Page 62 of Wolf Touched

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Ifeared saying the next words, unsure if I could handle actual rejection. “Can we talk?” I wanted to say more and be direct, but nothing could get past my suddenly parched throat. I tried to swallow and nearly choked.

Silence hung in the air, and I tugged at my wolf magic inside my chest to tap into my wolf hearing more.

Then, feet hit the floor and shuffled toward the door.

My lungs moved more freely. They hadn’t kept me shut out. They were going to open the door.

As if they’d heard my chants, the door to their bedroom opened, and the first thing I noticed across from the door and above their headboard was a picture of them, much younger, with a little boy and an infant in Octavia’s arms.

The walls closed in on me.

Could that be me in the picture? But no. They’d given me up; they wouldn’t have a picture of me above their bed. It had to be someone near my age or something.

“Is everything okay?” Dru sat upright in bed, his face creased with worry. “Is someone else hurt?” He swung his feet off the sky-blue comforter and stood. “I should’vebrought a hell of a lot more supplies. I had no idea how fast we’d go through them all.”

My heart dropped. We were causing them problems, and I’d snapped at them earlier. For most of my life, I’d been able to keep my mouth shut, but it was like meeting Raffe had changed me fundamentally. Mostly in good ways, but I needed to remember not to speak in anger, especially to people who were helping us. We’d be a lot worse off if it wasn’t for them. “Yeah, everything is …” I trailed off. I didn’t want to say good because that would be a lie. “Well, no one is in imminent danger or bleeding to death.” That counted for a lot lately.

Octavia snorted. “I could get used to this change of pace.”

“Me too.” I smiled, but then it died. I had so much to say, and I wasn’t sure where to start. I wrapped my arms around my waist, not liking the uneasy chill that racked me.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Dru asked, tilting his head and heading toward me. “Are you coming down with a cold or something? You did lose a lot of blood, and the thing earlier—it could wear your immune system down and make you more susceptible to illnesses.”

I smiled, enjoying having someone with a medical and science degree around who shared my interest. Granted, my limited expertise was on animals and not humans. “Do you mind if I come in, or can we go somewhere to talk?”

“Yeah, of course.” Octavia stepped back from the door, gesturing for me to enter. “You’re always welcome here. You never even have to ask.”

They were being too nice and making this harder for me. I nodded, entering the room, and Octavia shut the door behind me.

Pictures of the mountains hung in another corner of theroom, making me feel slightly more comfortable. The colors reminded me of standing in the woods, surrounded by nature.

I walked toward the dark wooden chest of drawers in the corner of the room to gain some distance.

“Is something wrong?” Octavia asked, now standing next to Dru. They stared at me, waiting for whatever I had to say.

Silence weighed on me, and I straightened, knowing the longer it took for me to speak, the harder it would be. “I’m sorry about earlier.” I wanted to avert my eyes, but that would be taking the coward’s way out. They deserved better. “When I snapped at you.”

Octavia sighed and placed a hand over her heart. “Oh, honey. You don’t have anything to apologize for. We’ve been kicking ourselves for calling you Divinity. It’s very selfish of us.”

“We didn’t consider how that would make you feel, and we were debating apologizing to you or just dropping it,” Dru added, placing an arm around Octavia’s shoulders.

“You two have been kind to us, opening up your home and giving us medical attention.” I extended my arms out from my sides. “You didn’t deserve that, and—”

“But we did.” Octavia clasped her hands in front of her chest. “We gave you up and allowed other people to name and raise you. The name on your birth certificate is Skylar, and that is what we should call you.”

I inhaled shakily, realizingthiswas the conversation I’d always wanted to have. I’d thought I’d be able to speak eloquently and tell them all the ways they’d done me wrong, but things weren’t so cut and dried, and definitely not easy. All the things I’d wanted to say seemed harsh. “All my life, I knew why you gave me up. I wasn’t normal, andno one understood me. I understand how vicious supernaturals are now and why you wouldn’t want that target on your and Fane’s backs. But yeah, hearing you call me that name reminds me of everything you chose when giving me up. I do get it, though. I wouldn’t want Olwyn and some secret society hunting me down. And you’re helping me now, and I do appreciate it.”

“Oh, baby girl.” Octavia’s face twisted in agony. “Is that why you think we gave you up? Because that’s not even close to the truth.”

“We almost didn’t give you up, but we thought the best way to protect you was to let you go.” Dru tugged Octavia to his side. “The moment we knew your powers were activated, we knew that supernaturals would want to use you or harm you. There’s no in-between, judging by what’s been passed down over generations in the arcane-born bloodline.”

She nodded. “We believed that if we didn’t want you on the run for your entire life, it was best if you weren’t around supernaturals. The safest way of doing that was to have a human family raise you. I’d hoped that, by not being around magic, your power wouldn’t form and your life wouldn’t be at stake. Had we known that giving you up wouldn’t work, we would have never let you go.”

I tugged at the hem of my white, long-sleeve shirt. “To be fair, I love my parents. Though they don’t understand me, they do love me. But growing up, everyone made fun of me, and the more they hurt me, the more out of control my powers became. I … I didn’t feel like I fit in anywhere until I came to EEU and immersed myself in the supernatural.” I made the journey sound easy. It hadn’t beenat all, but I’d found a man I was crazy about, friends, and some sort of self-acceptance.

They both hung their heads.

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