Page 67 of WitchBorn

“The wolf split his soul to give him a life without all that pain. Why drag him back now?” I demanded.

“Because in order to stabilize the realm, he needs to be whole,” Liam answered. “You have visions of the end of the realm, right?”

“Not only the realm, the world. Darkness overwhelming everything.”

“Winter’s curse,” Seb said. “Kiran and I have felt it trying to gain a hold in our realms. She’s devouring power. Draining anything she can get her grip into. If she hasapa…”

Ice coated Finn’s wolf half, and it dripped ooze. What if Finn restored his soul only to suffocate in Winter’s curse? “I need to talk to Oberon,” I said.

Seb put the reader down. “He’s been managing all the packs, but couldn’t help locateapawhen I asked.”

The dark-skinned boy Finn dreamt of I was certain was Oberon. Which meant Oberon had been a werewolf before Xander. Xander had been something else, and not immune to what made werewolves, werewolves. My knowledge spanned fae and the kitsune like Seb, not wolves. “Did you know Oberon has been a werewolf longer than Xander?”

“No,” Seb said.

“Yes,” Liam said.

Seb looked at his mate. “What?”

“Oberon is one of the oldest among all wolves,” Liam said. “Xander took the lead when colonialism spread across the globe to keep Oberon safe. But those of us who are older always knew Xander was something else, not all wolf, and not as old as Oberon.”

“Xander was witchborn,” I said.

“Yeah, yeah, you keep saying that. So far it seems a pretty broad phrase. Mixed with fae? Or what?”

I shrugged as that was what I’d always interpreted it to mean, but Finn’s memory had given it origin during the witch trials. Maybe I should have studied more of mortal history.

“Supernatural beings aren’t limited to the fae,” Liam said. “Elementals have been around a lot longer, spanning realms, and spreading power.” He squeezed Seb’s arm gently. “You are part elemental, as was Kiran, I can only assume the other kings will be as well.” Liam’s gaze fell on me. “Wesley is part elemental.”

“The cursed part,” I agreed. As my mix of Stag and Fawn came from my elemental sire.

“Is that why you claimed we are brothers?” Seb asked. “Do we have the same sire?”

“No.”

Seb stared at me, waiting for me to continue, but I didn’t want to talk about how the pretty little fox boy got to be king and a predator, and I got to be someone’s fuck bunny.

He sighed. “I really wish you’d let me in.”

“You don’t even like me,” I said.

“You make yourself hard to like,” Seb snapped back. Liam sighed, making Seb frown. “I don’t dislike you. I think you’re a shady bastard who makes it hard to trust you. I’m bitter that you’re mated toapaand that somehow you get to know him better than I ever did.”

“Someone’s been in therapy,” I grumbled.

“And someone should be in therapy,” Seb said.

“You realize the trauma you’re working through was caused by the very man I’m mated to?”

“The wolf,” Seb said.

“It doesn’t absolve him,” Liam added. “The wolf had centuries observing mortal lives tied to Xander. To say he didhis best and that his best was terrible, is too kind. Forgiving him outright gives him too much power. He needs to understand his mistakes. And I think to do so, he needs the part of his soul that is Finn, returned.”

“And yet I’m mated to him,” I said.

“We all have a little bit of monster inside us,” Seb said softly, his gaze at the floor rather than his mate.

Liam hugged Seb. “It’s okay to love Xander. He was your father. You work hard to be a good father to Ari, but neither of us will ever be perfect.”