Page 152 of Gift from the Wing

“Send a decree tomorrow changing the day of the ball and announce we’ve found our true Primary,” Caspian says, and we all turn toward him.

“You all asked me—”

“I know, we asked you to wait, but this news will lighten any grievances people have over a fucking party. Not only that, but it’s also going to put the Mastery in a bad spot. If anything were to happen again to Willow, the realm will now know the Mastery made a move against the awaiting Matriarch. That’ll make them reconsider everything they do,” he says begrudgingly, looking at Willow for her opinion.

“Princess?” I prompt when she stays quiet.

“I agree. It’s something we all wanted to wait to do, but I think it’s for the best now. It’s no longer a secret to the Mastery that I’m here and who I am. Including that I’ll be introduced to the realm during the ball may alsodraw the second family further into the light. We’ll see their reaction to me firsthand when they have to meet me,” she says and our pride for her blows across my chest.

Each of my brothers, including me, smiles at her fondly. I don’t think she has any idea how much she’s truly grown.

“Okay. I’ll send the decree tomorrow. What’s next?” Mom asks.

Turning my head to Tillman, he nods, and I know he’s on board with my next decision. It was a passing conversation the two of us had, but now a full-fledged plan has formed in my mind.

“Lyker, I have a large request of you.”

His serious face never flinches or changes, but I catch the softening in his gaze when his eyes turn to Willow. “I’ll do whatever you need of me.”

He says that now.

“I want to send you all the wolf shifters in the E.F. I need you to train them properly. Also, any wolf in your pack who wants to be part of the fight. Previous E.F. members or not. Tillman and I have discussed it. We’ll grant you authority to authorize them as active E.F. members. They’ll receive the training and all other resources as if they went through the academy.”

His mask crumbles into a pile of confusion as he looks between Tillman and me. I knew this would be a shock, but not only that, a huge responsibility to place on him on top of his responsibilities as Alpha.

“Why?”

“Wolves are the fastest, most well-organized land shifters in Elementra. The pack dynamic gives them unimaginable strengths, but it’s no secret they’re some of the hardest to train. Simply because of the dynamic of your beast. Their animal craves an alpha, and although the human side can identify Tillman, Ry, any of us as their superiors, their beast does not. Of course there’re exceptions to the rule. You, Rhett, his brothers, you all don’t rely on that relationship, but you lot are few and far between.

“The members we have, have ridiculous potential, but we don’t have the resources to provide them with what they need. Draken and Willow possess the dominance of alphas, and could easily fill that role, but that would just be a disservice to the shifters. When this war is over, there willalways be wolf shifters, but neither Willow nor Draken want to have to lead them every day. They need a permanent place to grow and thrive.”

He observes me for a long moment. Most of what I just said, he already knows. Who am I to teach him about his own gift, but it needed to be laid out like that so he could see where I’m coming from and where I’m going with this.

“You want me to open a wolf shifter academy,” he concludes.

Smart, smart wolf.

“Precisely. We’ll support you fully every step of the way. You won’t do anything alone, and we’ll provide everything you need for it.”

“I love the idea, I do. It was always a dream of my dad’s to have a school for wolf shifters. He—and I agree now that I’m older—always felt the wolves wouldn’t get such a bad rap if they had their own place to learn. But I’m not sure how the pack is going to feel about me clearing land to build a shifter academy right in their backdoors. They’re still healing from the betrayal of the last Alpha allowing a multitude of species to train in their lands,” he says, but I was ready for that. I considered how it would make his pack feel.

From my coat pocket, I pull out an envelope and pass it over to him, then wait for him to read through it.

“What is this?” he asks quietly.

“The unclaimed land outside the pack lands where your childhood home is. Apparently, it wasn’t unclaimed. The paperwork had just been hidden. The land you believed to be unclaimed is actually in the name of Alpha Lyker Quinn. Your childhood home’s land was left to be reregistered in the name of the children of Iris Quinn, Lyker and Willow.”

I thought I was losing my mind yesterday when that envelope appeared in my office desk drawer. I’ve been through the desk so many times, I knew I’d never missed it. But once Willow called for us to see they’d found my uncle’s secret room, I knew their discovery unlocked mine.

“This was the surprise you said you had for me,”Willow whispers.

“Yeah. I hope it’s a good surprise.”

“It’s great, it really is, but…it really says children, as in plural and my name.I was included?”

“Yeah, princess. Take a look for yourself.”

“May I?” she asks Lyker softly, to which his confused features turn tender, and he slides her the page.

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