Read Online Through the Veil by Lacey Thorn - Free Book Online Page A

numbers and fewer and fewer female
children are born.”
    “Why fewer females?” she asked.
    “Females are rare anyway,” Jamison replied. “A gift from the
goddess to those deserving of the treasure of a female. Not all who choose to
have children are given that gift. And so our numbers grow smaller.”
    “How many of you are there?”
    “We number only in the hundreds now,” Taggart said. “Once
thousands of us crowded the valley but now, now we are few.”
    “And do your parents live close? Do you have family here
still?” she asked.
    “A rather large family,” Jamison laughed. “When the time is
right you will meet them all.”
    “How large?” she asked.
    “Our mother and fathers still live,” Taggart answered. “We
have two younger brothers close to their twenty-third year and we have been
helping to prepare their shelter for them.”
    “Then our parents were gifted with not one but two
daughters,” Jamison added. “They both grow each day and soon we will see them
mated.”
    “You have sisters? Are they twins as well?” Reggie had never
had siblings. She’d longed for a sister to share things with. Maybe she could
have had a twin. It sounded like everyone here had twins.
    “No, not everyone has a twin here,” Taggart said with a
laugh. “But our parents have two sets of twins, us and our brothers. The girls
are a year apart.”
    So many siblings to grow up with. It sounded wonderful to
Reggie.
    “Our family is yours,” Jamison said.
    “They will love and embrace you as we have,” Taggart added.
    “I only had my mother,” Reggie admitted softly.
    “Yes, we have seen your thoughts and memories of her,”
Jamison said.
    “We can ask to speak with the queen about your mother,”
Taggart said. “If you desire we can request that she be allowed to cross.”
    “I’m not sure that she would,” Reggie replied.
    “You don’t believe that your mother would want to be with
you?” Jamison said.
    “My mother is different,” was all the explanation Reggie
could voice but she knew they could see what she was thinking.
    “I cannot fathom a woman such as that mothering one as
special as you,” Taggart stated.
    “I love her,” Reggie said, not wanting them to doubt that.
    “We know that,” Jamison said. “Your love is not what we
question.”
    Her mother’s love. It was something Reggie had questioned
often as well. But not anymore. She was moving on, moving forward. She had gone
from a woman of doubt to a woman willing to embrace where she found herself.
    “So what do I need to do to prepare for my shift?” Reggie asked.

Chapter Seven
     
    It had gone more easily than she anticipated. The wolf
spirit took over when the time came to change and really, Reggie just felt like
she was along for the ride as Taggart had said. The sounds were scarier than
anything she felt physically when it came to shifting. And by the time it was
all done she was so ramped up with excitement that nothing else mattered.
    She ran, feeling the breeze rippling over her fur. It seemed
that all of her senses were stronger, better while in this form. Taggart and
Jamison stayed at her side, never allowing her to be on her own. It was nice to
know that they were there ready to help and support her if needed.
    She couldn’t fathom being able to change, to embrace a
different part of self and choosing to walk away. Having seen what was open to
her on this side of the veil, having experienced the love of men such as
Jamison and Taggart, it made no sense to her. What woman would choose not to
stay? Not her, that was for sure.
    Shifting back, she walked a ways from the cabin, adjusting
to being back on two legs. Her mates seemed to have no problem with it but
going from all fours to two and vice versa was going to take some getting used
to on her part. She had waved them off when they’d offered to walk with her. She
needed a few moments to herself. A lot had happened in the week she’d been here
and though she had