But there was being able to get a read on someone’s mood, even the strange peculiarity I now knew was being able to sense if someone was a shifter or not, then there was this.

Physical, undeniable, indefatigable proof that humans could turn into animals.

It was enough to bring on a heart attack.

Gulping some more, it took me a few more minutes to process that there was a fifth wolf in the room.

This one was a bright one, and she was panting on the bed, but, thank Kali Sara, she was awake.

The other four bounded over to her, leaping onto the bed in a way that made my nose crinkle because it seemed kind of gross to have so many wild animals on a mattress—but who the hell was I to judge?—and they proceeded to nuzzle into her, lick and groom and do all the stuff I’d seen my momma’s pet chihuahua do to her pups when they’d been born.

It was affection at its most innocent. Most loving. Most true.

It nearly broke my heart.

I sucked in a breath, so overjoyed to see even more confirmation that my sister was adored, but before it could twist again—prove that I was a bitch once more—there was another flurry of howls outside.

The males, all dark in tone, strangely jewel-like with it, reared up as one. Snarls snapped through the room as their obsidian and onyx-hued hides bristled with their ire at being interrupted.

A soft chuffing sound escaped Sabina, the only silvery white wolf in the room, and they made grumbling noises before they leaped off the bed and stalked toward the door without a backward glance.

Their size was disconcerting. I had no idea how large hyenas were in real life, but it made me wonder, because the hyena who’d been attacking me had been the size of a mountain lion, I guessed. These wolves? The size of lions.

Kali Sara.

I bit my lip as I watched Daniel nuzzled into her, almost crawling under her so that he was half-shielded by her.

I could sense she was fatigued, but with each aria of howls, she grew more and more agitated. I watched as her ears flicked back and forth, while Daniel tensed and burrowed further into her.

The sight of all the fur on the bed made my nose crinkle, and as my nostrils flared, I gasped as the desire to sneeze hit me before it exploded out of me. Sabina jerked on the bed, a snarl on her maw, before she saw it was me, and her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she registered who I was.

The vision had me blinking, because even though her eye color was blue, and not her regular caramel, it was like looking into her soul.

I mean, I guessed that made sense if I thought about it, but I’d never thought about it before now.

I figured what I meant was that the wolf and the woman weren’t two separate entities. They were the same soul. And I had no idea why I hadn’t realized that, but I was just grateful they shared that soul otherwise I might have ended the night as chopped liver.

Releasing a breath, I reached out and stroked a hand over her ears, then I smiled when Daniel bounded out of nowhere, playfully, and pushed his snout into my hand. His nose was cold, but I just speared my fingers over the crown of his head and stroked him, trying to soothe him as much as I could.

When Knight started gurgling, evidently getting pissed off with all the racket from the woods, Sabina shifted. When I saw her naked self in bed, I didn’t even blink as she leaped up and on wobbly feet, made it around to where a bassinet was sitting, pride of place.

Within seconds, Knight was in her arms, and she held him so close to her chest that I didn’t know where he began and she ended. As her lips brushed over the crown of his head, she whispered, “What happened, Lara? I don’t remember—”

What could I say to that? “I don’t know, sister. Not really.” More howls shot up, and I groaned under my breath. “I wish they’d stop that,” I groused.

“Someone’s here. Someone’s coming. Someone the pack doesn’t approve of.”

“They mentioned someone called the Rainford alpha.”

Daniel whimpered at my words and started ruffling the covers so he could hide beneath them.

Sabina sighed wearily. “It was a matter of time before he’d find out.”

“Find out what?”

“Until last year, Daniel belonged to the Rainford pack. Not the Highbanks.”

“You’re the Highbanks pack, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” She ran a hand over Knight’s head, cupping him tightly and holding him marginally closer. “His parents…died.” Why did I get the feeling she was only telling me half the story? “He was cast out of the pack and was left to fend for himself, until I brought him here. Until I brought him home.”

Cast out? Well, didn’t that sound positively biblical? The thought had me frowning. “I thought he was related to one of your men. A son or something.”

She shook her head. “No. Wolf shifters can only have a child with their mates.”

“So what’s the problem? Why does it matter if you took Daniel in?”

“Because he was cast out for a reason, Lara,” she whispered, turning to stare out the window. A puddle of moonlight filtered in through the glass, and as I looked, the moon seemed to grow ever larger, until it felt as if it was a massive orb with the power of the sun.

“What reason was that?”

“His father was like Eli—an alpha. But he treated his pack terribly, and as a result, someone challenged him. When he died, his mate died, and Daniel was left on his own. They’re not supposed to take those children in—”

“But you’re not a shifter, are you? You’re human, and you know what it feels like to be with an aggressive father,” I rasped, understanding everything like it was programmed into my head. “Are you scared?”

“Of the Rainford alpha?” She shook her head, a sensation of amusement whispering through her at the mere idea of that. “Eli is stronger than him. The wolves are howling his lack of a threat loud and clear.” Her lip was sucked between her teeth, and she gnawed down on it. “But for Daniel? Yes. I’m scared.”

I strode over to her, grabbed her shoulder and squeezed her. “We won’t let him be taken away.”

“What does it matter to you, Lara?” she demanded warily, her scowl loaded with distrust. “This isn’t your world, your life, is it?”

Maybe I should have been offended, but I wasn’t. Couldn’t be. I knew she was still on edge after being asleep for so long, and whatever I’d channeled into her, it had been crazy powerful.

Enough for me to feel like I’d had a load removed from my shoulders, to the point where I felt a lightness of spirit that I hadn’t felt since I was a child. I’d heard the whispers before, but I’d never been able to relinquish them, to verbalize them.

Until Sabina.

As a result, whatever she’d channeled, whatever she’d felt, it was magnetized to her now.

We were tied in ways she could never understand, would never be able to comprehend.

And the reason I knew that?

Now she was awake, the gates had been opened between us, and the only way I could prove myself to her was to reveal what I’d learned the second she’d transformed back into her human form.

I looked into her, saw her wolf, nestled deep in her soul, and I reached for the creature with my mind, urging it to see me, to accept me. To encompass me.