Page 62 of Silver Claw

Oh yes, I was magic. I drifted to his face and lightly caressed his cheek with one of my wings, meaning to give him a kiss. But blood bubbled from his skin, and I flung myself away in horror. My butterfly was a monster.

The cut didn’t take away his smile or his joy, and it only added to his amazement. He wiped the blood off his face and stared at his fingers, then gazed at me, a little envious.

I lost my shift then and returned to my woman. “God, Sam. I didn’t know. I meant to kiss your cheek, not cut your face. I didn’t realize—”

“Kait,” he said, laughing. “I am healing already. And think of what you could do if you meant to cut instead of kiss.”

For a moment, we laughed together, and life was pretty damn sweet.

The wolves trotted back to the house, where they would lose their shifts, change into the extra clothes they’d stashed in theircars, and return to their guard. They’d be starving, and Lucy would be ready with food.

I couldn’t have been happier.

Well, maybe I could have been, if the demon elder hadn’t taken my blade. But still, I was happy. I was thrilled.

“I need to call Jared,” I told Sam as we walked back home. “And my mother.” Then I glanced at him, smiling. “Thank you, Sam.”

“I can honestly say that I am happy I could help,” he said. “A vicious butterfly, Kait. I’ve never even imagined such a thing could happen.” He paused. “You know what I think?” He didn’t wait for me to respond before he hurried on. “I think the magic, the council’s magic, was holding your shapeshifter back. I think your shift is stronger and better than it ever was before.”

I didn’t remind him that I’d shifted into a crow before, when I’d fought the angel. Or that I could shift into people as well as animals. Maybe he was right and maybe there were still surprises coming. The butterfly certainly was a surprise.

“What did I look like?” I asked him, curious. “As the butterfly?”

“You were almost translucent. Vivid colors on top, black underneath, like a shadow no one would see coming. Your colors were the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Not just because I could see them, but because…” He hesitated. “It was like the colors were alive. They soothed me to look at them. I think if you’d been intending to kill someone instead of kiss him, those colors would have terrified your victim.” He grinned and shrugged. “Maybe I’m just being fanciful.”

But the look in his eyes was dead serious.

We both fell into silence until we once again stood in the back yard, and Remy and Zach were walking toward us. “It waslike you were created in a fairy tale,” he murmured. “A very dark fairy tale.”

I grinned at Remy and Zach. “I found my shapeshifter.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Remy said.

“Voss has a surprise coming,” Zach murmured.

“If he ever shows up,” I said, a little impatient now that my shifter had joined the party. “I’m going to get dressed,” I told them. “Go inside and eat.”

I hurried through my shower, my stomach growling. Shapeshifting took a lot of energy, and I needed to refuel. Still, I’d seen Sam completely exhausted after shifting and fighting, and though I’d shifted into different animals and had run through the woods, I wasn’t as tired as I should have been.

I was stronger.

I reached down to touch the blade I no longer carried, pain squeezing my heart when I touched only air.

I’d entered the kitchen when my phone rang, and Saul’s name showed up on the screen. I was surprised he’d waited so long.

“I’m starving, Saul,” I said, “and getting ready to have my breakfast. If you’re calling to yell at me for—”

“The council wants to see you. Aaron will collect you in two nights at two o’clock in the morning.”

I squeezed the phone, anger rising to choke me. “As you’d know if you had taken my call,” I said, my voice hard, “I’m done with the council. Kronor took myblade.”

“You gave the demon elder your blade,” he said, unflappable as always. “I would advise you to attend the meeting, Kait.”

He ended the call.

I wanted to be done with the council. But they held my blade, and I was most certainly not done with my blade.

I couldn’t enter the building if they didn’t want me there, but they were opening it up for me.