“More or less.” Cassius shrugged. “Which is why we were so concerned when Bannick was trying to do this again with his brothers, and yet every host kept dying… every human, every immortal. Alex would have been strong enough, but he was nothing compared to you.” Cassius face turned grave. “You were but a child, a bairn in your mother’s arms.”
I smiled at his use of bairn.
“He should have died?” Serenity asked.
“Adult immortals would have suffered greatly, but the vampire blood mixed with werewolf blood…” He shrugged. “Why do you think it is frowned upon for immortals to mate?”
Serenity rolled her eyes. “Immortals would die off if they tried mating with one another. There are never children.”
Cassius stood and gave us a funny look. “Oh, but there was one.”
“What?” Mason slid the plate away from Cassius. “Who?”
Cassius looked between myself and Serenity
and whispered. “Guess.”
SERENITY
I jumped to my feet. “No. That’s impossible! I’m young! I’ve only been alive three hundred years or so!”
Cassius stared.
Mason gripped my hand.
“No.” I shook my head. “My father was an immortal. He found my human mother…” Her voice trailed as Cassius’ eyes grew sad.
He approached, his wings spread. They quivered and then started to drip with tears. “Are you ready for your truth?”
Fear slammed into my chest. I rubbed it away with my hand. “No.”
Cassius grabbed my hand. “You were created for evil.”
Mason growled low in his throat.
“But what was meant for evil… turned out for good.” He released her hand and walked toward the fire. “You’ll see your truth in the flames, Serenity. When you’re ready.”
He disappeared.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Mason wrapped a blanket around me then pulled me up onto the couch. “Movie or flames?”
“Movie,” I said immediately.
He turned on The Lion King, not my first choice.
And I could have sworn he thought he was an actual lion. When he saw antelope, he’d move his head like he was getting ready to strike. I didn’t miss the few times his claws came out, and he pawed the air like he was ready for attack.
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing and lost it when he started to purr; the gravely sound felt like home. I pressed my head to his chest and giggled more when the vibrations tickled my ear. “Still wolf.”
“Still wolf,” he said softly. “I’ll always be a wolf even if I do have Gadreel’s memories and apparently, his knowledge of creation.”
“Do you think you have his power?”
“I’m afraid to see,” he said simply. “But I feel something buzzing beneath my skin, though it could be because my arm fell asleep around a half hour ago from you lying on it.”
I jerked away.