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“How was your time, just the two of you?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

Elias leaned against the back of his couch and crossed his arms, a slow smile creeping across his face.

“Heaven,” he finally replied. “Pure, unadulterated heaven.”

“Look, I don’t want to seem super touristy right now,” Marlowe said, looking over the menu. “But wehaveto get a deep-dish pizza, right?”

Elias and I looked at each other and shrugged. He had lived in Chicago for years, and I had spent a significant amount of time here as well while I was going to Northwestern. This night was all about Marlowe and whatever she wanted.

“Fair’s fair,” Elias said. “I made you get sourdough bread and clam chowder with me at Fisherman’s Wharf. Just don’t get anything with broccoli on it.” He winked, signaling the waiter.

“Ha ha,” she replied, putting down the menu with a very bratty smile on her face. “Joke’s on you, I’m ordering Hawaiian—withextrapineapple.”

Sal’s was quite busy for a Wednesday, but Elias took clients here often and was on a first-name basis with the general manager, so he was able to get us a booth in the shifter section. But even with Marlowe tucked into the corner and the overwhelming smell of garlic, tomato sauce, and cheese in the air, her perfume still caused quite a few head turns and curious sniffing.

We tried not to let it affect us too much, but I placed a very possessive arm around her shoulders all the same. Some of my compulsive need to touch her came from our time apart, as well. Ever since I’d arrived that afternoon, I hadn’t taken a hand off her, as though I feared she could be separated from me again at any moment.

“So,” I started, once the waiter left with our order. “I wanted to talk to you both about something that’s been weighing on my mind, and was recently confirmed by the test results on your blood.”

Elias rubbed his chin with his thumb. “That’s right, I had nearly forgotten all about that in the wake of your accident.”

I sighed. “Me too, which could have been a complete disaster if anyone else had gotten their hands on them.”

I had scanned the papers in Elias’s home office and emailed them to myself before we left. After I pulled them up on my phone, I passed it to the both of them to read.

Marlowe’s eyes widened. “Does not correspond to any known biological compound or element…Does this mean what I think it does?”

Elias whistled and leaned back. “I think it means we’re aliens, California.”

“It means the Luminis in our blood is alien,” I corrected, putting my phone away.

Our table was silent as they digested the news. I watched Marlowe carefully, her mind working while she slowly swirled the wine in her glass. Finally, she looked up. “Do you think shifters always had Luminis in their blood and just lost it over time, or is this somethingnew that just happens to unlock our latent ability to shift into our wolves?”

Elias arched an eyebrow. “Or perhaps your brother might not be as crazy as he seems.”

The pizza arrived at our table and Marlowe’s face lit up at the steaming insult to Italian culture before us. Elias grimaced as she dug out the first slice, putting it on her plate. “How can you accept this? Didn’t you study abroad in Milan?”

She took a bite and moaned, smiling broadly as the cheese stretched between her lips and the fork. I couldn’t even contain myself, she looked so cute I reached down and kissed her cheek, sending her into a fit of giggles.

“Listen,” she finally replied. “We’re already eating deep-dish, so any argument you want to start on authenticity is null and void. Besides, if you insist on going through life as some sort of food purist, you’re going to miss out on some truly delicious meals. Do I consider this Italian? Of course not. Is it good? Hell yes.”

Despite the sour look on his face, he still ate quite a bit, all the while picking off pineapple pieces and giving them to Marlowe, who happily accepted them.

I decided to wait until we were home to continue discussing my findings, and after finishing a large tiramisu for dessert, we got up to pay the bill.

“I’ll meet you up front, I just need to go to the bathroom,” Marlowe said.

Once she was out of ear shot, I turned to Elias and confided in a low voice. “I’m afraid this fight with her brother is unavoidable. And both outcomes will hurt Marlowe, because either we’re responsible for the real death of her brother, or he kills us.”

Three weeks ago, I would have laughed at the claim that shifters and vampyrs were descended from fae. I thought, surely, there had to be some logical, scientific explanation as to how and why we were able to transform into wolves. But after what I’d discovered in our blood…

There was something else at play here, though, too. In all my research, I had never come across any mention of shifters being able to wield magic like Ezra had. We were dealing with something wholly new and unprecedented. Could fairy tales really be the answer?

“I think we need to talk about the prophecy you found on the back of that photo in James’s office, too, and how it might fit into all this,“ Elias replied. “Marlowe told me something strange a few daysago, and I have a feeling you’ve likely come to this conclusion as well without realizing it. She’s especially… Wait, where is she?”

We had been waiting by the door for quite some time, longer than it should have taken.

“I’ll go check on her,” I said, heading back inside. I navigated my way through the front human section, down the hall with the bathrooms.