Changed by Fire (Phoenix Rising #6) - Harper Wylde Page 0,104

they’d pull a fish onto land, but they’d pull a human into the water.”

She shivered and nodded for him to continue.

“Most don’t realize that bunyips fight as packs, the same way wolves do. Their species is so limited and private, few outside of Australia even know of them. My Kraken was much smaller than it is now, and the pack figured I’d be a good source of food. They were rogues, you see, hiding from the Australian branch of the Council. I shifted in my panic, reverting back to human, as I tried to explain that I was a shifter too, and that they needed to let me be. When they admitted they were rogues, and that my being a child was no boundary against their hunger, I panicked and screamed. My father had been out searching for me and heard me. His Kraken moved fast, roaring his fury and fear as he approached. He decimated part of the pack, but I had frozen in fear. I think he roared… trying to communicate, but I-I didn’t respond. I was too scared. A bunyip was crossing the river to where I floated, and my dad… he shifted. The sight of his face finally captured my attention and knocked me out of my shock. He ordered me to run. Told me to get help.” Theo’s voice was as broken as shattered glass, and water glistened in his vacant eyes as he relived his father’s death.

Theo swallowed hard. “I ran while he held them off. When I reached the water’s edge, I continued on foot, but I couldn’t find my way home. I was too confused in the dark, too scared of the noises I could hear. I made it to the village just as dawn broke, but it was already in a panic. Apparently, he’d roared loud enough to draw the attention of some of the other shifters in the area. They had gone to his aid, but they were too late. He’d been outnumbered. One of the other males had kept a bunyip alive long enough to confess, it seems. The bunyip had told them about a child they had captured, how Dad had shifted to his human form to encourage the kid to run, and explained they had outnumbered him before he could shift back. They managed to take his head before he could shift to his Kraken form. No one realized that kid had been me. Mom was so busy sobbing, she hadn’t seen me arrive. My injuries had been minimal, having healed already, and she was too lost in her grief to notice I was still partially wet. Since Dad never called me by name, the bunyips hadn’t disclosed who I was to the others. They just assumed it was a local child.” He huffed out a breath as tears fell down Nix’s cheeks. “I never told my mom I was there that night. Never told Molly. No one knew it was my fault he died. My fault we had to move here. I always tried to justify it to myself, to explain it away—it wouldn’t do them any good to know, it would just hurt them more. The truth was, I couldn’t bear to tell them. To tell my mother I was the reason she lost her mate. That it was my selfish choice that led to my own father’s demise. I just wanted to make up for it.”

“That’s why you take care of everyone,” Nix concluded. Theo shrugged a shoulder, half agreeing.

“Possibly. I’m not denying it shaped me, but I was protective even when I was young. It’s a kraken trait.”

“It wasn’t—” Ryder began, but Theo shook his head.

“You don’t need to say it. You know how logical I am. I know his death was on the bunyips, but it was my fault he was out. It was my choice that drove him into the river that night. I don’t take all the blame, but I won’t deny it all either. I was one part of his death, and if I could…” Theo pulled his glasses off his nose and ground his palms into his eyes as he wiped away any trace of moisture. “If I could take his place or change that night, I would.” Theo’s admission sat heavy and heartfelt in the room while the Kraken gathered himself and put his glasses back on. “I didn’t actually kill him, but I’ll always feel responsible to some extent. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be