Page 56 of Bound to the Wolf
Delainey groaned. Shortly after the manacles had been broken and she and Reece had figured out how far apart they could be, she had gone with her sisters into the basement where they kept most of their magical gear, wanting to help figure out the direction their research needed to take. Some of the pots on the shelves had started vibrating. A jar of St. John’s wort had vibrated itself off the counter, crashed to the floor, and sent glass flying everywhere.
Delainey hadn’t actively been using her magic, but it seemed that the energies in the basement, from the constant use ofmagic down there, had reacted to whatever was going wrong with her powers from this stupid manacle and tether.
“We don’t know that wasn’t a fluke,” Delainey insisted. “It could have been power left over from the ritual.”
“It could have been,” Elise conceded. “Briana says we won’t call for outside help without your okay.”
The ‘for now’ was implied.
“But you should really think about it. I know my parents are—” Elise trailed off, and Delainey didn’t offer any suggestions for what Elise’s parents really were. “Something else,” Elise finally settled on. “But this is the kind of problem that magic scholars live for. There are a dozen people in Wallace Grove who are not my parents who would love to crack this nut.”
“I don’t want to be a test subject,” Delainey said. If it was just her, she would have put up with it. But she had seen the way Reece flinched away from magic. There was no way he would accept going to Wallace Grove for help, and it had only been a week. There was no reason to give up hope yet.
“Fine,” said Elise. “But think about it.”
They ended the call. Delainey slipped her phone back into her pocket and wished there was some answer she could give. She hated being out here, alone with her werewolf pal, unable to do anything except read dusty old books, ignore the freelance work she was supposed to be doing, and pretend that everything was okay.
If she stayed in the house for one more minute, she might go slightly insane.
She pushed up off the couch, slipped into her shoes and jacket, and went outside. It was a nice day, if a little chilly. The sun was bright overhead, though the canopy of trees did a lot to block it out and cast shadows everywhere.
It smelled like nature, but in a good way. She had worried their involuntary camping trip might put her off the outdoorsforever, but now that they had a place to stay, surrounded by a werewolf pack who didn’t like her but didn’t want her to get murdered, she could let herself appreciate the natural world around her.
Reece was lying on the grass beside the gravel driveway. She had expected his fur to be red like his hair, which was probably misguided.
He was a gray wolf in this form, the species and the color, though each of his paws were covered in black fur that tapered lighter as it crawled up his legs. That fur looked so soft.
Delainey’s hands itched to touch it, but she had to remind herself he wasn’t actually a dog. She couldn’t pet him without answering some very uncomfortable questions, if he ever bothered to turn back into his human form.
The air smelled damp, like it might rain later, but Delainey didn’t see any clouds that were worrying her.
“Come on, Fido,” she said. “I want to stretch my legs.”
Reece stared at her for a beat, and she wondered if she was going to have to find some sort of makeshift leash to force him to walk.
He stood up and padded to her side. Standing, his head came nearly level with her hip, and she had to resist the urge to rest her hand on his back. She let him guide her into the woods. This was his home, after all, and he knew the paths.
It was strangely peaceful, walking silently with Reece. Just a woman and her dog and the woods. Except that the dog was really a werewolf, the woman was really a witch, and they were in the middle of pack territory.
She was tempted to tell him at least part of what Elise had suggested, but the words got lost in her throat and she didn’t find the need to say anything.
The deeper they walked into the forest, the more her legs started to burn, and the rain scent in the air was gettingstronger. Maybe Delainey should have checked the forecast before going on this walk.
She tried to turn around, but Reece snapped at her.
“You’re not a freaking dog,” she told him. “If you want to say something to me, say it.” She might have fallen on her ass if human words had come out of his mouth at this point, but Reece huffed at her again and took off running.
“You bastard,” she called after him, feeling the tug at her chest that made her have to sprint to keep up.
She didn’t know what sort of game he was playing, but it only took her a few minutes to realize that it was, indeed, a game.
When he got too far away, he would slow down to let her catch up. His tail wagged. There was a canine grin on his face as she lunged for him and nearly tackled him, but he dodged out of the way with surprising spryness. Delainey tilted her head back and laughed and gave herself over to the game.
Her lungs burned and her gym shoes slipped on the damp leaf litter with every turn, and she could feel the blister on her right heel reopening where the shoe rubbed, but she didn’t care, the running felt good after a week cooped up in six hundred square feet of borrowed cottage.
She didn’t realize how far they’d gone until she felt the magic ripple over her.
The ward line that Serena and Briana had set.
