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Finally, a soft, feminine voice says, “We thank you.”

Another, gruffer voice adds, “We thank you.”

Then another voice and another and another, until the whole room seems to be thanking me.

I glance at Cara, whose cheeks are wet. She gives me a soft smile, and I see her lips move.We thank you.

I bow my head as my own eyes prick. I’ve done so many things wrong and earned so much ire along the way that the compliments are unexpected and deeply moving.

Once it grows quiet again, someone else speaks up.

“You carried Cara the entire way,” a female shifter says, sounding impressed. Her eyes slide over me. “And you did this without the strength of a shifter.”

“I did use magic,” I say.

“You must be very powerful.”

I cringe at the word. “I had help,” I deflect.

“Help?” someone else from the crowd says. There’s a note of skepticism there.

Shit.

There was one single thing I hadn’t mentioned during my conversation.Memnon. Trying to explain the ancient warlord would only complicate things, so I omitted him.

Or I tried to at least.

“I…have a soul mate,” I confess. “We can share power through a bond we were born with. The night I fled with Cara he sensed I was in danger, and he gave me some of his magic.”

The room is deathly quiet.

“Who is this man?” a deep, rumbling voice questions, and they sound distrustful.

I guess I get it. The Marin Pack extended friendship to me, but if I have a soul mate, that relationship could affect this friendship pact.

“He’s…” Ah. How to put this without freaking everyone out? “A sorcerer.”

All at once, murmuring breaks out. Sorcerers aren’t exactly known for their shiny reputations. There are whole dynasties of them scattered throughout the world, and the more powerful they are, the more dangerous they tend to be.

“He’s the one who came and took care of me after I delivered Cara to your pack.” I don’t know why I’m trying to defend the man. He’s smeared his own good name. But I also don’t think of him the same way I do most other sorcerers.

Maybe because villain or not, he’s mine. And maybe because once upon a time, he gave me the whole world.

“Do you trust him?” someone else asks.

He had my absolute loyalty when I was Roxilana, but as Selene, he’s fucked me over a few times.

I don’t know what the truth potion is going to pull from my lips until I speak. “He’s loyal to no one but me.”

Kane’s voice cuts through the room. “Tell them how.”

I glance sharply at the shifter. At myfriend.

His expression is stern and unbending. “Tell them how you’ve made him loyal to you. They deserve to know what you confessed to me last night.”

Again, there are a few scattered murmurs from around the room.

Kane set me up for this.