Rem was speechless as her lips gently parted before saying, "I... You have a son?"
"Hada son. He died, around Oliver's age, in the same battle that Ronan's father died in."
Rem gasped. "How did a young shifter die inbattle?"
Gally smiled with a bittersweet expression, and it was the first time Rem saw Gally with genuine emotion. "Jarah, myJarah... He was a wild youngling, like Oliver. It stresses their mothers out, but it can pay off and make great males like Ronan,ifthey survive. Jarah would have been strong and capable... Anyway," she said, fluttering her eyelids as she shook her head, swiping her tongue on her lips, "he went chasing after his father, my mate.
“My mate went to war with Ronan and his father, and Jarah wanted to help, claiming he was old enough..." Gally said with an empty laugh. "He was clever—tooclever. And this is where I hate Jackson... I told Jackson to watch the boy while I tended to other matters, and in the morning, Jarah was gone. I followed his scent, knowing the direction that everyone went in, and when I found him... Well... He never made it to his father."
A chill slowly coiled around Rem's spine as everything made sense now. "And Oliver... Is like your son? Like Jarah?"
"Just like Jarah. Especially since Oliver likes to run off," Gally said with a chuckle, although her voice was shaky, her breath hitching. "I am sorry for treating you like a human. You have to understand—welcoming outsiders for our kind is hard enough, let alone a human. Your brother has the spirit of the moon, and I realize now that that should not be punished, and you should not be punished for having the moon in your blood. It must be difficult to be born a human, but with blood that makes you ours. I… I was blinded by what Owen offered us all.”
Rem’s heart broke for the Callon. That was an awful story, and Rem realized she had unfairly judged her. Then again, Gally didn't make it easy in the beginning. "Gally... What exactly did Owen promise you?"
"Well," she said, sighing, "when I found Jarah bleeding out beyond repair, I unleashed myself on the hunters around him, not caring if they killed me. They shot me—more than once. They destroyed my womb, but I survived. Time passed, and I missed my mate and my son, and my body is now incapable of reproducing. I was sentenced to die alone and live a long life without the family I made.
“Owen promised he'd find an Elder who could bypass an Alpha and undergo special treatments, full of dark, powerful magic. He could give me the opportunity to bear another child. It wouldneverreplace what I had, but it'd give mesomething. That, as you guess, is where Fiona came in.
“But… Once Oliver reminded me of Jarah… All I saw was a boy who needed his family, and I accepted that mine was gone, and I’d never have time to have another again,” she quietly said.
Streaks of tears shone on Gally's face in the firelight. An anger burned hotter in Rem's chest.
Gally sighed, shaking her head, and wiping her cheeks. “The moment I saved your brother is the moment I accepted my loneliness—” Gally froze, smelling the air, letting out a groan. "Oliver."
Through the trail, Rem smelled something that made her grow light-headed.Home. She smelled home.
She saw a little boy with a silver dagger running toward her, the metal glinting in the moon when it caught the light.
"Put that dagger down!" Gally shouted.
"It keeps Yugar away!" Oliver shouted with an entirely cheerful tone, although he dropped it moments afterward when his eyes locked with his sister. Then, he shouted, "Rem!"
Rem dropped the jacket, a rush of comfort giving her gooseflesh as she took a few steps near her brother. "Oh my—Oliver!"
The ten-year-old boy, with his hair braided down the middle of his head, ran right into her arms. She breathed him in and smelled something soprimal. It ignited a natural and immediate need to care and defend this boy. He was family. He was home.
He is my pack.
Many things filtered through her mind as she squeezed him, and yet she settled on, "You changed your hair. Everyone has.”
He pulled back, grinning to reveal his giant front teeth that he had yet to grow into. His smile slowly faded as his eyes darted between hers. "Your eyes are orange," he stated. "Gally said they would be..."
Rem glanced up at Gally, who was over by the dagger. "I am one of them now," Rem said with apology as she looked back at Oliver.
He was silent, his grin gone. Oliver had reached that age, in the last year or two, where he was making his own decisions and judgments. Her throat burned as she hated that he would make judgments onher.
Finally, he said in a quiet voice, "That's okay. It's alright. You had to."
Her throat burned even more than her jaw trembled, pulling him in tighter as she hugged him, to which he returned the sentiment. She watched as Gally spoke with a male that jogged over.
It clicked in Rem's head that her brother was carrying a weapon. They never carried weapons in Ashmire. She parted from her brother and asked with furrowed brows, "What were you doing with asilverdagger? Who is Yugar? Is he causing you trouble?"
He shook his head. "No, Yugar is fine, Rem. He is a guy that helps watch over me when Olavi isn’t. Yugar woke me up and told me that Gally was meeting you here. He said that I had to wait, but I didn'twantto wait, so I grabbed the dagger and ran. Yugar doesn't come near me if I have the dagger. It's silver, and if I nick him, even on accident, he isdead. Knew he couldn't catch me with it... Olavi, though. He can handle some of the silver, so it never works on him," Oliver said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.Goddess, he is going to be a handful.“Although I am always being trailed in the woods by other wolves. But they don’t come to me unless I go to places I am really not allowed to go to. Then they transform into men to carry me back.”
"Oliver, I have told you," Gally scolded from behind as they looked to her, "not to brandish this so carelessly. It's not why I gave it to you. It's only for emergencies."
"Yougavehim a silver dagger?" Rem asked.
