Page 22 of When Embers Become Ashes

“Well, I’ve had a much smarter and prettier person to keep company,” he says as he angles the phone to capture me in the frame as well.

The boy’s faces are a picture of shock as I smile. Xander pushes something, and ' screenshot saved ' flashes across his screen.

I’m glad Chloe helped me wash the rest of the blood out of my hair and brushed it properly a few days ago so I don’t look like a hot mess. The scratches and bruises on my face have now healed, even though I have some new faint scars.

I barely hear the gasped words from Trick.

“Quinny?” Ren seems to go from shock to pissed,

“Where the hell have you been? Since your stuff arrived, we have been trying to find you.” Trick the shocking voice of reason,

“brother,she’s in a hospital bed. Ease off. When can she be moved here, Xan, so she’s safe?” Xander quickly answers,

“Soon, Mika is looking into stuff. She has a 24-hour guard at the door.” Xander starts to explain as we hear a door open. The Vampire from my sketch, Declan’s voice rings through the phone,

“Guys, come down. We’re letting the lanterns go soon. Sorry, Xan,” he says finally when he sees who the guys are talking to. I lean out the shot before he can see me.

“Can you film it for me, Jay? I'm sorry to miss it. " He gets an affirmative and a quick bye.

A few hours later, Xander shows me the video. Apparently, they do the lanterns every year for Mika’s missing child. Me!

Xander holds me while I cry. He gets another video of Trick shoveling smores in his mouth with a muffled,

“Happy birffday Qwinny,” or that’s what I presume he says with five s’mores in his mouth. Ren smiles at the camera and blows a kiss.

Christmas and New Year pass while I heal in the hospital. I woke on January 18th to the sound of crying and whispered words. I don’t know the voice, but the words are Russian.“Sorry,” “I’m so sorry.” “My baby girl,” “Daughter.”Are being repeated over and over, I open my eyes and look at the chair Xander is usually sitting in.

There’s a big guy hunched over, head in his hands, shaking with sobs. His grey-streaked brown hair is ruffled, and he keeps pulling at it and running his fingers through it.

I try to speak softly in Russian. He doesn’t feel like a threat. He feels familiar in a way, and his wolf looks like Dex.

“It’s not you who should be sorry. Jameson kept me hidden, even more so after my first DNA test. I’m probably not what you were searching for, so maybe we should start with introductions and get to know one another.”His head snaps up with my first word. As I finish, he shoots forward and gently squashes me in a hug,

“anything my baby girl, anything.”

We then talked for hours, and for the first time in my life, I told someone EVERYTHING about my life, including all my oddities, there are a few things I leave out as he looks worried about most of it,

“My sight is the hardest thing to explain. When I look at your face, I see half-human, half-wolf, unless I focus one way or the other. When I was younger, it was only who I looked directly at. As I got older, it was anyone in my line of sight. I noticed when I wore sunglasses, it went back to being directed at who I was looking at again, so I started wearing prop glasses.” He nods along and occasionally asks questions if he feels he needs more:

“I wondered why the glasses. You mentioned you’re not fully human, and from what Xander has mentioned, your healing is quicker than a human but not shifter level”. He seems nervous when he mentions anything that could be taken as criticism or that I could take offence to.

“My eyesight, hearing, healing, and reflexes are all way better than a human, but I’m not as good as a shifter, even though I think my eyesight is pretty close,” I explain with a wince. It’s usually what I’m bullied or dismissed for. He smiles and seems happy. I have some defences. I take a breath before I do the next part, as it can be dangerous if the wrong people know.

“I can also tell the level or strength of someone’s Alter and if they are about to shift or use abilities.” He raises an eyebrow, so I carry on,

“I knew when we were five years old that Ren’s Alpha was already stronger and more dominant than Gerald’s.” I breathe out, barely wanting to look up, but when I do, he looks shocked and then sad.

“I wish we had you and Jenson that day. It was a bad day, and Brayden was sick, so I didn’t go. Instead, I sent two enforcers. Is that all your secrets?” He says with a chuckle.

“Erm, no, I can feel when someone means me harm or has bad intentions, and my blood is weird.” I try to think of something other than my odd blood but can't.

“I’m glad you have built-in defenses, but what do you mean your blood is weird?” He asks and leans back in his chair, looking equally amused and curious.

“When they tested my blood as a child, the first time I had human and wolf parents, the next time was mage and wolf, the third time was wolf and wolf. They did more tests, but it was always a combination of those results.” He stares for a moment, then blinks, rubs his face, and fills in some of my blanks:

“Your mother was a wolf. I have no idea about her family. I knew nothing of them. I looked when she disappeared but found nothing.” I wait, hoping for more. Not on my egg donor, as I couldn’t care less about her, but I do get more.

“My mother was a wolf, but her grandmother was an Elemental Mage. It’s never shown up on DNA before.” he smiles.

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