Page 12 of Ashes

“That’s because she didn’t. I saw her walk into a bar. The Solar Cross. I followed her. She was serving. She looked… happy. You were there. Talking to her. You dropped a business card. So, I picked it up. Just in case.”

“I dropped a business card? That sounds unlikely.”

She swallows hard and looks down into her drink. Tilting her head from side to side, she says, “It was sticking out of your pocket. I might have…” She taps her long fingernails on the side of the mug, then looks up at me. “I’m a witch,” she says firmly, sitting up a little straighter. “When I saw the card sticking out of your pocket—”

“Youmademe drop it?”

She dips her head. “Yes.”

I fold my arms again. We’ve been talking for less than five minutes, and she’s lied already. “You don’t feel like a witch,” I say, searching for an aura and finding nothing. “You feel human.”

“I’m un-elemental,” she says, her lips tightening. “I have no affinity.”

“I know what it means.” Un-elementals are rare, and generally looked on with suspicion by other supers.

Sarah starts to fiddle with a button on her cardigan.

“All right,” I say. “So, we knowhowyou found me. Now tell mewhy.Why call? Why now? With all that’s going on, what makes you think Nova needed to know about her brother when you’ve kept his existence to yourself all these years?”

Flattening her palms on the table, Sarah breathes out slowly. “In order to tell you that, I need to tell you all of it,” she says, glancing over her shoulder to check we’re still alone.

“I have time.” I pick up my cell and press record on the dictaphone. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Sarah looks at the phone. Hesitantly, she begins. “Twenty-four years ago, I was working as a midwife. I was on a nightshift. It was late. Nearly midnight. It was raining. The kind of rain where you can barely see your hand in front of your face.” Sarah closes her eyes as she remembers. “A young mother was brought in. She was twenty-one. Human. Her husband was older than her, and he was a werewolf.

“The husband was terrified. He was making such a fuss that I told him to wait outside. The mother… she was called Elena. She was beautiful. Jet black hair, wide eyes. Mesmerizing, and very sweet. She told me that their marriage, and the pregnancy, had happened quickly. Neither of their families were happy, but they were over the moon.” Sarah draws in a deep breath. “However, she was only thirty-six weeks along. The baby was early.” Sarah looks down at her fingernails. “There were complications. The baby came. He was small, but perfect. A beautiful little boy. Then Elena started bleeding. Too much blood.” Sarah looks up at me. “We couldn’t save her.”

“The baby was Sam?” I ask, keeping my voice low, glancing at my phone to make sure it’s still recording.

Sarah nods slowly. “Yes, the baby was Sam.”

6

MACK

“Fuck!” I slam the phone down. Instantly, Snow breaks through. I let it happen; feel my muscles stretch and my bones crack. Pain and pleasure merge. Power shakes through me as I grow bigger and stronger, and thoughts give way to urges.

I rarely shift in the house. Let alone my study. There’s hardly room for us. Snow swipes our paw over the desk, knocks the phone flying, opens our mouth and roars at the ceiling.

The light fitting rattles.

“Mack?” We hear her before we see her.

When we turn around, there she is. In the doorway. She sees us and her eyes widen. They roam our white fur, take in the shape of our shoulders, our thick powerful legs, our heavy feet.

“Snow…” she whispers.

His name on her lips makes Snow open our mouth and pant.

“It’s nice to see you again.” She weaves her fingers into our fur. “But I could kinda use Mack right now.”

At that, Snow huffs hard. I laugh and he huffs louder.

As I turn back into myself, Nova stays very still. She watches the transformation without looking away. When I’m me again, standing butt-naked in front of her, she breathes, “Wow. That was…”

The shape of her lips when they saywowmakes my cock twitch. As if she can tell, she looks purposefully down and raises an eyebrow.

“Impressive?” I ask, surprised that I’m letting myself flirt with her. Especially now when there are a million other things that are more important than hormones to deal with.