare at him.

I won’t tell Ansel what the twins are—that’s not my secret to share—but I will tell him the truth about me. I can see how adrift he feels, how lost and scared, and I want him to know that he’s not alone. That he has someone like him, someone who was oblivious to the supernatural world until only a short while ago.

“I didn’t know about the paranormal until I arrived here,” I confess, running a hand through my hair. It feels strange to say this out loud. “I only just found out. Apparently, my mom was a witch, and my dads were wolf shifters.”

Ansel’s head snaps up so quickly I’m afraid he hurt himself. His face drains of color, and his eyes bulge. “Wolf shifters?”

“Yeah. Multiple.” I shrug. “It’s a thing, apparently.”

Wolf shifters who apparently want to meet me…

Unease skitters across my skin, and I run a hand down my arm as if I can rid it of that uncomfortable sensation.

Shock turns into awe as Ansel stares at me. “You’re like…me?”

“I guess?” I once again shrug. “I can’t really do any magic, but apparently I am like you.”

I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that my parents weren’t…human.

How is it possible that I am?

I shake my head to rid it of that errant thought. That’s a problem for Future Izzy.

“And you guys?” Ansel asks, volleying his gaze between Ethan and Emery.

Emery’s lips purse in stubborn determination, and Ethan glances at me, a question in his gaze. I offer him an eloquent look that clearly states it’s their choice whether or not they want to share the truth with Ansel.

“Oh, popsicle sticks and gumball machines,” Ethan murmurs, frowning. Then, louder, he says to Ansel, “We’re wolf shifters.”

I think Ansel is going to have a brain aneurysm. A vein in his temple bulges in a way that doesn’t seem healthy.

“As in you…?”

“Can turn into wolves and eat warlocks?” Emery’s smile is sharp. “Yup.”

“Behave,” I chastise him, glaring.

He simply offers me an unrepentant, shit-eating grin.

“I can’t believe this is… God, I can’t believe this is real. I always thought I was going insane.” Ansel scrubs his hand through his light-brown hair and then pauses, as if a thought suddenly occurred to him. A frown touches his lips. “You guys aren’t fucking with me, are you?” Vulnerability creeps into his tone. “This isn’t some elaborate prank, is it?”

A strange mixture of hurt and disbelief arrows through me. “Really? You think I would do something like that to you?”

Ouch.

Ansel’s cheeks pinken, and he lowers his head quickly. “I know you wouldn’t. But…”

“But?”

“But sometimes it seems surreal that someone like you would want to hang out with someone like me.” The blush creeps to his neck and the tips of his ears, turning them a rosy shade of red.

My heart flutters. “I like hanging out with you, Ansel.”

And I like you. A lot.

But I don’t say that out loud.

Emery’s jaw clenches, but Ethan just glances between us, his expression curious. Before he can ask the question lingering in his gaze, Ansel pipes up.

“So who were those people? They’re…witches and warlocks? They’re like me?”

“That dark-haired girl is Reid’s ex-girlfriend. That guy was probably her brother,” I say.

Both Emery and Ethan speak as one, “She’s not his ex-girlfriend.”

My brows furrow.

Everyone keeps saying that, but I’ve seen the way the two act around each other. There’s yearning in Reid’s gaze when he stares at the striking girl. And Michelle obviously still loves him.

Yet…

Rage fills me when I remember the way Michelle spoke to Reid. How she slapped him across the face.

Yeah. I want to kill the bitch. Painfully. And with a variety of weapons.

“They’re a dangerous group,” Emery says, and I don’t know if he’s trying to warn me or Ansel. “I would stay away from them if I were you.”

Ansel brings his pointer finger to his mouth and begins to bite at his nail. I wonder if that’s a nervous habit of his. I’ve never seen him do it before.

“And who is the…Trinity?”

Ethan answers that question. “The Maiden, Mother, and Crone. They’re the rulers of the coven.”

“Every warlock and witch are required to register with them when they come of age. They have to swear loyalty to the coven and all that jazz,” Emery adds.

Ansel swallows. “Are they… They won’t come after me, will they? I mean, I won’t get in trouble, will I?”

Ethan and Emery exchange another one of those unreadable looks. Silence stretches, fraught with tension.

Emery’s grip tightens around the steering wheel.

“I would be careful if I were you,” he says, the words low and rumbly, almost a growl. “Whatever you do, do not find yourself alone with a witch or a warlock. And if the Trinity tries to meet with you? Run.”