Page 81 of Bound to the Wolf
But it made Delainey think. Elise and Nico were going strong, and Nico was the second in command of the pack. She and Reece were new, but this felt real. It felt long term, even if it had been official for only a day.
It could change things for the coven.
Right now, they had a truce that was getting closer by the day, simply by the fact that Delainey and Reece were magically bound together. But that bond would break. She had faith in Aya, and what happened to the relationship between the pack and the coven then?
It was rare, but covens and packs did form alliances, and that could change the power calculus in the city for both of them.
It was something to worry about later, Delainey decided.
Aya had a piece of one of the manacles sitting on the table, and Delainey glared at it. The fragment was about the size of her palm, its etched surface dull under the overhead light, edges ragged where it had broken apart during the ritual.
Part of her was tempted to reach out and grab it to fidget with, but she didn’t want to touch the damn thing. She was afraid it might somehow magically bond back to her and bring the six-foot limit back, which, no thank you. Delainey would deal with thirty feet for as long as she had to.
“I don’t know how the connection from the manacles could have created this tether thing without interference from a witch,” Delainey said. “I know that you, Elise, Briana, and Serena would never do that, but Emerson...” She let the sentence trail off.
“I didn’t feel him do anything strange during the ritual, and I don’t know why he would,” Aya said. “I’m not blaming you, but you did break up our power when you called your own that day. It could have interfered enough to disrupt the connection.”
“Because it was killing Reece!” It sounded defensive, and damn right Delainey was defending herself. “Unless you’re suggesting we, I don’t know, stop one of our hearts, hope the tether breaks, and then bring the other person back.”
Aya looked even more thoughtful.
“No, that’s not an option,” Delainey said. But the thought did not disappear when she tried to put it out of her mind.
“Maybe there was an outside third party, one we didn’t sense,” Aya said.
Cedar Street was their coven’s territory, and there wasn’t another coven for several blocks. Werewolf territory wasn’t set up the same way. Werewolves were split into packs, one pack controlling a defined geographic area.
Covens tended to live throughout the city of Hobson and in their own areas out in the countryside, but there weren’t defined borders. It wasn’t like they would prevent another coven from walking down their street, but it would be very impolite for them to meddle.
“The only witches who have caused us any problem recently were Elise’s parents, and I very much doubt they would put her at risk. Besides, it was me and Reece who were kidnapped, not her and Nico.”
“But what if you weren’t the target?” Aya suggested.
It wasn’t the first time Delainey was hearing this. She let the question roll around in her head. She had been there with Elise. Elise and Nico had been together.
“I don’t see how you confuse me and Elise. We couldn’t have looked more different, and Reece doesn’t exactly look like Nico. Are you really suggesting Elise’s parents might have had something to do with this? Whoever took us dumped us in the middle of the forest with no resources. We could have died. I think we were supposed to.”
“If Elise had been taken and Nico had been injured, she would have tried to use her magic to heal him.” Aya’s voice was so quiet that Delainey had to strain to hear her, and she realized Aya did not want Elise hearing this. “If she had used her healing magic, do you think it would have worked, given the way the manacle was interfering with your magic?”
Delainey’s mind flashed back to that moment in the forest, the rogue wolf flying into the tree, his neck cracking. She remembered throwing Reece nearly through the wall, and he could have just as easily died.
If Elise had tried to use her magic, what if it had gone wrong? Aya had a point.
“There are much easier ways to kill a werewolf,” she said, “and we still don’t have any reason to think that Nico and Elise were the targets rather than Reece and me. It’s pretty damn convoluted, if you ask me.”
She yawned and covered her mouth. It was getting late, and she had forced Reece to hang out at the house long enough.
“Please figure this out,” she begged Aya. “Any ideas, I am willing to try. We just... I want to come home.”
“But you have that new boyfriend to keep you warm,” Aya teased.
Delainey flipped her off and walked away.
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
Reece was beginning to learn Delainey, and the signs of stir-craziness were not hard to pick out. She paced back and forth in the living room, idly twirling one of her curls on her finger before tugging at it a few times and letting it go.
