“I don’t see how this—”
“Humor me.”
Renner’s eyes narrowed. “Perhaps the matters of history that pertain to the entire community, if you’d had the time for it.”
“I see,” she replied judiciously. “One of the things you don’t know about me is that my beginnings as a genealogist are humble. Initiated because deep in my veins, the blood of royalty runs. And with that pedigree comes certain privilege. In some cultures, people believed that royalty also held sway over other creatures. Can you believe it? Just because one was born to a certain family. Knowing that, I now understand how Sebastian and I were drawn together. The affinity. It’s also easy to see how others could never understand it and maybe even condemn it. But they don’t know enough to make decisions about us. Not really. And let me tell you what else I know. A week ago, I didn’t know anything about vampires or werewolves or even dragons. I was a simple girl living a simple life. Then I met this amazing man who introduced me to an incredible life. And one of our earliest adventures together involved a bunch of werewolves. How many of them exist, you think?”
The sudden left turn of her last question added to Bast’s confusion. He had no idea where this was going.
Renner’s brow furrowed. “They number in the thousands.” He looked around the room for confirmation. “Not more than a few hundred thousand, I would think.”
“But you don’t know?”
“Not for certain. How could we?”
Alice stopped her pacing and lifted her head. The smile that followed next gleamed. “Why don’t you know?” she persisted.
“This Council is the law body for vampires. We concern ourselves with vampire matters. Anything we know or do pertaining to werewolves occurs when their actions affect us and only then.”
“But you don’t rule over them?”
“No, of course not,” Sage snapped.
“I see.” She resumed pacing, face cast down as if deep in thought.
Bast folded his arms across his chest, his admiration almost overriding his curiosity.
“I once heard Sebastian being called hybride by his own man. Ever heard that term before?” She looked up, searching faces, obviously awaiting an answer. No one spoke. Turning to Bast, she asked, “What’s it mean, darling?”
Bast said between tightened lips, “Hybrid. Mongrel.”
She said innocently, “But what does that have to do with...oh! I see. They’re calling you a hybrid. A cross between two species.” Alice walked over to Bast and, with the softest stroke of her hand, caressed his face. “My hybrid,” she said just above a whisper. Loud enough for any vampire to hear, but the words triggered something within Bast. And he suddenly understood all of it.
With Alice’s touch still centering him, he took a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he found the pool of heat at his center and focused on it. The taste of sulfur filled his throat a moment later and Bast indulged in it. His body tensed, every muscle burning with strain. He gave in to the sensation, relishing it. Willing it to spread.
He opened his eyes, allowing the members of the Council to witness the change already forming there. The swirl of colors and reptilian elongation Alice had described to him. The world around him brightened, becoming sharper. Details in hair follicles, skin pores and fabric threads no longer secrets being kept from him. He saw it all. His mouth watered from their taste. Their smell.
Alice whirled toward the members of the Council. “If you have no right to make claims over the werewolf population...”
The pain flowed through his back, where the agony coalesced in two lateral centers. The harsh scissoring sound of fabric ripping behind him shattered the silence, and Bast simultaneously released a groan. The sweet torture would be worth it in the end.
Hands balled into fists and black scales sprouted down his arms, ripples of shining ovals unfolding like playing cards at the hands of a skilled Vegas dealer. He stretched his neck, mentally tracing where his skin hardened and changed. The heat built and rose across him in more rhythmic waves.
Bast exhaled, concentrating hard. Stopping the ascension. A quick second later, he changed focus, sending his thoughts racing to his back, where his glorious wings began to grow and spread. After a moment, he stood before the Council, wings outstretched, spanning the width of the entire room. He scanned each member, memorizing the astonished faces as smoke ascended from his nose.