Chapter 26 #2
“Just so we’re clear, this is the judgement of the entire shifter council?
” I ask the table. Three of the councillors dip their heads in acknowledgement, except the nervous rat shifter.
He isn’t for taking his eyes off the General, and I’m unsure if he’s even heard a word that I’ve said. The man is frozen with fear.
“How far the shifters have fallen,” I whisper. My eyes drift to the table behind them. I glance back at the unicorn. “Don’t you even care that I’m a unicorn shifter?”
The unicorn shifter splutters. “You are not a unicorn.” His tone is angry, adamant, and smattered with disgust. I can almost taste his disgust in the air.
“I’m not?”
“No, you’re a wannabe with witch-coloured hair.” He shakes his head, and his hands resting on the table clench. “I know all the unicorn shifters, and they wouldn’t lower themselves to lie with a vampire to create an abomination like you.”
Story—who is still perched on my shoulder—squeaks in despair.
With a history of being a pixie-fairy hybrid and called an abomination by her troupe, I can understand why.
I lift my hand, and she clutches my finger.
I give her a gentle squeeze of reassurance.
I’m not bothered about what this man thinks of me.
“Oh, okay.” I nod, smile, and I drop my hand.
“I see where you’re going with that. If I’m such an abomination, why is it okay for me to be passed around?
It seems I’m good enough for council-sanctioned rape—oops, sorry.
What shall we call it”—I tap my lips and then point at him—“a council-sanctioned breeding programme? Rape is such a nasty word. I can tell you now while you are all here around this table.” With my finger, I do a circling motion in the air.
“I do not consent. I will never consent.”
“Don’t be stupid,” the unicorn snarls.
“I’m not the stupid one,” I snarl back.
“You don’t have a choice. Are we going to allow this? Someone put her in chains and escort her to the lab.”
“No one is touching her,” Xander says.
At the same time, the dragon says, “Let her speak.”
“While you were doing all the womb viability tests, did you idiots run my DNA through the system?” I ask pleasantly.
“You know, the DNA that will say who I’m related to and what type of shifter I am.
” I want to rip the fucker’s face off. “I can see from your face that you didn’t.
No, you didn’t, did you? Not only did you not care, but you didn’t want that little piece of evidence floating about, did you?
You wanted me to remain a nobody. If I didn’t have a family to care about me, there would be no one to make noise as I became your broodmare. ”
I wave my hand at Tilly, and she marches over with my prepared paperwork. She hands them to me and bravely takes a second to glare at the man at the table. She then marches away.
“Can you see where I’m going with this? I’m so glad that I took the time to have my ancestral DNA cross-checked on the creature database.
” I smile widely as I hand out copies of the report.
“As you can see—I’ve highlighted it in pink so you can find it easily—I have a parental match.
Oh, and I’m sooo blessed, I have a grandparent match here at this very table. ” I clap my hands.
Suddenly every man is frantically thumbing through the pages of the report.
I wait until the unicorn shifter reaches the final page of the document, and I drop my bomb. “Nice to meet you, Grandfather Denby. It looks like I’m Ryan’s little girl.” I wave.
The unicorn’s composure breaks, and his hands holding the paperwork start to shake.
“That’s impossible. I would have felt your magic. You can’t possibly be a unicorn. It’s not possible,” he roars, ripping the paperwork in two. “Lies and fabrications.”
This man who sends my skin crawling so much it wants to slither off my very bones is my grandfather. What a family reunion. Talk about fucked up.
“Are you talking about the magic that’s linked to my unicorn horn? The same horn that was removed by this man when I was six years old.” From my pile of paperwork, I throw a photograph of my father onto the table.
I lean across and poke at the man’s face. “I always thought it was a nightmare, but when I saw this photo… when I saw his face. I knew… I knew it was him, the monster in my dreams.
“Like father, like son, eh? I was only six years old when your son, your precious Ryan, used magic to make me shift early. He tied my legs together with rope, planted his knee into my neck and, ignoring my frightened screams, used a hacksaw to tear my magic from me. He removed my horn. My magic, my fucking soul. My very identity.”
A tear rolls down my cheek, and I angrily wipe it away.
“I don’t know why he did it. Only he could tell you that.
But it’s the reason I’m still sick as I approach adulthood and the time my body should naturally shift.
The doctors say without my horn I’ll die as I can’t shift without it.
I’m a ticking time bomb. By removing my horn, my father killed me.
” I pat the table. “Sorry about that. Yeah, it sucks to find out your broodmare won’t survive what you disgusting fucks have planned.
” My voice wobbles, and I swallow and straighten my shoulders.
“So Grandfather, out of curiosity, do you still want to pass me around?”