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“Cas?” he said, voice soft.

My head tilted. The name stirred something inside me. Cas.

“The name is familiar because it’s yours.” He slowly lowered himself and knelt before me. “Your name is Casteel Hawkethrone Da’Neer, and I’m Kieran Contou.”

Wisps of memories drifted from the recesses of my mind. Flashes of him much younger—of us as boys and then men.

Kieran glanced to where she slept. “And that is—”

Mine.

One side of Kieran’s lips tipped up. “Yeah, she’s yours, but depending on her mood, she may not be all that thrilled to hear you continuously snarling that.”

My eyes narrowed as I backed up so my head was level with her arm.

He took a deep breath. “I’m guessing by the state of the chamber, someone attempted to attack her, and it didn’t end well for them.” His blue eyes drifted over me. “And it changed you.” A bit of awe crept into his voice. “Holy fuck, you shifted.”

I… I had. Because this wasn’t my normal…existence. I didn’t see the spotted gold and black fur but a male with golden-bronze skin and dark hair.

“Cas?”

My attention swung back to him. He’d inched closer, on one knee now.

“Do you remember when we were boys, and I first shifted after being in my mortal form for a while? I had trouble separating myself from the wolf, but you were there. You helped remind me who I was,” he said, voice low and soothing as more disjointed images flashed and collided, building atop one another. “I know it can be difficult to pull yourself out of this, but you’re still in there, and I’m going to need you to come back to me as Cas.” His gaze held mine. “She needs you to come back as Cas.”

Kieran.

She.

Penellaphe.

Poppy.

My Queen.

She needed me.

At once, my sense of self came roaring back, clicking into place beside this new part of me, fusing. I took a step forward, then stopped as I shook my fur out.

“You just will it,” Kieran explained. “Like you would a compulsion. You will your body back into its mortal form. That’s how it works.”

I widened my stance. Like a compulsion? I tapped into the eather like I would for a compulsion, doing as Kieran instructed. I willed myself into mortal form, but the rush of power came at me faster and harder than ever before. Silvery specks of light appeared, seeping out of my pores and washing over me. The shift happened much more fluidly. Bones in my arms and chest shrank, muscles and tendons loosening to allow room for them to snap back into place. Canines retreated as my jaw reformed. I rocked back on instinct, my paws changing into feet. I rose, a little unsteady, as flesh replaced fur. I straightened, cracking my back as my ribs settled.

“Gods,” I bit out, throat scratchy as I watched my nails retract and my hands return to normal. “I thought you said shifting doesn’t hurt.”

A shaky laugh of relief left Kieran as he rose. “The very first time can be a bitch, but it gets easier—more comfortable each time.” He blinked several times. “Then it doesn’t hurt.”

“Good to know.” There was still a…a distinctive purr to the tenor of my voice as I looked down at my chest. I was fucking drenched in blood, but most of it was the Rev’s. The wound in my chest had closed, leaving behind a puckered line of almost charred skin.

I looked up at Kieran. “I think I was about to eat Emil.”

The skin crinkled at the corners of his eyes as he laughed again. “Yeah, you were definitely thinking that.”

Fucking Emil.

“What in the hell happened in here?” Kieran asked, moving to stand in front of me. He touched the skin under the wound. “What is this?”

“A Rev came in through the window while I was sleeping. I woke just as he was about to—” My hand fisted as I confirmed that Poppy was okay. She was alive, and she wasn’t vulnerable. “He got me in the chest with this dagger.”

I bent, picking up the one nearest me. “Get the other.”

Kieran went to where the other one had fallen near a few scattered Rev pieces. “What kind of blade is this?” he asked, eyeing the milky-white stone. “It looks like the same kind that fucker Callum used to curse me.”

“It does.” I frowned. “This Rev said it was made of the bones of the Ancients and that it could incapacitate a Primal.”

Kieran’s stare shot to Poppy. “Ancients? Like the Primals?”

“I don’t know, but it did fuck me up. I couldn’t move. It was like the blade severed all control of my body the moment it penetrated my skin,” I said. “I couldn’t move until this…this power filled me. I’ve never felt anything like it. It tasted like ash and felt like ice in my veins.” I swallowed, wiping the blood from my chin with my other hand. “Then I was able to move. I pulled the dagger out, and I don’t even know how, but I…I shifted.”