Oh, so the lights came on. Someone was fussy that his best friend came over all worried. “Such concern for Jim. So touching.”

And we have a full-on alpha stare. Good to know where I stood on his ladder of important people.

I moved, circling Curran. My magic trailed me like a mantle in the night.

“He told me that he would kill me if I decided to use my power for my own gain. I told him the truth.”

Curran moved with me. Anger flared in his eyes. He was still giving me the alpha stare. So it’s like that, huh? Alright. Let’s play.

“I told him that if I decided to use my power for myself, he would pledge his allegiance to me and he would like it. He would trip over his own feet to proclaim his devotion.”

“Why the hell would you say that to him? He’s the Beast Lord.”

Oh noes. I paused. “Yes, how could I forget? What was I thinking? What do you suppose he will do?”

The magic waited, all around me. As if the entire ocean of life that was my land had taken a breath in anticipation.

“Do you think Jim might punish us? Or do you think I would kill him and laugh afterward?”

He raised his hand and motioned to me. “Okay. Come back to me from wherever you just went.”

“I remember one time Jim and I did a job and he left me in the middle of a cage of live wire because the Pack needed him. I sat in there for eight hours, until the magic wave ended.”

My own power was out now, fully on display. Curran shifted his weight on his feet. He felt it. He was ready to pounce.

“Oh, another thing I remember, when the rakshasas poured molten metal on Derek’s face and Jim didn’t know what to do, I stuck my neck out for him and he let his crew rip into me. And when I asked him how could he do this after he and I worked together for years, he told me I wasn’t a shapeshifter. I would never be good enough.”

“Jim has issues.”

I smiled at Curran, my voice almost singsong. “Do you know why my father has problems with the shapeshifters? Because their magic is so old. It’s primal. It predates even his. You have a special connection to the land. You are a native power.”

He didn’t answer, but he watched me like a hawk.

“But now I have a special connection with the land, too. I can feel the life within it. I can feel its heart beating. Like this.”

I touched the surface of the ocean. It pulsed. Curran jumped backward a full fifteen feet.

Now that felt interesting. I touched it again. Another pulse.