Page 51 of The Mating Quest

He liked this place, liked Colorado. But Ilana’s attitude bothered him. Maybe getting answers out of her wouldhelp.

They sat together as Chloe and Dakota moved to the end of the bar to chat with two male Lupines. Ethan bristled. “I wish they wouldn’t do that. Who knows what those Lupines arelike?”

Ilana sighed as the bartender delivered their beers. “Look at them, your sisters. They seem so young. Carefree, and soon they’ll be laden with a heavy responsibility. Let them enjoythemselves.”

“You talk like an ancient. Mages don’t live as long as Lupines or someOthers.”

Ilana studied her beer. “Yeah. Maybe they make it to 200. 250 if they’re lucky. Mostdon’t.”

“You age very slowly, likeus.”

She sipped her beer, uncomfortable with this turn ofconversation.

“Are your parents stillalive?”

“What is this, dragon questioning?” Ilana shook her head. “No. Or yes. I don’t know. I was found when I was very little and adopted. I don’t remember. But my adoptive parents were great. Mages. I was their onlychild.”

“What happened to them?” Ethan askedquietly.

She stared into her beer for a long moment and he thought he’d pushed too far. Finally she spoke. “I had this… well, kind of a breakdown. I was aboutforty.”

“Forty in Mage years is about 20 in Skin years. Oryounger.”

“Yeah. Anyway, I was working with my dad in the fields. He was a farmer. We made our home in a village filled with Skins, but blended in well. No one knew our secret. And all the sudden I felt this horrible burning pain, searing me from the inside out. I thought I was dying. I started screaming and screaming. The pain lasted for hours and nothing stopped it. It was as if someone took a blow torch to my insides. I was burning from the insideout.”

Ethan’s jaw dropped. He put a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry,Ilana.”

“It finally ended and I had this uncontrollable bout of crying, as if I lost the only person I’d ever loved. I guess it was a nervous breakdown, but no one understood that stuff back then. People would look at me when I went into town, whisper I was awitch.”

“Damn. Did you ever find out what causedit?”

“No. I figured it was some psychic thing that had to do with my magick, which suddenly grew stronger. My mother gave me this noxious potion to drink after the pain ceased,” her nose wrinkled. “The potion made me stronger, feel as if I could do anything. But the breakdown – rumors spread. It impacted my father’s business – no one would buy his crops. So I packed my things and left to save them from starvation. Wandering, had some skills in metal art and herbs. Met up with this old warrior who taught me how to fight because a girl back then on her own was atarget.”

Ethan glanced at Chloe, chatting with a man standing next to her at the bar. “Same astoday.”

“Got into a nasty fight, and really hurt. Was out of it for a long time and when I came out of it, decided to go home.’ She toyed with herbeer.

“Whathappened?”

She looked him in the eyes. “The villagers burned my parents’ home to the ground. They strung them up, hung them. Labeled them witches. I guess I left toolate.”

They fell silent for a few minutes. Ethan felt an unwelcome tug of empathy and bonding with Ilana. He knew the pain of leaving yourfamily.

“What was this deal with the devil you made?” heasked.

Ilana tensed. “Let’s just say he delighted in cruelty. It became his special talent and he honed it onme.”

Ethan growled low, disturbed at the thought of someone tormenting her. Ilana waved a hand. “It’s in the past. What about you, wolf? All these questions about my life, what about yours? Lived in the same pack for years, surrounded byfamily?”

Hearing the bitter note in her voice, he gave a humorless laugh. “Hardly. I didn’t even meet my sisters until two months ago. Never knew they existed. We were all separated at birth. They were given to Others with little power, Mages mostly. I was the only one who stayed with my mother’s pack and raisedLupine.”

He drained his beer. “But I’m not and when I turned 21, the alpha discovered this. He tried to protect me but couldn’t and I got kickedout.”

Ilana coughed on her sip of beer. “Kicked out?Why?”

Glancing at her, he nodded. “That’s what happens to male Changeling shifters. Lupines fear us because we can assume any form, insect, animal and in males, we can briefly imitate anotherperson.”

She wiped her mouth. “Because it’s a recessive male gene so it’s stronger. I guess your sisters’ magick as Changelings isn’t as strong asyours.”