Page 312 of His Hungry Wolf

“There’s no test I can give you that can tell you what you are. At least, none that I know about. All I can do is help you understand anything magical you might experience.”

“So, you don’t know what I am?”

“I don’t.”

“What aren’t you telling us?” Nero insisted.

Dr. Tom stared at Nero stone-faced before speaking again.

“There are creatures capable of setting fire to a campsite.”

“You’re talking about dragon shifters?” Nero asked.

“I’m sorry. Did you say dragon shifters?” I asked sure I hadn’t heard him correctly. “Are you saying there are people who turn into dragons?”

Nero turned to me. “I’ve never seen one, but Cage was raised by one.”

“And you think a dragon shifter killed my parents?” I asked the doctor.

“I’m only saying it’s a possibility.”

“But, why?” I asked as my head spun.

“Why would any parent leave their child with a family friend and go camping?”

That was something I had thought about a lot. Why would they, except,

“You think someone was after them and they left me behind to keep me safe?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” the doctor said. “But a spell has been cast on you that masks your scent. That couldn’t be done by anyone but a powerful fae.”

“You think my biological parents are fae?”

“I don’t know. Maybe someone else cast the spell. Perhaps the people who raised you. Maybe you did it yourself without realizing it.”

“How do I get it off?”

“You first need to ask yourself if you want it off. If it was cast, there had to be a reason for it. If your biological parents put it on you because someone dangerous was after them, removing it might alert them to your existence. It might put you and everyone around you in danger.”

I hesitated before asking my next question.

“And, what if I put it on myself somehow?”

“Then it would be up to you to remove it.”

“How would I do that?”

“By not needing it anymore.”

“And, if I did cast this spell on me, what would that make me?”

“Whoever did this to you, whether it’s you, your parents, or someone else entirely, they are a very powerful fae.”

I sat with that for a while. I was still a baby when my biological parents died. I never knew them. The couple who raised me were who I knew as my parents until I was twelve years old. After that, I drifted from feeling lucky that my biological parents had left me behind, to being mad at them for leaving me.

Thinking about it now, the one thing I was sure about was that the couple who raised me didn’t do magic. They were the most normal southern parents I could imagine. It had to be my biological parents who had cast it, didn’t it? But, if they had done it and Dr. Tom said that magical abilities were passed down genetically, did that mean that I was like them?”

“If it was my biological parents who did it, didn’t that mean that I’m a fae, too?” I asked hesitantly.