“Shifting?” I looked between the brothers, my tears drying up. “What’s that?”

“When we reach a certain age,” Kross answered, his hand still on my face, “we go through something called a shift. The shift is the brutal awakening of our true nature, when our human body breaks, twists, and reshapes to make way for the beast inside.”

“Axel was a late bloomer,” Kade continued, his voice filled with sadness. “He shifted at the age of twelve, when the age we were meant to shift was eight.”

“Is that why he’s this way?” I asked softly.

Kross shook his head. “He’s this way because he doesn't have a tether.”

“You...