shrugged. “The rule with killing shifters to make sure they stay dead is that you pierce the heart with a blade of silver and you burn the body. If those things don’t happen in unison, the body comes back to life.” Then he cocked his head to the side and shrugged. “Now, I will admit that in this particular case, I’m surprised.”
“Why?”
“Well, for the same reasons you just mentioned. I’ve never seen a situation like this one where the shifter was able to come back to life after being so badly dismembered. I guess it just goes to show that the power of life in our kind is strong.”
I nodded as something else occurred to me. “Why do you act so nonchalant about all of this when it’s your brother who is involved?”
He shrugged. “Donovan and I were estranged. That’s not to say I don’t care about what happened to him, but at this point, there’s no use in responding with tears and anger. Instead, it’s better to handle everything with clarity and calmness so I can get to the bottom of what’s going on that much faster.”
His explanation made sense to me so I didn’t push it. “Will Donovan be able to heal or will he always look… odd?”
“I’m not sure about that either,” Alex admitted. “In general, as shifters, we can heal ourselves. I’d say that once Don took the shape of the wolf, he was able to heal himself to an extent, but I imagine he’ll also probably seek out help from the shaman.”
“The shaman?” I repeated.
He nodded. “Every tribe has an elder who practices medicine and magic.”
I studied Alex for another second or two. “If you were adopted, how are you able to turn into a wolf like Donovan and the rest of your tribe?”
Alex nodded as if my question was a good one. “I was indoctrinated.”
“What does that mean?”
“Anyone can become a werewolf if given the opportunity,” he explained as I yawned, unable to hide the fact that I hadn’t slept in at least two days. “And I was given the opportunity.”
“How did it happen?” I continued, my eyes suddenly growing heavy.
Alex chuckled. “That is a bedtime story for another night, Elodie. For now, it’s pretty obvious that you need to go home and get some sleep.” He looked back at the jail cell behind him. “Are you going to keep me here or do you trust that I’ll be back whenever you ask me to so we can continue this pleasant conversation?”
I wasn’t sure why, but I trusted him. “We’ll be in touch.”
***
It turned out Alex hadn’t been bluffing. Well, regarding the particulars about his birth, anyway. There was no mention of him in any of our files anywhere. It was as though he’d popped into being right out of the atmosphere.
I shook my head at the absurdity that had become my life lately and then reminded myself to pay attention to the two-lane highway in front of me. It wasn’t that late, but the sun was already long gone, so it felt like it was midnight when it was really only 4:00 p.m. A steady stream of snowfall was currently assaulting my Jeep and I had to slow down so I wouldn’t lose control.
I was on my way to the reservation Alex called home. Step number one was to research his background to find out if he was, in fact, telling me the truth about his birth. From there, I wanted to find out as much as I could about Donovan and his disappearance and this ex-girlfriend.
After an hour, the two-lane highway gave way to a one-lane dirt road. Another thirteen miles in, the road dead-ended into the Inuit reservation where Alex had grown up. When I pulled in front of the large wooden sign that proclaimed the reservation to be ‘Ammagaruqnik,’ I killed the engine.
As a highly amusing aside, I’d earlier Googled the meaning of the word ‘Ammagaruqnik’ and nearly choked on my coffee when I discovered it meant ‘arctic wolves.’ I immediately remembered Alex saying the entire reservation was composed of people who turned hairy, but I tried not to think about it. Instead, I unbuckled my seat belt, opened the door and jumped down onto the icy tundra below, immediately feeling the chill of the air all the way to my bones.
I took a deep breath and glanced up into the sky just to make sure it wasn’t a full moon. I knew it was silly, but lately, I’d become