Page 26 of Enemies By Fate

Asher casts me a worried gaze as he, too, recognizes the name. Only Malachi doesn’t seem to understand the significance of what’s happening as Tavric continues to spill all he knows about Sharp Brickman and his unique birthmark.

“The mark represents the original pack. The original bloodline,” he explains.

“Oh…” I mumble, stumbling back as my breath leaves my lungs.

“What is it?” Malachi demands, his attention flipping back and forth between me and the pair in the boardroom like a tennis match.

My head raises toward Asher. There’s a hazy recognition in my younger brother’s eyes, but he had only been sixteen. Ten years is a long time, and so much has happened since then.

We need to get Poppy out of there.

“You’re blessed with a sacred power,” Tavric sings, snatching up another sandwich.

“Can I steal powers?” Poppy asks in shock. “Is that my ability?”

The question takes everyone aback, including Tavric. “Steal powers? Are you a witch?” he scoffs. “Not that I’m even sure witches and warlocks possess that kind of dark magic. No, my dear. You simply have the uncanny ability to shift into the form of anyone you touch. Haven’t you noticed?”

“No, I know that…” she hems, her brow still furrowed.

“Then what are you asking?”

Poppy’s frown deepens. “But why didn’t I shift when I turned fifteen, like other shifters, if that’s true? Didn’t the ancient pack shift at fifteen? I don’t understand.”

Tavric scarfs down another sandwich without looking up, his entire beard encompassed in crumbs now. He slurps a sip of coffee back before answering. “Maybe you’re a witch too. Who’s your mama?”

This has gone on long enough.

Blood drains out of my face, and I rush toward the hallway before my brothers can stop me.

Asher calls out after me. “You can’t go in there! You promised to let her talk to him alone!”

But I have to put an end to this before Poppy puts the pieces together, just as I have, the inkling in her eyes shining brighter with each passing second.

“Sharp Brickman,” I hear her say as I open the boardroom door.

She lifts her head to look at me strangely, and suddenly I realize she knows.

“He was my father!” she gasps, horror coloring her face.

Asher and Malachi rush in after me, flanking me on either side.

“Easy,” I murmur, recognizing the signs of fury mounting on her face.

“You killed him! I remember now!” Poppy rages, jumping up to confront us, her blue eyes flashing with venom. “I remember everything about that day! I was in the woods, waiting for him to come out, and he didn’t! I heard him telling me to run because you were going to murder him!”

“Poppy, you don’t—” I start to say, but reasoning with her in this state is futile.

She lunges for us, grabbing hold of Malachi, and immediately shifts into his onyx dragon form, her body overtaking the entire boardroom and knocking the table sideways to the glass.

Enraged, she releases a spray of fire, but we react, shifting too, along with the guards as Tavric cowers and cries, too weak to morph in his current state.

Poppy’s ire overtakes her common sense, her need for destruction and revenge, giving us the upper hand.

Oh, how I wish she hadn’t done that.

Malachi jumps onto her back, collapsing her wings to keep her from flying as Asher pounces on her jaws to keep her from releasing any more fireballs at us, his teeth sinking into her back to subdue her. A loud but choked scream emanates through theboardroom, shaking the windows so violently that it’s a miracle they don’t shatter.

I shift back into my human form, panting and sweating as I approach her writhing form, screeching and pushing against my brothers.

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