“Were there only four?”

Phelan shook his head. “No.”

Tora gasped. Harlan sniffed. Argus crossed his arms and closed his eyes for a long moment.

Noble knew what they were thinking. His heart felt as if it had been torn open by the thought of there being more of them. A brother? A sister? Dead. They had been the lucky ones. Born first and alive because of it. A twinge of guilt crept up Noble’s spine. Perhaps he was not the pack’s natural leader. Maybe there had been another brother born after him who would have been smarter and stronger, only to perish before he took his first breath.

And suddenly, Noble felt a deep and profound regret. How could he have questioned his parents’ actions so readily? How could he have been so selfish as to resent being thrust into the role of leader, thinking it had been foisted upon him by his parents when, in reality, it had been a cruel turn of fate.

“Your father carried away the cubs as they were born. He was able to save the four of you. He died in the fire, along with your mother, trying to save the fifth.”

Everyone was silent for the longest time.

Finally it was Tora who broke the silence with another question. “How could you know this? How could you live and know what happened to them at the end?”

Phelan nodded. “It is a fair question. Sometimes I wonder why I lived and they had to die, but it was your father’s doing. I stayed with Mahra while she birthed you, but by the time the fifth cub was coming the flames were too hot and too close to remain. Ohdin told me to go…ordered me to go, saying he would stay with your mother until the last of the cubs was born.” A slight shake of his head. “Ohdin could have lived too, if he’d run at that moment, but he stayed by Mahra’s side. I think he preferred to die with her than live without her.”

“If you knew all this, why didn’t you find us before now?” Tora sounded angry, and to be honest, amidst his own mix of emotions, Noble felt a bit of that anger, too.

“Your father knew what he was doing when he carried you out of the fire. I don’t know if he chose your Ranger Brock, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he had. He always did things for a reason. The ranger has been good for you. He’s raised you well.”

Tora was staring off into the distance. “We always thought we were freaks…the only ones.” She looked Phelan in the eye. “Why didn’t you show yourself to us before this?”

“You were not ready to know the truth.”

“And now we are?” Argus said.

Phelan nodded. “I think so.”