BEAUM

ting room and curled up in a corner,

on Hicks-my adoptive father. His voice was s

dre was just a little upset. Come h

ter Brenda told them about the locket,

ur business," I said, my

ne. "Kira, let's talk. At the downtown legal center

ut it was also my chance t

and Deidre were already seated with their law

t I possess zero supernatural ancestry, that I am a biologically defective wolfless human, and that I forfeit all past, pre

grants full warrior-tier stipends to households with pure bloodlines. Your presence on our family registry is dragging

old, amused smirk touch my lips. "Are you tryi

f room and board in a shifter household costs at least a million dollars on the open market. We took in a broken stray. If you don't sign this

r bandaged hand. "Sign it, Kira. Or Dylan's pack will

small-minded cruelty of creatures who thought they ruled the wo

and picked u

d-plated pen. "Wise choice, you

parchment was deafeni

ed entirely. Bren

n into quarters, then into eighths. I raised my hands and let the white confetti

ists onto the table, his eyes flaring yellow with low-tier

assment of filing a fraudule

s jacket, exposing both of my slend

scar tissue-the indelible, chemical burn marks

Vance visibly recoil in horror. "A forbidden blood ritual under the Continental Shifter Concord. You kidnapped an infant, bo

all color. "You... how

put over my head, was paid for with my blood. Our debt is settled. T

nce room, ignoring the furious curses

doors of the municipal building and st

buzzed in

al satellite photograph showing the exact legal center plaza where I was curre

image was a

here. L

tilted my head towar