Total pages in book: 203
Estimated words: 199654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 998(@200wpm)___ 799(@250wpm)___ 666(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 998(@200wpm)___ 799(@250wpm)___ 666(@300wpm)
The cave behind the falls is a sacred place. It’s where the Young coven called upon magic to form our bonds in the council way back whenever it was decided we’d be led by a group instead of one alpha.
We’ve always had important conversations there for privacy. It’s the council’s space. The cave walls house layers of crystals. We’ve always known there’s special magic there.
“She also said if we tried to retaliate for her taking us like that, she knows more magic than the Youngs do. Called Erica and Grey wet behind the ears.”
“We haven’t retaliated,” I say. “And we should. The Young coven said they thought it should be reported to the SCC. We’ve been occupied so I don’t know if that was done or if anything came of it.”
And now I’m a little pissed, because why didn’t I make sure something was done? I know why and I can’t let myself dwell on it. My head was elsewhere. And if I do let myself dwell for another second, she’ll feel it. I need to keep a clear head now, eyes open, senses on alert.
“Regardless, I don’t have a good feeling about this,” she says. “And I can tell you don’t either.’
“Nobody does, baby. But let’s get some sleep. I’ll be meeting with the council in the morning. From there, we’ll talk out a game plan.”
I pull her close and purr until her body is relaxed, her breathing evened out.
I thought our drama was over.
Fuck!
57
BAILEY
Tingles in my nose wake me. The sun is rising but only just by the look of what’s filtering in through the open slats in the blinds.
I sit up and immediately sneeze hard.
As soon as I recover, I sneeze three more times in a row.
And suddenly I’m shifted.
What the heck?
My wolf sneezes three more times. I feel like I’m having an allergic reaction out of nowhere. But I don’t have allergies.
Jase has already jolted awake, sat up, and his nostrils are flaring as I, as wolf, sneeze again while he jackknifes out of bed, rushing to the window and throwing the blinds up, pushing the screen and sticking his head out.
I want to shift back, and on reflex try to tell him as much.
Weird. I’m verbalizing wolf noises, puffs, and yips at him. I’m commanding her to talk!
Not her. There’s not a separate her.
Oh my goodness!
There’s just more… me. Is my wolf becoming part of me, merging with instinct?
I’m confused, trying to cobble my headspace together.
I tell myself to shift.
Nothing happens.
I think about the slurping sensation of pulling my wolf back in, but instead of a shift happening, I sneeze twice more.
I’m thinking about asking what he’s doing as it’s clear he just knocked the screen out of the window so he can stick his head out and look at the riverbank, but a) I can’t talk and b) I sneeze again.
Holy shit! Make it stop!
He slams the window down.
“Let’s go look,” I want to say, but it comes out as more wolf sounds.
I lift my paw and look at it. Yes, I just did that! I’m controlling her movement. My movement. What a relief!
“Stay here,” he demands, opening one of the drawers of his dresser, grabbing, then yanking on a pair of sweatpants and storming out of the room, shutting the door behind himself.
Shit, I can’t follow him.
Shift! I tell myself, so I can get back my fingers, thumbs, and height to be able to open this door.
Nothing happens.
I back up, turn, then do a running jump, colliding with the dresser and seeing stars briefly minute before I back up and give it a second try, succeeding this time and managing to get up into the half-open middle drawer he abandoned. I scramble through the clothes in it until I manage to climb onto the surface of the dresser.
Stretching, I can just barely see out the window. I see him hop the back fence and stalk to the riverbank. He squats, looking at the ground, then as if feeling my eyes on him, he twists his neck to look over his shoulder, up at me. The look on his face, the sensation in my chest, those toxic seedlings are definitely back!
I’ve stopped sneezing, but probably only because the window is shut.
When he comes back in, he finds me waiting by the bedroom door.
“Shift,” he commands.
I shift.
“Omigosh, Jase. Are they back?”
“They’re back. No scent, I can touch ‘em, no sensation, no weakness, but they’re the same length as the grass and it looks like there’s way more than there was.”
“I shifted spontaneously,” I say. “And–”
“Your wolf’s trying to protect you. Let me wash my hands. Need to wash the doorknobs too; don’t want that transferring onto you.”
I follow him. “I tried to talk and it came out as wolf sounds. I felt like I was her. She wasn’t separate, though she’s still in there, if that makes sense. You know what I mean? I didn’t shift on purpose, but I had control! I wanted to see what you were doing and I got up on the dresser by myself.”