Page 148 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

A dart hit the side of his neck. He gurgled, his mouth filling with foam as he choked on his own saliva. He fell, twitching and staring at me in wide-eyed panic.

“You always spoke too much, old man,” Grandmother said in disappointment.

“And you never spoke enough,Grandmother,” I said, drawing two blades from my side. “All along, you only wanted me for my Gift?” Hurt colored my voice.

“Of course not, child. Should I have done as you had done in the trial, your blood would have spilt upon the sand that day."

As the meaning of her words raced through my brain, I froze. I was her most cherished—no. It couldn't be. I couldn't be the thing she wanted most. She never loved me.

She nodded as if whatever she saw on my face echoed what was on her mind. "You were to be my successor,dearchild. My very legacy. You were to know all this upon taking my place. But you inherited your father’s blasted altruism. We could have saved the world with you; now we will just have to save it without you.”

I shook my head, and it broke me from my frozen stupor. “Don’t you realize how wrong this is? Manipulating people, killing innocent creatures—all for what? A chance to rule the world?”

She clicked her tongue as I drove a blade under the chin of a rogue. She watched the blood with the detached expression of one used to such carnage. “Have you not listened? We were going to create a world of peace. A world where everyone is content. Seventh on this planet. We could still create it. The peace you so desire—it can be yours.”

“Why try to kill magic? You have been using it all along!” I shouted, my face twisting in disgust.

Shaking her head, she ran a sword through the heart of an enforcer who had gotten too close. She moved away, and I darted forward, catching him as he fell, but hisneedcut off right as I reached him. I ground my teeth, watching my people fall and feeling helpless to stop them.

I threw a blade at my grandmother, but she dodged it. If I could keep her attention on myself, the others could fight. Maybe the scales would be tipped if I took her out.

“You are looking at a piece, not the whole. Magical creatures were only a means to an end. We needed to find your bloodlineand get a hellhound. We could not have a tribe of protectors going around and thwarting us, now could we?”

It clicked. “You were never only the matriarch. You turned this entire tribe against magic so it wouldn’t look deep enough to find the realyou.”

She grinned, her teeth white against the stark blood painting her face. “So you know, do you? Who am I, child?”

“You’re Kingpin, leader of the black mages.”

She threw her head back and laughed. “What a smart child you are.” Her visage changed completely. Wrinkles disappeared to be replaced with smooth, porcelain skin. Her hair rippled, and beneath it was hair dark as a midnight sky and just as silky. She blinked and her eyes turned from pale gray to a striking blue.

She tossed her hair over her shoulder, baring her teeth in a sweet smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Finally. Do you know how hard it was to marry your grandfather? He had the bloodline, but as soon as my daughter was born, I realized it was much too diluted. She didn’t even have a Gift, even though I was a strong mage born from generations of first-tier magic. Luckily, I found your father to marry your mother. I used a spell to ensure all your parent’s children would be born with magic—at the cost of my original abilities, sadly. And your little puppy Alpha over there took care of your grandfather before I could?—”

I darted forward, slicing. She dodged, but I kept coming. I nearly nicked her throat, but she blasted me back with a fireball. I patted my cloak out.

“Don’t speak of him,” I hissed, locking blades with her as she casually brought a blade from beneath her white cloak to protect her throat.

She raised a brow. “Oh? Why shouldn’t I? He was a passive man with zero drive.”

“He was a gentle man with a heart of gold who craved a simple life but married a power-hungry vagrant who needed tobe putdown.” I twisted my body and drove my blade handle-deep into her thigh.

She laughed maniacally. “You’re dealing with the matriarch who trained you and Kingpin who has magic. If you surrender now, I may leave your mate alive as a pet for my offspring.”

“You’re mad.”

She shrugged, kicking me back. “Madness to some looks like wisdom to others.”

While she was speaking, I drove a blade through her hand and when she was distracted by the knife sticking out of her, I sliced her throat. I stepped back, waiting for her to drop and bleed out on the soil where I’d grown up, where she’d trained me.

Long seconds I waited with guilt marring my soul, and she stood strong with a gaping throat like a third mouth. Her grin never wavered, and her skin knit itself back together. Horror threaded my soul.

“You can’t kill Kingpin. Kingpin is immortal. I would’ve passed this immortality to you, darling child, to pay for my sins. But now? I’m going to take what’s needed to ensure no one ever again experiences the pain of my childhood.”

"Why... Why turn on your entire tribenow? Why wait? You... you were my prisoner for weeks?—"

I took another step back. I looked on in terror as everything I thought I knew collided with the truth. Everything fell to pieces before me. A part of me had still hoped that the grandmother I had loved could be in there somewhere. The one who’d smiled when I brought back a werewolf pelt. The one who’d given me my cloak at graduation. The one I’d wanted to make proud.

But it was clear, despite knowing her my entire life, I neverknewgrandmother.

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