Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild) - By Kate Douglas Page 0,52
precedent. I’m sure it’d stand up in court.”
“Yeah, right.” Lily was still laughing, but Annie leaned against his side and Alex tightened his arm around her waist.
“I don’t want Dad to see the bruise. He’s so overprotective that he’ll never let me out.”
“He let you go to Europe for what, six years?”
“I know. Can you believe it? Mom convinced him that since I was on another continent, he couldn’t worry about me, that Eve would watch over me.”
Alex’s eyebrow shot up, just like his father. “And he bought that?”
“Alex!” Lily jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. “You know Eve watches over all of her Chanku, no matter where they are.” She glanced at Annie. “I see your point. Why don’t you shift? That always helps heal stuff faster.”
Annie’s eyes practically glowed. “It’s been such a long time since I’ve shifted. Alex? Do you want to run?”
“Whatever you want.”
His studied disinterest was such a tell. The boy definitely had it bad. Lily glanced from Alex to Annie. “Do you mind if I come with you? I was planning to go by myself, but . . .”
“I’d love it.” Annie squeezed her hand. “It’s been so long since I’ve had anyone to run with.”
Lily opened her thoughts, checked in with her father, and let him know they’d be out for the next few hours. She could hardly contain her relief when he merely said he and her mom were going out for the evening and they could discuss her visit with Eve in the morning.
She wasn’t ready to talk to her dad. Not yet. Not until she had more time to figure out how she planned to approach Sebastian. Not until she knew for sure if his magic was the source of the malevolence tainting the astral, or if Aldo Xenakis had somehow commandeered his son’s abilities.
She barely knew Sebastian Xenakis, but she’d sensed goodness in him. Even when he’d chased her on Mount Tam, she’d not been able to accept that he was scaring her on purpose.
Somehow, once she got back to San Francisco, she needed to get him on the nutrients. Once he shifted naturally, without magic, she should be able to read him better, see what made him tick.
And hopefully discover what force was using him, working through him, to harm her. Lily had no doubt someone wanted her either too badly frightened to function, or maybe just plain dead. But it wasn’t Sebastian. It couldn’t be Sebastian.
9
Alex shifted. Lily had always loved the way his wolf looked. She thought the glossy black fur with silver tips on his rough outer coat made him look very much like his father. When she was little, she’d had a horrible crush on Stefan Aragat. Like his son, he was handsome and smart and too funny for his own good.
Alex glanced toward both girls before trotting out of the big cavern, following a long, winding tunnel that would eventually lead them up and out of the caves higher on the mountain.
Annie and Lily quickly undressed and shoved their clothes in a corner. Lily completed her shift, but she stopped in her tracks and stared at Annie’s wolf. I never would have recognized you. Your coat used to be almost as dark as mine.
Now Annie was a pale gray with black tips, an almost perfect mirror image of Alex’s black and silver. It changed while I was in England. Dad blames it on the lack of sunlight.
Lily’s snort was pure wolven humor. Padding on big paws, she led Annie away from the artificial light in the main cavern, along twisted tunnels and through huge caverns, so familiar with the various routes that the utter darkness didn’t slow her down. It was dark outside by the time they took the narrow tunnel that led to an opening high on the mountain above the valley where most of the pack lived.
Alex waited for them, his eyes glimmering in the moonlight. Lily felt Annie’s excitement practically bursting out of her as the gray wolf scampered through a narrow crevice between two huge boulders and took the lead. With Alex close behind on her right and Lily on the left, she led them down the steep hillside, away from the caverns, and into the forest. The moon wouldn’t be full until tomorrow night, but it glowed so brightly in the big Montana sky that light shimmered between the huge pines and cedars and filled the open meadows with an ethereal silvery glow.