don’t think I ever asked you.” I figured that if I overstepped my boundaries, he would tell me.
“I was five years old when I learned to fly. I first shifted when I was four. Most hawk-shifters take wing between five and six years old. It’s a scary time, and even more frightening for the parents. So much can go wrong when a shifter first learns to transform. That’s pretty much across the board for all Weres and shifters.”
“I thought puberty was the trouble-time.”
“Oh, it’s also a bad time. The same hormones that drive human teenagers nuts are even more problematic when you add in shifter DNA. There have been cases when a shifter or a Were went into a hormonal crisis in the middle of transformation and got stuck.”
I had never even thought of such a thing happening. “What do you do?”
“It’s an incredibly painful situation, and the majority of cases end in death. Usually, the Alpha Mother of the Cast or Pack ends up putting the victim down. No matter how it ends, it’s traumatic for the entire extended family unit. The few who survive never forget, and some of them are so traumatized they lose their ability to shift.”
“What happens to them?”
He didn’t answer for a moment, then said, “They’re exiled from the Cast. They wouldn’t be able to handle life among those who make the transition successfully. They’re usually sent to work among humans who live in the Wild Wood. We place them in low-risk, low-stress occupations.”
“Never seeing their family again? Harsh.”
“Sometimes being harsh is the best love you can give someone.”
“Given how much can go wrong, I must have been easy to handle then, when I showed up on your doorstep.” I gave him a sideways glance.
Jason snorted. “Are you kidding? A Theosian yoked to Hecate? I was constantly terrified I’d do something wrong and have the Dark One on my back. Or that the government would come hunting for you.”
“Well, Tam took care of the latter, at least. Though I wouldn’t take a chance on trying to live outside of Darktown, Portside, or the Trips, even though I’m off-grid. It’s too easy to draw attention from the sky-eyes when I’m out on the hunt.”
The government not only insisted on chipping all the Theosians to keep tabs on us, they also restricted where we could live. Croix, North Shore, and Uptown were off limits, reserved for human and Were inhabitation only, though allowances were made for the Theosians who rose to stardom because of their powers. Briarwood was mostly inhabited by the Fae. Theosians could live out on the Tremble, but that was just asking for trouble. The NW Quarters gangs hated us, though technically, the Corp-Rats didn’t care if we lived there. So we mainly congregated in Darktown, the Trips, and Portside.
Occasionally, a Theosian would turn up missing, and nobody would ever find out what happened to them, but we all knew what happened. If the Conglomerate found out that one of us had any strong bent for telepathy or bilocation, the potential for spying on other countries was too great of a temptation. More than one of my kind had disappeared when their powers grew too noticeable. When Tam helped me go off-grid, Hecate applauded the move. I just had to watch myself when I was hunting, and stay away from the sky-eyes when I wasn’t in the thick of a crowd.
“The Corp-Rats are always looking for how they can make use of my kind. At least they tend to leave the Weres and shifters alone.”
“That’s because they haven’t found effective ways of taking us down. Theosians tend to be much more pliable than Weres and the Fae, because you began life as human while first in the womb. But back to your question, do you really think you were easy to handle? If it hadn’t been for Shevron, I would have gone crazy trying to figure out what to do with you. I’m just glad I found you before some bogey did.”
I nodded solemnly. “I’m not sure why I ended up on your doorstep. I think
“I was five years old when I learned to fly. I first shifted when I was four. Most hawk-shifters take wing between five and six years old. It’s a scary time, and even more frightening for the parents. So much can go wrong when a shifter first learns to transform. That’s pretty much across the board for all Weres and shifters.”
“I thought puberty was the trouble-time.”
“Oh, it’s also a bad time. The same hormones that drive human teenagers nuts are even more problematic when you add in shifter DNA. There have been cases when a shifter or a Were went into a hormonal crisis in the middle of transformation and got stuck.”
I had never even thought of such a thing happening. “What do you do?”
“It’s an incredibly painful situation, and the majority of cases end in death. Usually, the Alpha Mother of the Cast or Pack ends up putting the victim down. No matter how it ends, it’s traumatic for the entire extended family unit. The few who survive never forget, and some of them are so traumatized they lose their ability to shift.”
“What happens to them?”
He didn’t answer for a moment, then said, “They’re exiled from the Cast. They wouldn’t be able to handle life among those who make the transition successfully. They’re usually sent to work among humans who live in the Wild Wood. We place them in low-risk, low-stress occupations.”
“Never seeing their family again? Harsh.”
“Sometimes being harsh is the best love you can give someone.”
“Given how much can go wrong, I must have been easy to handle then, when I showed up on your doorstep.” I gave him a sideways glance.
Jason snorted. “Are you kidding? A Theosian yoked to Hecate? I was constantly terrified I’d do something wrong and have the Dark One on my back. Or that the government would come hunting for you.”
“Well, Tam took care of the latter, at least. Though I wouldn’t take a chance on trying to live outside of Darktown, Portside, or the Trips, even though I’m off-grid. It’s too easy to draw attention from the sky-eyes when I’m out on the hunt.”
The government not only insisted on chipping all the Theosians to keep tabs on us, they also restricted where we could live. Croix, North Shore, and Uptown were off limits, reserved for human and Were inhabitation only, though allowances were made for the Theosians who rose to stardom because of their powers. Briarwood was mostly inhabited by the Fae. Theosians could live out on the Tremble, but that was just asking for trouble. The NW Quarters gangs hated us, though technically, the Corp-Rats didn’t care if we lived there. So we mainly congregated in Darktown, the Trips, and Portside.
Occasionally, a Theosian would turn up missing, and nobody would ever find out what happened to them, but we all knew what happened. If the Conglomerate found out that one of us had any strong bent for telepathy or bilocation, the potential for spying on other countries was too great of a temptation. More than one of my kind had disappeared when their powers grew too noticeable. When Tam helped me go off-grid, Hecate applauded the move. I just had to watch myself when I was hunting, and stay away from the sky-eyes when I wasn’t in the thick of a crowd.
“The Corp-Rats are always looking for how they can make use of my kind. At least they tend to leave the Weres and shifters alone.”
“That’s because they haven’t found effective ways of taking us down. Theosians tend to be much more pliable than Weres and the Fae, because you began life as human while first in the womb. But back to your question, do you really think you were easy to handle? If it hadn’t been for Shevron, I would have gone crazy trying to figure out what to do with you. I’m just glad I found you before some bogey did.”
I nodded solemnly. “I’m not sure why I ended up on your doorstep. I think
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