She whipped around to face me. “You can’t hurt him! Promise me!” She grabbed on to my forearm with both hands. “He’s just a kid. He’ll get the hang of his abilities soon enough, and once he does, he can and will destroy anyone who seeks to harm him. But for now…he’s vulnerable.”
Ray whistled. “So, a troll, huh? That sounds intense. Does he morph? Or is he always in his troll form?”
Kayla looked like she wanted to ram a fist into Ray’s face, so I gently restrained her, walking her backward a few paces. “I need you to calm down. No one is hurting your brother.” I put as much emphasis on my words as possible, hoping my power would have some kind of effect on her. “None of us care what he is, or what he can turn into. He’s an innocent pawn, caught up in a very complicated game. We will find him—alive—and once we do, we will keep him safe. You have my word, Kayla. I’m not sure why you’re choosing not to trust us after all this, but it would be beneficial for you to start doing so now. We’re standing in front of your apartment, and if this isn’t proof enough of where our loyalties lie, I can’t do much better.”
She openly assessed me, her heartbeat elevated as she tried to gauge how much of what I was saying was true. I spread my arms wide to show her I wasn’t hiding anything. She and her brother must’ve been on the run for some time, subsequently building up a lot of trust issues. “He’s not a regular…troll,” she finally conceded. “He’s an…ice troll. But he hasn’t fully come into his powers yet.” The rest of her words came out hasty and rushed. “He can only shift sometimes, but it’s unpredictable, and when it happens…it’s messy.”
Messy? It sounded chaotic.
“It’s okay, Kayla. We’re going to help him.”
2
“Ice troll?” Rourke commented after Kayla was done. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one before.” That was saying something, because Rourke was old. His Pride had died out long ago, leaving him the sole survivor.
Kayla stuck out her chin. “The proper Icelandic term is blár risastór, which translates to ‘blue giant.’”
“So, are you telling us your brother turns into a blue Hulk?” Ray asked incredulously, ending on an appreciative whistle. “That might be the single-most-awesome thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I’m not familiar with a shifter who turns into a giant either,” I said.
“He’s not technically a troll or a giant.” She rocked back and forth on her heels, agitated. “Once he shifts, he resembles…a large gargoyle, his body coloring slate blue.”
Rourke nodded. “I’ve met a few gargoyle shifters in my time. They’re among the strongest and most powerful of any shifter, their skin tough as stone. Though, I haven’t seen one for centuries. I thought they’d died out.”
Kayla shrugged. “My mother’s ancestors were giants, said to be interbred with gargoyles. My brother’s abilities were…a surprise.” She cleared her throat. “We were told his genes…are unusual. He’s not a troll or a giant, he’s a blár risastór.”
A necromancer married a giantess with latent gargoyle genes.
It was actually quite astounding.
It made me wonder how many other intermixed supernaturals were out there with strange and wonderful abilities. “Kayla, this doesn’t change anything,” I assured her. “What I said before stands. It doesn’t matter to us what he is. I’m certain he’s a great kid who just needs some guidance and help with his powers. We will find him, and once we do—”
“He’s in trouble,” she interrupted.
“I know,” I said. “That’s why we’re here—”
“No, not because of all this,” she said. “We were…on the run for another reason. I’m telling you this because I’ve decided to trust you. If you choose to go in there and help him, I want—I need—you to make me a promise”—she took a deep breath—“to take us both somewhere safe so they can’t get to him. Our location here is compromised now. We’ve lived in ten different cities in four years. I’m running out of options.”
“Who exactly is after him?” I asked.
Kayla glanced at Rourke and then back at me. “Your mate is partially right. The gargoyles are almost extinct. There is only one pack left in the world. They are extremely secretive and live in Eastern Europe—Czechoslovakia, I believe. Their numbers are small, and they’ve been actively seeking to grow for the last fifty years. When they found out about Jax, they decided they wanted him.” She bowed her head. “My family refused to give him up.”
It was common for shifter fathers to take their teenage sons away from their mothers and raise them in a pack lifestyle. But in this day and age, it was a little archaic, especially if the parent wasn’t the shifter. It would’ve been frightful for Jax to go against his will, especially if he wasn’t full gargoyle.
“Are either of your parents still living?” I asked gently.
She shook her head. “No. They were killed by this same pack four years ago. Jax and I have been on the run ever since.”
Tyler walked up to us.
He’d heard our conversation, and without even glancing at me, he stated evenly, “We give you our solemn oath, Kayla. We will find your brother and make sure you both remain protected.”