Page 7 of Heartless

The other librarian was on the computer, but her glance was sharp. “We don’t stock books like that. If you have questions about cursed wolves, you should ask your teachers.”

I raised my eyebrows at her. So much for libraries promoting open and free thinking. “Okay.” I gave Theo a tight nod. “Thanks anyway.”

“You’re Vail Marrow, aren’t you?” He said quickly, coming around the counter as I started to retreat. “Perhaps I could direct you towards some biographies on your ancestors.”

I didn’t get a chance to respond, before his hand was on my elbow and he whisked me off to a quiet corner of the library. I hadn’t been back here, even though Jasper and I had covered most of the secluded spots in this building when he was giving me my ‘tour’. The windows were high and narrow, and a faint smattering of dust thickened the air. I was tempted to just back out, but the librarian was taking a ring of keys from his belt and unlocking a door to a small, dark room. “This is the rare books section,” he said, and when he stepped inside, I reluctantly followed. The door made a sucking sound as it sealed behind us, and I shivered in the sudden chill. “It’s climate controlled. To protect the books.”

A weak overhead light flickered on and I looked around. There was a single table and chair, and three neat shelves of books, with a few more under a glass case. It was stuffy, the scent of old paper and leather much stronger in this small space. But I was mostly distracted by Theo’s scent, which was sweet and crisp, like green apples that weren’t quite ripe. I was pretty sure he was an omega, like me, but a prickling tension seemed to stretch between us as he returned my stare. “Is something wrong, Mr. Grille?”

“Theo,” he said quietly. “I’m not your typical member of faculty, if you haven’t guessed.”

I had, but that didn’t mean I was just going to trust him. Mr. Wentworth was an omega, too, and look how that had worked out. When I just stared at him, he swiped a black curl from his eyes and said, “I suppose the best way to explain it is I don’t just read books. I also get a feeling from people. I can tell you’re troubled; that you have questions you can’t ask just anyone. And if Jeremiah sent you to talk to me, I have a fair idea what you want to know.” He cocked his head, and I felt the faintest sensation on my skin, like a puff of charged air. “What kind of shifter are you, Vail?”

Did he mean what I thought he meant? Was he just guessing, or was I giving off some kind of cat vibe now? A terrifying thought, until I remembered this wasn’t just Gwendoline Arras’s dinner date. Theo Grille was also Callum’s cousin. “I’m an omega,” I said quickly, straightening my spine. God knows how much Callum had told him, but I was going to cling to my cover story until it was ripped from my desperate claws. “I was tested at the pack lab. They were pretty thorough, and I know the school was sent the results. Ask the Clan Alpha if you don’t believe me.”

I guess there was such a thing as protesting too much, because the intensity of his stare didn’t fade one bit. But he surprised me by saying, “I heard about that, and I’m sorry you suffered because of their ignorance. Those labs are… an abuse of shifter gifts. They should be burned to the ground.”

I blinked at him. Others had told me the pack lab was dangerous, but Theo’s handsome features were twisted with revulsion. The heaviness in the air now felt like a static charge and I rubbed my arms as he tugged back the sleeve of his sweater with long, pale fingers. “Please know, this is a safe space. And to prove it to you, I will show you something that would get me a one-way ride to those labs, if anyone found out.”

I backed up a step. I’d come looking for answers, but I hadn’t expected him to shove his secrets in my face. But before I could reach for the door, there was a sizzling sound, and peacock-blue feathers suddenly covered his arm. He smiled at my stunned expression. “Like calls to like, Vail. I promise, if I was to betray you, I’d be betraying myself.”

I wasn’t sure how alike birds and cats were, since one tended to eat the other, but I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out and touching his arm. The feathers were as soft as silk, and warm from his skin. I couldn’t help stroking them, but when he made a soft bleating sound, I snatched my hand back. “Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry I startled you. Hiding what you are might be necessary, but it can also be lonely. The smallest touch…” He took a deep breath and tapped the glass window. “This room isn’t just sealed to control the temperature. It’s also soundproofed. As in, even wolf ears can’t hear through this. If you want to share…”

I was already shaking my head. I could tell it was a big deal he’d shown me his feathers, but I was still a long way from feeling comfortable about my cat. “Thanks for trusting me, but I really have nothing to tell you.”

“I understand.” He flicked his wrist and my heart pinged a little as the luscious feathers disappeared. “Then I’ll talk, and you can ask questions if you’d like.” He leaned back against the glass case, his arms bent at his sides so his hands met at his middle. “As you can probably tell from the feathers, I’m a falcon shifter. Like a peregrine, only much bigger. I was a dud when I came to this school as a student, and I imagine our early days were very similar. They identified me as an omega, but my mom had her suspicions. Over the summer break of junior year, she helped me shift for the first time.”

His face – other than being too perfect for words – was hard to read. Had it been a traumatic experience? How did his mom help him shift? Did anyone else know? Did he have a secret nest out in the woods and a bunch of chicks waiting for him to come home? Despite all the possibilities flying around my head – and his seemingly genuine offer to answer them – I kept stubbornly silent. Except for one question, which had been plaguing me since Callum tied me to his bed. “You can control it? You don’t shift unless you want to?”

“Yes, but I also use this.” He held up his other wrist, which was covered in a worn leather cuff. It looked a little hipster on him, only it was obviously more than a fashion statement, since it was embossed with the image of a falcon. “It suppresses my bird, so I don’t slip up and start pecking Alice every time she ruffles my feathers.”

I figured he meant the other librarian, but I eyed the leather cuff with mixed feelings. It sounded a bit too much like the containment collar to me. “The things is, when you’re different, the only way to survive in the shifter world is to hide in plain sight. Bird shifters are rare. The wolves outnumber us a hundred to one, so it’s important to keep a low profile.”

“But there are others? You’ve met shifters that weren’t wolves?”

“That’s what a void is, Vail,” he said gently. “Just a different kind of shifter.”

I wanted to believe that so much it hurt. But I’d heard the other kids talking about voids. Even Marnie had said they were bad, and refused to discuss them that day at the rose cottage. I got that this was a wolf shifter school, but if there really were others, wasn’t there safety in numbers? “So why do you have to hide at all? It’s not like wolves and birds can’t live together in the wild.”

“We did once,” he said and gestured to a large, leather-bound book in the glass case. “An English genealogist wrote this back in the seventeenth century. He claims there were six original shifter families, all with the soul of a different animal. Each family had their own European territory, but they traded with each other, and were allies, of sorts.”

“So what went wrong? And why haven’t I heard any of this before?”

Theo gave a frustrated sigh. “That book was one of the shifter world’s premier reference sources for over two hundred years. But if the pack leadership had its way, they’d confine it to the Myths and Legends section of this library. Or burn it altogether.” His eyes flashed for a moment, a blue-tinged silver that made me shiver. “The thing is, the wolves have been on the top for a very long time, Vail. They’re not the most gifted of the families, but they’re the largest, and the wealthiest. And they’ve never had to hide. So, a lot of them have forgotten we even exist. And others – powerful others – have worked all their long lives to make that a reality. By wiping us out, once and for all.”

As terrible as that was, I didn’t need to ask him why. Wasn’t it par for the course in the human world that those with power often wanted to destroy anyone who was different? Especially if they had gifts they didn’t possess. I must have been staring pretty hard at the book in the glass case, because he asked, “Would you like me to take it out? You’ll need to wear gloves so we don’t damage the paper, but you could have a quick look.” He cast a glance over his shoulder. “Assuming Alice doesn’t come and stick her snout in.”

God, I wanted that more than anything. To turn a page and see a cat shifter there, proud and strong. But the thought of learning more about other shifters was frightening, too. The irony of a hard lesson I’d learned at the academy – that knowledge didn’t always set you free. The more you learned about the world around you, the more reason you had to fear it. Knowing what I did about the shifter hierarchy, I couldn’t blame Theo for hiding his true nature, or for keeping this book locked away in a glass case. “So, are you really an omega? Or are you just different?”

He nodded, like my question pleased him. “I’m an omega to the wolves, but out there…” His gaze drifted back to the window, his expression softening as if he could see all the way to the sky. “I’m much, much more.”

Much, much more. Something coiled inside me at his words, at the pulse of power that brushed my skin. And not just power, but possibility. I knew in my heart I was different. My bloodline and rank had always been murky. I’d assumed it was my dominant human side, or that the shifter part of me was somehow broken. But maybe this was why I’d never really belonged at the academy. I wasn’t just a different type of shifter, I was outside their entire system of alphas and omegas. Of packs and pecking orders.

I didn’t belong here. But out there…

“You said you had information on my ancestors. But have you ever heard of Lucas or Elijah Marrow?” Theo’s gaze suddenly snapped back from the window, and the words caught in my throat at his expression. But he’d trusted me, and I had to find out about my cousins, once and for all. “I’ve been told they provide shelter to wolves in need. So I was wondering if… maybe… Could they know the truth about voids?”

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