"I sure did. Hey, do you want to see something?"
"Yeah!"
I gathered a burst of energy along my back. My fiery wings popped out. It felt good and natural, and surprisingly easy. It no longer exhausted me to summon them because I wasn't pulling from a tiny pool of borrowed magic—they came from a huge, limitless reservoir inside me.
All because of my love for Leveret, and his love for me.
Celeste gasped. "Whoa! So cool! Do they burn you?"
"Not at all," I replied. "They're part of me, just like your wings are part of you."
Celeste giggled.
Everyone else stared at my flaming wings in awe. It was their first time seeing them in their true glory.
"That's incredible," Ashe murmured. "How come you didn't have those when you fought Terranus for us?"
His mate Bear nudged him and signed, "Didn't have magic back then. He has it now because of Leveret."
Ashe's eyes widened. "Ohh, I get it."
"So... you don't need to borrow our magic anymore?" River suggested.
"Judging by the size of those wings, I doubt it," his mate Castor said. "Ah, don't touch them without asking, sweetie..."
His daughter Annabelle reached for the tips of my feathers with her bare fingers. I chuckled and lowered them for her to touch properly.
"It's okay," I promised the couple, who eyed their daughter in concern. "I can control the temperature so they won't harm her."
Annabelle giggled, poking her finger in and out of the flames. "It feels funny."
The other children jumped in to copy her. I was glad my wings were made of magical fire, otherwise the kids would rip them clean off my back from sheer enthusiasm.
"Controlling the temperature," Quinn murmured. "You did that at the Sanctuary. I remember it was freezing cold for all the alphas, except me."
It was the whip-smart omega mouse shifter, Meeko, who figured it out first.
"What's the opposite of cold? The opposite of darkness?" Meeko asked the group.
Cloud, his mate, tilted his head. "Heat and light?"
"Exactly." Meeko's gaze met mine. There was hard-earned respect in his eyes. "In other words... fire."
Starry, the mountain lion shifter, perked up. She signed so quickly her hands were a blur. "That's it! Animus is the spirit of fire!"
Lupa grinned at her brother. "Damn. I thought I was wild for having a normal human as my fated mate, but you outdid me, Lev."
Leveret returned her smile. As he linked his fingers with mine, I felt a fresh pulse of magic trickle up my arm and dissolve throughout my body. I couldn't believe how easily it came. It was a completely different experience than using borrowed magic, or even the magic I was originally born with. The magic created from the love between fated mates was truly something special.
"I'm sorry to worry everyone," Leveret said. "It wasn't my intention to upset you all. But I couldn't leave Animus. We had business to take care of before we could return home."
My heart fluttered.We,he said. He included me.
"I know I've caused conflict in your family before," I said, eyeing Kamari and Meeko specifically. "But it wasn't my intention to hurt Leveret, even before I realized I was in love with him."
"Aww," Quinn and Cloud cooed.
Kamari wasn't so quick to be friendly, but he sighed. "Well... If you're Leveret's fated mate, then you're one of us."