"Right." A nagging headache wormed its way into my skull. "I assume it will be a hare shifter, like you. I don't…"
For a moment, the pain got worse, pulsing hard before vanishing. It was like an old memory tried to force its way to the surface, but couldn't break free. But what possible memory could it be?
Leveret regarded me curiously. His mouth was slightly pursed in thought. "I'm going to ramble out loud for a bit."
"Knock yourself out," I mumbled, nursing my strange lingering headache.
"Nautilus is a spirit who resembles a dragon, and so is Terranus. If my deduction is correct, your fourth and last brother is Mistral, the harpy," Leveret said.
I withheld the urge to roll my eyes at Mistral's name. "Unfortunately, that's correct."
"There's a loose pattern here. Do you see what it is?" Leveret asked.
"That alpha spirits have fantastical appearances and I don't?" I said bitterly.
Leveret gazed seriously into my eyes. "Animus. Out of the four spirits, your appearance is closest to that of a human."
He took my hands in his own. Where he had fragile fingers, I had long black claws like an eagle's talons. Instead of being terrified at the flesh-rending appendages, Leveret took the time to trace his fingertips along my claws in a gentle gesture. I blushed.
"But you are not a human," Leveret went on. "You're a spirit."
From the corner of my eye, I saw Nautilus watching and listening in silence. Did he know something I didn't? Or was he just as clueless as me?
"What's your point?" I asked.
"If Dr. Pine is a pure human and she bore Nautilus's children, who were both shifters, then where did the shifting ability come from?"
I blinked. I'd never thought about it that way before.
"I don't know," I admitted.
"It must have come from Nautilus," Leveret announced. "My theory is that something about spirit magic induced the ability to shift in Nero and Nishiki."
That annoying headache pounded in my skull again. It came and went in waves. Leveret's presence helped—something about his physical proximity was like a natural form of healing—but it didn't stop the irritating pain from boomeranging.
"So what does that mean?" I asked, thoroughly confused now.
Leveret's eyes glinted. "You're a shifter, Animus. Maybe not in the same way I am, but you possess the magic to do it."
I laughed. The idea was even more ridiculous than the fact that I could get pregnant.
Butthathad happened…
I stopped laughing.
"Are you saying this isn't my true form?" I asked in a low voice.
Leveret shrugged. "My human and hare forms are both part of me. One isn't more true than the other. They are both me." He held my hands closer to his chest, like this topic had really worked him up. "But who's to say that when your original magic was stolen, your other form wasn't sealed away, too?"
Now my headache felt like a brick to the back of my skull.
As always, Leveret was right. An old memory screamed at me, desperately trying to get my attention.
That fuzzy picture… Ididhave another form, didn't I?
I groaned softly, leaning my forehead against Leveret's shoulder. "This is a lot to take in at once."
Leveret rubbed his soothing hands along my back. "I know."