Chapter 93: The Truth About Mother

I leap at my father, but the white wolf puts herself between me and him and I'm forced to retreat. She turns her back on him, facing me, one paw rising to swipe the air. I reach for her, my power engulfing her, feel her own magic dormant inside her.

"Why haven't you woken?" I crouch before her, touching her fur with my hands, wanting to cry but unable to let myself go. I must solve this mystery and understand. "You're free. Why can't you access your magic?"

"They are gone," Raoul says, but I glare at him, a sharp and angry jab of power joining my furious expression and he falls silent.

"Your father is right." Maksym is lucky I don't send him flying. But he is my friend and I am more willing to listen. Sorrow makes his voice quaver. "Olena gave her life-everything she is-to protect you."

I spin on him, temper flaring. Friend or not, I'll kill him if he's deceived me. "You knew?"

He nods sadly, gestures around at the other werewolves watching. "We all did," he said. "It was Oleksander's decision to keep her loss from you. To tell you she was killed instead of this tragedy." His sad gaze falls on the white wolf.

I shake my head, focusing on my mother. Her ears are perked and she's watching me carefully. "Perhaps there was a time she was lost to us," I say. "But they are free, don't you understand?" I think of Sage. But he was never under the control of sorcery when he became a full wolf. He only lost his humanity after Rupe put controls on him. I can't bring myself to believe Sage is gone forever, but can be restored if he is freed. Could it be my mother and brother have simply been in these shapes too long to save them, too?

"Your mother had an idea," Raoul says, voice low and dull and I listen only because I'm trying to think. "That if she could embrace her full wolf form, she could free herself from the Czar's control."

"You had it partially right, Matinka," I whisper to her. She barks a soft sound in agreement. "But you needed help, first." I turn to Maks, ignoring my father. "And Danilo?"

"The Czar forced him into this shape," my friend says. "Promised him he would not kill you if your brother agreed to become a mindless animal."

I'm human again, tears squeezing from my eyes, down my cheeks. My nakedness I ignore. My people couldn't care less. I hug the white wolf, her thick fur coarse against my bare skin. The alpha joins us, pressing his wide head against my shoulder until I hug him, too.

"You know the laws, Sharlotta." Raoul's words carry. "No were can take full wolf form and retain their humanity. They are dead to the pack."

I hit him hard with power, slamming him back into a tree. "In case you missed it," I snarl, "they seem to remember me."

He coughs, gasps a breath, but doesn't grow angry. If anything, he sounds resigned. "A dumb animal's recognition," he says.

The white wolf turns toward him and snaps her teeth. I laugh, angry and harsh.

"She seems to disagree." When she faces me again, I meet her gaze. "Mother," I whisper. "Is it you, still, inside?"

She nods, licks my cheek. The feeling of her is growing stronger, as though focus draws her out. I turn to the alpha. "Danilo?"

Another swipe of a tongue before he shakes his heavy head and barks like a happy puppy.

My heart soars. I must find a way to bring them out of their wolf shapes and back to human. But when I try with my own magic, I can't grasp them. It's as though they are there, but behind some kind of shielding. When I probe it, I realize it's their own magic keeping them contained.

"Had you shifted after you were free," I say to them, "you would have had access to your magic. But because you were forced into this shape when the Black Souls still controlled you, the power inside you instead formed a protection around you to keep you safe." The shielding repels me as I try to work my way past my mother's. "We need help with this. And I know the perfect person to ask." I stand, turning my back on my father, facing the werewolves he brought with him. "The old laws are no longer valid," I say. "Revenants are a thing of the past." They murmur, shift on their wereform paws. "The lies and superstitions we were raised on have kept us captive, long after we were freed from the Black Souls." They are paying careful attention. Excellent. Because I'm about to show them something important and I need their focus. I reach for my wolf and embrace her as I finish. "Freedom, true freedom, comes from what we've always been told was impossible." I shift quickly, throwing myself into full wolf shape, listening to their whimpers of shock, how they shiver at the sight of me.

My mind embraces all of theirs, shows them-even my father-I'm am intact and, better, more powerful than ever before. We have been denied the truth of our evolution, I send. Embrace your wolf and your true power.

For a long moment, I think I've lost them. And then Maks's magic touches mine and he shifts, releasing a startled yip as he morphs into a tall-shouldered timber wolf.

Charlotte! His mental voice is loud and clear, surging with sudden joy as his wolf body spins in a circle, a dance of utter happiness. I had no idea. He sinks to his haunches, tongue lolling out before he snaps his teeth at the watching weres. Don't be fools, he sends. This is amazing!

They shift almost as one, fear mixed with blind trust rippling outward as their magic wakes fully and washes over me. I laugh as best I can in wolf form, looking up to find only my father has remained in human shape.

I snap my teeth at him and turn my tail. We go to the palace, I send to my wolves who respond instantly with eagerness. And we take back our home.

They howl, loud and echoing, into the sky. My mother and brother race at my side as I run for the edge of the trees, leaving my father behind.

Let him stay, cling to the old ways. The werenation will evolve. And my people will finally, truly, be free.



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