‘I better not.’ Her gaze flickered over him, then her eyes widened and met his before darting away. Cheeks flushed, she looked everywhere but at him. ‘I think you need to go and put some actual clothes on. My jacket isn’t really sufficient.’ Her blush deepened.
He found it charming. Unable to hide his smile, he said gently, ‘Were don’t have the same hang-ups about nudity that the rest of society has. You’ll get used to it—just like you would have if you’d been brought up with your shifter family.’
She swallowed hard. ‘I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that.’
He led her to the patio, but left her to climb the steps to go inside alone. She looked over her shoulder.
‘Go on. I’ll put some clothes on.’
She smiled, the barest lifting of her lips at the corner, and then skittered up the stairs and disappeared inside.
Iain bunched the jacket in his hand and lifted it to his nose. It smelled of her. Fruity, fresh wildness of spring cherry blossoms and the deep warmth of a full-bodied shiraz. That smell filled his chest, warmed his heart.
She’d given him her scent.
She might not know what it meant to a Were, to give them your scent, but it was the ultimate act of trust. One he wasn’t going to jeopardise. Smiling, he loped around to the side door. He’d go and put some clothes on for her, if only to have her turn those beautiful eyes on him again. There was no other reason. There could be no other reason. He was a Lone Wolf. He didn’t have a right to wish for more from someone like her. She was forever and he could never give that to her. But he could look. And he could enjoy her looking back.
Chapter 6
‘What happened, Cain?’
The voice slapped at him. Somewhere below him, on the human plane, his body twitched in response. The sensation would normally have made him smile, made him feel alive—good or bad, Eloise and Morrigan were the only ones who could make him feel anything. However, he felt nothing. He’d been too long in the ether tracking his twin, trying to make her do the right thing.
‘Cain!’
The slap of her power was even stronger this time. The welcome pain of it ricocheted down the link to his body. He gasped as his body began to convulse. From far away the sound of voices whispered to him, the sensation of hands holding, a needle being pushed into his arm, the rush of something sedating covering him like a blanket. All of it he felt and heard, but it was almost like it was happening to someone else, his senses dulled by long exposure to the ether. If he didn’t get back into his body soon, he would be lost.
He had to give Morrigan her report and then fly back to his body. ‘It didn’t work, Mistress.’
‘I felt her power gather.’
‘It did, but then, it just…’ He wasn’t certain how to explain it. ‘… died away.’
‘So they’re still alive.’
‘Yes.’
‘And so is she.’
‘Yes.’ That word brought such relief.
‘Are you still with her?’
‘No, she pushed me away and now I can’t get back in. I’ve been here too long. I’m tired.’
Seething fury raged over him and he tumbled backwards in its wake. Panic took over—his tether was too weak to withstand the cutting power of such a negative emotion. But then the fury died away. ‘Mistress?’
A sigh. ‘I don’t blame you, Cain. It’s your bitch of a sister I’m furious with. Have they cast her out?’
‘No. They are keeping her. They think they can help her control her power.’
‘More fool them. But that could work in our favour.’
‘In what way, Mistress?’
Silence. The tether pulled at him—he really had to get back to his body, but he couldn’t go without permission. ‘I have been gone too long, Mistress. It took me too long to contact you.’
‘That’s because of the drugs they’re pumping through you.’
‘If you allowed me to heal myself fully, then I might be able—’
‘No. You are more use to me in this state. The coma allows you easy access to the ether. You can spy on them without them knowing.’
‘My tether is weak.’
‘That might be to our advantage.’
A bewildering sensation struck him—he thought it might be sadness. ‘You want me to die?’
A gentle caress on his cheek, the ice-cold touch of Darkness that was Morrigan. ‘Never. You are mine. I would never wish you harm.’
‘Then what are you suggesting?’
‘It’s just a thought. Where are the others?’
‘In the caves on pack land.’
‘Can you get to them?’
‘In the astral—yes.’
‘Then this is what we will do.’
As Morrigan laid out her plan, Cain began to grin. He would get Eloise back. He’d never meant to destroy her. She belonged to him—like an arm or a leg belonged to him. And just as he didn’t want to lose a limb, he didn’t want to lose her either. Just like he didn’t want to lose the Darkness that touched them both. Her from birth, him by choice. It bonded them more firmly than even their blood tie did. She was meant for bigger things. He would have destroyed her in his anger though, for Morrigan, and learned to live with it. But this was so much better. This way, the Were would be destroyed and Eloise would be at the centre of it, finally made aware of the true magnificence of her purpose.
Once done, she would come back to him and this time, she would never get away.
Chapter 7
‘Ow, that hurts!’
Shelley pulled the needle back as Adam jerked out of her reach. ‘I haven’t even touched you yet.’
‘Just moving hurts. It feels like the glass is scratching against my nerves.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Bron told you not to change until she had all the glass out, but you didn’t listen, did you? You just had to go running off to stop Eloise when Iain was quite capable of doing so. Now you just have to suffer the extra pain.’
‘I don’t understand why Bron can’t heal me,’ he grumbled, glaring down at her. ‘She could have gotten this glass out of my back by now.’
‘Excuse me for only being a lowly nurse and not a Pack Healer.’
‘I didn’t mean to say—’
Shelley flicked her hand at him, irritated with herself as much as him. ‘I know you didn’t. But you’re not the only one who wishes I had another talent that would prove more useful.’ She glowered at the spirits who were hovering around. There were a bunch of ancient healers who’d gathered and she’d been trying to ignore their attempts to give advice as she tended to Adam. ‘No, a poultice will not help to draw out the glass,’ she said to one particular pushy spirit. ‘And yes, I do have to cut him open with this.’ She waved the scalpel at them and almost smiled as they cringed back from it. ‘It can’t cut you,’ she snorted, turning back to Adam. The smile died on her face.
He had a deep frown on his face as he stared at her. ‘You see them all the time now?’
She shrugged, not liking the pity in his voice. ‘Cordy has helped me to block them out better. Times like this though, when the interfering buzzards think they know better than me,’ she said pointedly, looking back at the poultice-pushing ancient crone, ‘they become more persistent.’
‘If they’re hurting you—’ He stepped closer.
‘I’m fine.’ She waved the scalpel. ‘But you won’t be if I don’t get that glass out. Come sit down here. I’ll numb the area with this,’ she indicated the needle, ‘and the glass will be out in no time and then you can change and heal properly.’
He eyed the needle, blanching. ‘Perhaps I’ll wait until Bron gets back.’
A bark of laughter exploded from her. ‘Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little needle?’
His mouth twisted. ‘Well, I—’
‘I don’t believe this. You’re a big bad wolf. You ran at a witch whose power was about to explode, and that is the least crazy thing you’ve done. How can you be afraid of this
?’ She waved the needle.
‘I just am. Bron doesn’t need the needles.’
‘Yes, well, as we’ve already said, Bron is a powerful healer and I’m not, and as you well know, Bron is in no fit state to heal you after dealing with Eloise and our prisoners yesterday and again this morning. And I’m telling you, if we don’t get that glass out now, it could cause permanent damage. So sit down, put on your big-boy pants, and just grin and bear it.’
His mouth widened into that grin she found way too appealing. ‘Maybe you can take my mind off it by giving me a kiss, Kitten.’
She tried to ignore the tingle in her skin. ‘How about I leave you to suffer?’ She slammed her hand down on the bench. ‘I mean, it’s your stupid fault it got this bad in the first place. I can’t believe you changed when you were told not to. How stupid could you be?’
‘Apparently very.’ He had the audacity to smile.
She threw her arms up. ‘Well I give up on all you stupid, stubborn testosterone-driven Were. You can just deal with this yourself. Or wait until Bron isn’t so tired.’ She threw the needle and scalpel down on the table and turned to leave.
‘No. I’m sorry. Please stay.’
His fingers twined around her wrist, stopping her. She almost groaned at the warmth that shot through her. She hated that warmth. She turned, intending to tell him to go fuck himself, but then saw the pleading look on his face, the melting expression in his amber eyes cut with pain. Something inside her melted. Not that she could let him know that. ‘Fine. But not another word. Lie down on this bench and let me do my job, okay?’
He winced as he lowered himself onto the bench.
She almost wished he hadn’t. Faced with the glorious spread of his muscled back, she tried to ignore the desire to spread her palm in the centre and brush it across the muscles, feel his strength. Instead, she concentrated on the areas that were still showing signs of trauma. It was hard to believe his skin had been shredded only yesterday. When Eloise had thrown him through the window with her powers, they hadn’t realised how much damage had been done to his back because of the head wound he’d sustained—he had no idea how close he’d come to dying—and by the time they did notice his back, Bron was too exhausted to deal with pulling glass out of skin that had already begun to heal over the shards.
Shelley had been prepared to take on the task herself, but before she collapsed Bron told them his body couldn’t take any more trauma at that point. ‘We can wait until tomorrow when I’ve got my powers back. As long as he lies still, he shouldn’t heal over too much.’
If only he’d done what he’d been told. But no, he’d gone running off before they were done and now she was stuck with the task of pulling glass that was even more deeply embedded from the idiot man’s stupidly sexy back.
Her fingers made a fist around the needle and she had to take a deep breath before injecting him to numb the affected area. She gripped the scalpel, ignoring the itch under her skin to stroke, and cut into his skin.
Finally, the last piece of glass removed, she sat back, ripped her gloves off and wiped the sweat from her lip. ‘You should change again. The wounds will heal properly this time.’
He sat up, wincing a little. ‘Want to see me naked, do you?’
‘I didn’t mean right here.’ She turned away so he couldn’t see the flush on her skin. It was bad enough to have his broad back on display, but seeing his chest made her insides twitch. All that delicious defined muscle under bronzed skin. It was obscene how much she wanted to touch it. She coughed. ‘I’ll just tidy up here. You go off and have a run.’ She busied herself with wrapping up all the sharps and putting them in the sharps bin.
‘I might catch up with Jason first. Try to talk him out of this terrible idea about training the shifter.’
‘Her name is Eloise.’ She turned to face him again and was grateful to see he’d shrugged on his T-shirt. Not that the T-shirt hid much. It was so fine and tight, she could still see every muscle delineated, the outline of his nipples.
‘He’s a handsome man. I’d take him for a test run if I was still alive. I don’t know why you don’t.’
Shelley threw Adeline a ‘shut up’ look. Bronwyn’s dead grandmother, a spirit who’d had no compunction in the past in taking Shelley’s body over so she could talk to her granddaughter, just raised her brow and returned to staring at Adam. Shelley shook her head. Adeline had always been incorrigible even when alive. Now she was worse.
‘I don’t care what her name is. She needs to be sent back to the bitch who turned her into a bomb before she hurts anyone here. At least she’d be of some use that way.’
‘You don’t mean that, Adam.’
‘She’s dangerous.’
‘You know that’s not true.’
He frowned. ‘No, I don’t. You all think I don’t know how bad I was, but I do. How could I not?’ he said when she couldn’t hide her surprise. ‘I can feel all of your concern pressing at me. Just like I feel the fact they’re worried about the shifter.’
‘Iain’s not.’
‘Iain’s not thinking straight. He calls her “Little Bird” for Christ’s sake.’
‘He likes her.’
He shook his head. ‘No. It’s more than that. She has him twisted around and he doesn’t know which way is up. And this idea of his to teach her how to shift into other things…’ he shook his head. ‘That’s not going to end well for anyone, least of all him.’
‘You can’t know that for certain.’
He blew out an exasperated breath. ‘I can’t prove it, but I know it.’ He pressed his knuckles to his chest. ‘I feel it here.’
Shelley licked her suddenly dry lips. ‘The spirits are telling me it’s necessary.’
‘And of course they know better than the stupid Trickster.’ Adam’s mouth twisted into an unpleasant smile. ‘I’m just being my usual idiotic self. Don’t listen to me. Nobody else does.’
‘Don’t talk about yourself like that.’
‘Why not? I’m not saying anything new. I’m the Trickster. I’m good for jokes and not much else. Instincts are not my strong point.’
‘You’re wrong.’ Shelley reached out and grabbed his arm.
He looked down at her hand. Her fingers tingled where they touched his bare skin. But she couldn’t make herself snatch her hand back as she usually did. Not now, when he was hurting in a way that went bone deep.
‘Adam?’
He looked up slowly, his amber pupils glowing with something she didn’t want to understand. His brow cocked, and his lips twisted into a more difficult smile. ‘Don’t feel sorry for me, Kitten.’
She hissed out a breath and snatched back her hand. ‘I’m not feeling sorry for you, you idiot. But the Trickster… Jason asked me to research it, to find out more.’
‘You found something?’
She bit her lip. ‘Not much. But what I have found indicates the Trickster is all about instinct and emotion.’ She took a deep breath. ‘So, if you’re saying this isn’t a good idea, then I’m listening.’
His eyes widened and the twist of his smile gentled. ‘I’m touched, Kitten.’
She stepped back. ‘Don’t be. I’m only being sensible. We’d be stupid if we didn’t take everything we can into account. Besides, I’m not the only one who thinks that. Jason listens to you. He always has.’
Adam’s lips widened into a soft smile that did something twisty to her insides. ‘Yeah. My big bro has always been good that way.’
‘Go talk to him. See what he says.’
‘He won’t change his mind.’ He touched his finger to her lips when she opened them to protest. ‘I never expected him to. It’s the right thing to do. The only thing to do.’
She pulled back from his touch, more disturbed by it than she had any right to be. ‘But you still need to tell him how you feel.’
‘If you say I should, I will.’
It shouldn’t matter to him what she thought. She didn’t want it to matter to him.
‘Do whatever you feel is right.’
He stared at her for a moment and then chuckled. ‘I always do, Kitten. I always do.’ And with that, he walked out, leaving her feeling like she’d been tossed up by a wave and smashed back down onto the hard sand. She took a shuddering breath, let it out slowly.
‘Watch yourself with that one, Michellene. He’s not as tough-skinned as you think.’
‘Go away, Adeline and tell your stories to someone who cares.’
Adeline chuckled. ‘Oohoo. Who took their bitter pills today?’
Shelley picked her things up and turned to leave, but Adeline and the other ghosts were suddenly in front of her.
‘He’s only going to put up with your wall for so long before he either walks away or knocks it down. The question you have to ask yourself is, which one do you want it to be?’
Shelley gritted her teeth. ‘I don’t want it to be anything. There’s nothing going on here.’
Adeline chuckled. ‘Now who’s making up stories?’
‘I’ve got things to do.’
‘Yes, you do. Iain and Bron will need some help with the shifter. And you know what you need to study up on to help him.’
‘I know, I know. Witches that could connect to pack who weren’t bonded to one. But I have time. Iain has to help her learn to shift properly first.’
‘Don’t dismiss this, Shelley. If you don’t learn to understand it all in time, then Adam’s feelings will not just be feelings—they will come to pass.’
‘Then you need to get out of my way and let me get on with it.’ Despite the cold chill she knew she’d get, Shelley walked right through the spirits standing in front of her, scattering them to the wind.
Eloise sucked in a breath as Shelley walked out the French doors, mind whirling after what she’d overheard. She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but hadn’t been able to make her presence known when she’d heard her name. Especially given what they were talking about.
‘Okay. Are you ready?’
Eloise jumped and turned around. She’d been so preoccupied with her thoughts, she hadn’t even noticed Iain as he came up to her.
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