Kaya
"Does this mean..." The words stumble out of me, my voice trembling. Devastation claws so deep inside me that I fear it will consume me whole, leaving nothing behind. "Your mother—did you…?"
"Yes." Magnus's reply is cold, flat, but his eyes remain locked on mine, burning with a fire that betrays the calm in his voice. "I killed my mother—and nearly killed my sister. That's the curse of being 'special,' I suppose. You and I both left carnage in our wake the first time we shifted. That's what it means to be beastly like us."
I can't speak. The weight of his words crushes the air from my chest. Pity and heartbreak twist together inside me until I can't tell one from the other.
We are special. Special, but cursed. Beasts whose power is so overwhelming it can twist us into weapons of slaughter. And still, there are those who crave this strength—those who, if they cannot possess it themselves, will find ways to bend it under their control.
