Page 44 of Witchblood

“Can’t you shift with him? Teach him how to be normal?”

“Miss…”Apaswallowed back whatever he was going to say. “This is normal for him.”

“And that’s the problem.” My mother paced, not looking in my direction at all. “I want him to be safe. I still love him.”

“But you don’t want him with you.”

“Maybe if you can train him not to shift?” She looked hopeful now. “I can come back and get him then.”

“You want him to hide what he is.”

She just shrugged. “Being different isn’t safe. You know that’s true for anyone. Werewolves, half-Japanese black women like me, and that baby fox in your arms. We do our best to not be seen. Not make waves.”

“I can teach him control,”Apaoffered. “Though as young as he is, it may take years.”

My mother stopped pacing again. “I could come see him sometimes?”

“Anytime you wish,”Apaagreed. He sat back in the chair, cradling me in his arms and closing his eyes again. “Thank you for bringing him to me, Starla. I promise to do my best to care for him as if he were my own.”

“Thank you, Mr. Volkov. Thank you so much. I will try to send money…”

“Not necessary,”Apacut her off. “I have plenty of money. I will have my son Oberon speak with your father about investments that might help his business.”

Appearing as though summoned, Oberon stepped through a doorway, a frown etched on his face. My mother didn’t notice. She just nodded her head. “Thank you so much. And please take good care of Sebastian. I probably should have been smarter about making a choice of bringing him into the world, but I didn’t know…Does anyone really? And what if I’d given him up for adoption? Those poor people would be so confused.”

“Sebastian is in good hands,” Oberon told her. “Let me walk you to your car.” He led her out, barely throwing a glance back at the Volkov who didn’t move. It was like he’d fallen into a trance.

It stung a little to be reminded of how little my mother wanted me. She said nice things, echoing what I’m sure she’d heard from a television show instead of what she felt. Her eyes spoke the truth. She’d looked at me with disinterest when I’d been a baby. Maybe even horror for what she’d been stuck with. Recently, her eyes said I was an obligation, almost a bad memory of what she could never really escape. She had three other children now. Was happily married to a man I’d never even met. All of the other kids were normal. It was just me who’d messed up her life by being conceived too quickly and born to thewitchbloodcurse.

Aparocked in the chair, looking as young and unassuming as always. Especially holding a baby fox in his arms, eyes closed, and body relaxed as though he were nearly asleep. No one would see him walking down the street and think he was the deadliest werewolf on the planet. In fact, a lot of wolves didn’t believe it either once they’d met him. Dangerous, that assumption.

Oberon returned and stopped with the door open behind him. “Apa?”

The Volkov froze, tension whipping through him, cording his muscles in an instant. A dark wind swept the room. Something I’d felt only a handful of times in my life and knew enough to run far away from. The Volkov’s eyes opened a slit to reveal a glowing yellow so bright that Oberon immediately dropped to the floor and bowed his head in submission.

“Apa?” Oberon asked again, this time his voice in a high pitched whine I couldn’t recall ever hearing from him before. The baby version of me shifted, changing back to human and began to cry. Some instinct within me reached out to soothe the baby. Not physically, more an emotional touch like the day I’d calmed Toby. The same thoughts,Safe, calm. Safe, calm.

The Volkov’s eyes shut again. The dark wind vanished. He began to hum and rock me. His touch once again soothed away the baby cries until the baby version of me was nestled against his chest, fast asleep. Oberon still knelt at his feet, prostrated to a power I couldn’t feel. His ragged breathing told me he was fighting to stay still and not startle the Volkov.

“Omega,”Apawhispered.

Oberon let out a deep sigh as though he could finally breathe, and so did I. “Like Felix’s mother,” Oberon agreed, an edge of warning in his voice.

“My control is much better now,”Apasaid.

“You haven’t been tested in centuries. There’s a reason we don’t keep omegas in this pack. They make the men lazy and stir the wolves into a frenzy of ownership.”

“He’s just a baby. Hiswitchbloodshould offer him some protection.”

“Yet you hold him in your arms as if there could be nothing more precious in the world. What does your wolf say? Mine? Claim him?”

The Volkov looked at his son, eyes bordering on that yellow shine again. Oberon bowed his head. Then it faded. “I’ll teach him to suppress it. By the time he’s five he won’t even realize he has the power.”

“And how will you keep him alive that long?” Oberon demanded. “I’m three feet away and want to rip him from your arms. Hold him. Bite him. Claim him…”

The Volkov closed his eyes again and bowed over the baby version of me. “It’s time for me to take a little trip.”

“He’s an infant. It could take years to teach him control. You can’t leave the pack that long,” Oberon protested.