If Carl had reservations about changing Pen, he kept them to himself. He and Gray examined her together and decided her Fae blood was diluted enough by her humanity that change was at least possible.

“I’ve never heard of a shifter who is Fae,” Sheryl gripped my hand as volunteers stepped forward to offer her their bite. “I hope you are correct and this doesn’t do more damage than good.”

Carl dismissed every one of them, and my frustration bubbled out in grumbled complaints.

“Why can’t Gray just bite her?”

She laughed softly. “Gray was born into the curse. Only a made shifter can make others, and only a shifter with enough control not to kill must attempt to do it on purpose.” She hesitated before continuing. “You need to know, biting deep enough to initiate the change without killing is a very difficult task. Most of the bitten don’t survive.”

“But they didn’t have healers and two alphas watching over them, she does.”

She nodded and gave my hand another squeeze, both of us acutely aware that I didn’t feel half the confidence I had forced into my voice. Gray hadn’t even looked in my direction since he’d started, partly because he was still angry with me for not following his lead better. But mostly, I knew, because he wanted this to work, for the future of the pack, as well as for Penelope herself.

Carl called the Leo forward, the thin man shuffling up and pushing his thick hair back from his forehead as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I don’t know, Alpha. I don’t want to hurt her.”

I remembered how enamored he’d seemed when he saw her, and how different from her he was. Quiet and reserved, he sat back and watched the pack dance around the flames, only moving to a closer seat when Pen had started to sing.

“He’s the one,” I blurted, loud enough for both Carl and Gray to hear. Gray shot me a dirty look, telling me with his expression that I was ruining things again. “I’m sorry, but I can feel it. There’s something about him.”

The Leo stepped forward a little more, within arm’s reach of Gray. “What’s your name?” Gray asked, sniffing the air just in front of the other man.

“I’m Julian, Jules to most people.”

“You weren’t born a shifter?” Julian shook his head. “I went to summer camp to be a youth counselor, you know? I was ah, headed for the seminary to be a priest like my uncle, and wanted to serve.” He shrugged and rolled up a sleeve, baring a long, ragged scar. “One of the kids went through his change late, I guess his folks thought he’d passed the danger mark.”

“Your attacker was born and still changed you?”

“Leos are rare, they’re rarely born. The curse is usually passed on with a ritual bite from parent to child.”

I nodded at Carl. “If she’s not immune, his bite should be genetically engineered for maximum potency, don’t you think?”

The lion's alpha seemed to agree because without another word Carl led the younger man to the stone table Gray had explained to me was for important rituals. It was ancient, stained with blood. None of it was fresh, and from the smells of it, it had not seen blood sacrifice for many years… Thankfully.

Grayson disappeared into the healers’ tent and carried Penelope out, her almost six-foot frame pale and small in his arms. He laid her on the table and Sheryl covered her in a linen cloth. Gray took off his jacket and folded it, slipping it under her head.

The gesture was enough to make me forgive him a little, but the tension in the camp had brought us all to silence, and I didn’t want to break the almost reverent feeling that descended on us just to tell him I wasn’t angry anymore.

The sun shone through the trees directly on Penelope's sleeping form, bathing her in a soft golden light that made her look like a fairytale princess.

Carl gestured to Julian, summoning him up to the stone, as the rest of us pressed in closer. Gray motioned for me to join him at her side, and I climbed the roughhewn stone steps and moved behind the table, out of the light, but close enough to touch or catch my friend if her reaction was violent.

Each of the healers took a turn muttering their prayers to their own gods, and I silently added a prayer to the Goddess as they laid out healing herbs and bandages.

Julian glanced at me, his eyes white with fear. Carl whispered something to him, and he shook his head vehemently, glancing between his leader and his victim. The alpha spoke to him again, so softly even Gray leaned in to hear the conversation, then gave me a small head shake. Julian was getting cold feet, and I couldn't blame him.

"Julian," I murmured, touching his arm. "I'll stand with you if it helps." He gulped. "I have to change to…to infect her."

“I’ll hold your jacket.” I smiled at him. I knew it wasn’t the change that worried him, but my reaction to a half lion, half man. His pack knew him. They’d changed together on numerous occasions. But I was new, a Fae royal (for better or worse), and the Montana pack was wary of my powers.

He handed me his jacket, and Carl took the rest of his clothes as he stripped down to nothing. Whether it was basic shifter comfort with nudity, or having passed the point of debate, but he shook off his nerves. Falling into an easy crouch, he breathed deeply and then groaned in pain as his muscles and bones broke and reknit faster than my eyes could follow.

In under a minute he stood again, shaking off the last of the clear, viscous fluid from his change. He towered over the alphas at almost seven feet of golden fur, his limbs elongated and ended in clawed hands and feet, not a lion, but not human either.

His mane was damp and curled around his face, and in a very human, impatient gesture, he pushed it back with his hands before turning to Penelope and glancing back at his alpha.

“Bite the meat of her shoulder, where the toxins from your bite will enter the heart quickly. Make it deep enough to bleed well, but do not tear the flesh away. This is the way of the Leo, though not how you were changed.”

Of course. He was attacked by a kid who had no idea what he was doing. I’d be nervous about passing it on if that was my experience, too.

I held Gray’s hand, squeezing so tight I thought he might lose the blood flow to his fingers. He extracted the extremity from my grasp and pulled my back against him, holding me in a bear hug so I could cling to his arms. Normally, I hated feeling pinned, but the hard, warm strength of him behind me kept me steady when I wanted to jump between the jaws of the werelion and my best friend.

His grip tightened when Julian-the-lion lunged and bit down hard on Penelope, blood gushing from the wound the moment he released his grip on her. He arched his back and shuddered, rushing her again as the blood hit his tongue.

Before I could react, Gray had released me and grabbed Julian by one long golden arm, Carl leaping onto the lion’s back to keep him from striking a killing blow. The healers surrounded her, staunched the blood flow and packed her wound with herbs as the three shifters grappled behind them, dividing my attention.

"Gods. Take her back to the tent so we can control this beast," I called out, calling the nearest tree roots to wrap around Julian's limbs until the bloodlust cooled and he could shift back. I followed the healers to the tent without looking back. My plants would do their part, and I needed to be near Pen, in case her condition changed.