Time suddenly seemed to slow down. I took a step back, or maybe two- everything was a little foggy by now as I kept looking in the mirror, not believing what I was seeing with my own eyes.

"Mum, how the hell did you change my look?" I waved a strand of grey hair in front of both of us. "That's not mine — I am a brunette, for goodness' sake. And where did this mark come from?"

It took a great deal for something to get to me, especially with my kind of work, but this, this was freaking me out a bit. No, make that a lot. Because nothing about it was normal. Hell, I had to wonder if I was not dreaming still.

To make matters worse, Blondie didn't seem phased at all by what he had just seen, while my mum looked like she was about to burst into tears.

My dad stood up to comfort her, leaving it to him to keep going. "Auri, you remember when you were little, and we pretended we were magicians?"

I nodded, although I was not sure where he was going with that. When I was a kid, my mum and my dad used to perform all these magic tricks for me. They were incredible- always looked so real and I never figured out how they did them.

I knew my parents were fascinated by magic. We had plenty of books and artefacts at the house that could have easily been featured in an episode of Charmed, but everyone has an unusual hobby, right? Mine involved guns and kicking the crap out of grown-ass men, so who was I to judge?

My gaze shifted to my mum when I saw her look away, rather pained, while my dad continued. "The truth is that we haven't been honest with you. The magic tricks we did- they were not really tricks. Your mum and I are what people call warlocks. We have magical abilities linked to the demon blood inside us, which allows us to do many things that are not humanly possible."

Wait, what? Warlocks?

A mirthless laugh escaped my lips, my dad clearly not being serious about this. How could he be? The mere idea that magic really existed, let alone that my parents were some sort of wizards with... what did he call it? Ah yes, demon blood. All of that was laughable.

Did Blondie drug them?

"Look, I love you both and so I am sorry to say this, but are you high?" I sputtered, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Warlocks don't exist, nor do demons or real magic."

"Sweetheart, I know this comes as a shock to you. And trust me, your mother and I discussed many times whether we should have told you all of this years ago, but we simply wanted to protect you and give you a normal life." He threaded a hand through his long hair. "You had already lost your family, and not only... so we wanted to take the pain away."

"Take the pain away?" I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. "What does that mean?"

"Once we brought you here, we immediately knew the truth. You were no human child, Auri. The hair, the birthmark, your growling at others, the unknown identity of your parents — we recognised you were of shifter origin. We had to understand what happened to you and your family, and we did it the only way we could — we tapped into your memories. You were only three years old, but the memories from the accident were there inside your mind. We saw how your family was heading home after a meeting, how another vehicle rammed into you and caused your car to fall down the steep ravine next to the road."

My dad paused, the anguish in his eyes so evident. It was like whatever he was seeing was happening right in front of him.

But it was his words that were robbing me of my breath. Because no matter how surreal what he was telling me sounded, the possibility that even a fraction of that could have been true made every fibre in my body come to a standstill.

"The people who killed your parents," he let out a heavy sigh, "they came to get your family once your car had stopped tumbling. Your mum and dad were already dead, but you were alive, albeit terrified. There was a five-year-old boy next to you who was just as scared as you were. He tried to reach you through the debris in the car, but his wolf must have taken over as self-preservation because he shifted and ran away."

Now it was the turn of the blonde stranger to look shocked and pained, as if he knew what my dad was talking about.

"The men found you and wanted to take you with them, but they needed to neutralise your wolf before they could do anything, or they risked you running away like your brother." My dad paced up and down the room. "You see, shifter kids only start shifting later on in their childhood, but situations of grave danger or trauma can cause spontaneous shifting to protect both the animal and the human. That's what happened to your brother and what could have happened to you. But those bastards hurt your wolf before it could protect you. Luckily, the police and paramedics showed up at the scene, so they had to flee. The rest of the story you know, Aurelie."

I didn't even have time to react before my mum took over again.

"What you don't know, sweetheart, is that after we saw these memories, we knew you were in danger. From the people who killed your parents. From the people who sent them. Even from innocent humans who might have paid too much attention to your unusual looks. That's why we gave you this bracelet and cast a spell to hide your true appearance. It is actually a protection bracelet. Thankfully, nothing happened in the past 24 years, minus your work injuries here and there. We also did not need to tamper with your memories, as you were too young to remember anything before the crash, anyway." She reached for my face, placing her finger gently on my temple. "It's all still in your head, but you just can't reach it."

I kept standing in front of the mirror, and all I could do was blink without uttering a word. Warlocks, shifters, long-lost brother, killed parents, magic... I had to be dreaming- a very vivid nightmare.

Unease, mixed with bewilderment, rolled through me like a chilled, dark wave. The tension that had been building inside me snapped and all I could do was burst out laughing.

"Let's say I believe you." My tone was laced with sarcasm and mockery, neither of which escaped my mum and dad's attention as they stood close to me, both of them lacking their usual confidence. "My parents were shifters. I gather, from what you explained, that they could change from humans to animals. What happened to my animal then?"

My dad averted his eyes before he answered my question. "Auri, we are very sorry, but she is gone, your wolf. We could sense her, yet the trauma of what had happened and the injuries from the monsters who tried to neutralise her were too great." He swivelled back towards me again. "She was suffering and so were you. The human and the animal sides in shifters share a strong bond that affects both. You were very young, and the connection was not so solid in your case, so the only way to let her pass away without it hurting you was to break the connection between you."

A howl, one that came from Blondie, broke the silence in the room, but I was more shocked by the startling feeling that there was, suddenly, a piece of my soul missing. Yet, all that my brain was telling me was to laugh again.

"Of course — dead. How convenient." I sneered. "And this brother of mine... Where is he? How come he abandoned me and he never looked for me?"

The acidity in my words made Blondie flinch. Slowly, he rose from his seat and proceeded to walk over to me. There was guilt in his eyes. Pain. Yet, none of that was enough to make me forget the question that was gnawing at me — what was his role in all of this?

"Aurelie," he halted before he got too close, "I never stopped looking for you. In the beginning, I was a little boy, and I didn't even know where to start. As I grew older, I started investigating every lead that I came across. Anything that would help me find you. It was only recently that I tracked down Seraphine and Victor, and I finally contacted them a few days ago. They didn't trust me to begin with, and I don't blame them — they've seen what you and I had gone through, and I will be eternally grateful to them for putting your safety and well-being above everything else. But I am here now, and I am never losing you again."

My head was already spinning from all the crazy things I had heard up to that point. Was he really trying to say that he was my brother?

I wasn't sure what to make of his statement. But if he was my brother, did he think he could show up out of the blue and make it all better? That we would pick everything up right from where we had left?

This man was insane, even if he was telling the truth, and I was fighting so hard not to slap him, smack him, anything that would make him hurt, even a little.

"You? You come here and claim to be my brother- the one that I wasn't aware existed until an hour ago- and yet I don't know the simplest things about you. What do you really want from me? To welcome you with open arms?"

To my surprise, he didn't back off, not at all, despite my clearly hostile reaction.

"Well, if that's what you need to consider hearing me out, fine. My name is Alpha Lucien Moreau, Alpha of the Blackwood Pack, and son of Margot and Matthew Moreau. Our mother was the alpha of our pack until her death and our dad was her beta. And you are Aurelie Moreau, my baby sister."

He was looking at me, searching for a reaction or recognition on my part, but there was nothing. None of it sounded familiar. And why should it? It was all crazy talk from the three of them.

I felt myself struggle to breathe, to think. I just wanted to continue to laugh. Perhaps if I laughed enough, I was finally going to wake up from this nightmare? Then my mother stepped toward me and placed her fingertips on my temples once more.

"Let me help you remember, darling."

As soon as the words rolled off her lips, my mind was flooded with memories. My memories. I had no idea how I knew it, but I did.

I saw a boy. Little Lucien, standing there, smiling.

And my birth parents. God, my mother was so beautiful and my father had the most charming smile ever.

Then I saw my pack. The accident. The tattoo on the wrist of the guy who tried to forcefully pull me out of the car to neutralise my animal.

And finally, I saw her. My wolf. I knew she was only in my memories, yet she was breathtaking. But the realisation that she was dead snapped me out of my daze.

Gone were the silver grey hair and the birthmark when I regained my composure. All I could see in the mirror now were the tears in my eyes.

Both my parents and my supposed brother were all waiting for me to say something. They looked worried, distressed at the sight of me appearing so broken; yet, one had to wonder what exactly they expected would happen.

Before I knew it, my heart tightened like an invisible hand was squeezing it inside my body. All the smells in the house became overwhelming. I tried to take a breath, but I couldn't. Everything was suffocating. I felt so lost, so helpless. All I wanted was to crumble into pieces on the floor.

"Aurelie, darling," I barely noticed my mother talking to me, "you need to breathe. I know this is all too much for you, but just inhale and exhale, sweetheart."

Her voice was soothing. It reminded me of my childhood when I would wake up from my nightmares in the middle of the night and she would stay with me until I fell asleep again, stroking my hair and telling me stories of heroes, magical creatures, and happy endings. Were they real, too?

Still, it calmed me enough to regain some clarity inside my head. My brain finally reconnected with my body and I knew I had to get out before I lost control once more.

"I can't do this," I rasped. "This is madness — you have all lost your minds. I need to go." I bolted out of the house, slamming the front door on my way out.

I ran until I reached the train station, not caring that I had abandoned my car at my parents' place. All I wanted was to get as far away from all of them as possible.

As soon as I got on the train back to London, I took my phone out and started typing. I knew just the person who I needed right now.

Scar, I need you. My life has become a giant mess! Meet me at my house in two hours. Bring alcohol... loads of it! R xx