Hyacinth - By Abigail Owen Page 0,22

The two kept their backs to each other as more wolves surrounded them. Suddenly, Gideon lunged for the girl. She’d held up her hands in defense, and the instant she touched him, she morphed into a small black wolf herself. Gideon stumbled back in bewilderment. But he recovered quickly and tried to use the linked pack mind, which Selene could hear.

“Join us,” he growled at the girl.

The small female wolf shook her head as though she was confused. Or fighting something. Suddenly, the connection Selene felt to the wolf-girl ceased, like a switch had been flipped. The boy jumped forward and touched the girl’s arm. She morphed back to human form and looked at him. And then, just as suddenly, both the boy and the girl turned into falcons, one jet black and one golden, and they flew away.

Chapter 14

Selene hadn’t realize she was shaking until she felt Griffin’s hand tighten on hers, giving a little tug. She opened her eyes and found his gaze trained on her. For once, hostility had been replaced by a gentler, kinder emotion.

“If you need a break, we can stop for a little bit,” he whispered.

Selene searched his eyes for a moment, waiting for the antagonism to return. But he just watched her calmly.

She took a deep breath and shook her head. “No, I’d rather just get this over with,” she replied in a soft voice. “There’s not much more.”

Closing her eyes again, she heard Griffin mutter, “I don’t think I can take much more.”

Selene concentrated on telling the rest of her story and ran through the next scenes quickly. This part she’d already shared with Ellie. She showed them Gideon’s ensuing obsession with bringing Ellie into the pack and how she’d hidden them from Sheila’s searching. She briefly covered how she’d tried to reach them through Griffin’s dreams and eventually was able to through Ellie’s. Then she showed them the final battle when they’d freed her forever from her brother’s terrible reign.

Finally, she showed them the past year…the memories slowly returning to her people… their despair over what they’d been a part of… and their determination to rebuild and start over.

Selene paused. When she opened her eyes, she was amazed to see tears on most of the faces around her. She’d done her best to shield them from her emotions, but it hadn’t been enough apparently.

“Before I go on,” Selene broke the heavy silence, “Do you have any questions so far?”

“My heaven,” Lucy was the first to speak. “Ellie had told us, but I didn’t understand until now. You poor child.”

“I didn’t know all of that,” Ellie commented, her voice trembling. “How did you find the strength, all those years, to keep fighting him? And all on your own?”

“I focused on helping as many people as I could, like you and Griffin. And I held on to the hope that someone would eventually defeat him.”

“How did you make it through all that without becoming twisted yourself?” Ramsey asked. Having balanced on the razor-edge of bitterness and rage himself, he was impressed. As a firestarter, he was in constant danger from volatile emotions. Most firestarters didn’t live very long. It had taken a degree of strength to keep the power within him under control while Selene had shared her story with them, and he’d really only managed to do so with Lila’s help.

Selene gave him a funny little smile. “How do you know I didn’t?”

They were all surprised by this, and Nate gave a sharp laugh.

“I’m not trying to be flippant,” Selene explained. “I’m not even sure that something didn’t warp inside me. I got really good at completely turning off my emotions. Like a robot. It’s a thought that scares the hell outta me.”

Sliding a glance at Griffin, who was regarding her steadily but had yet to say anything, Selene gathered her courage. Her shoulders rose and fell with her deep breath. “In fact, I can’t say for certain that the wolf attack last night wasn’t me,” she admitted.

Griffin tensed, and Selene felt something inside her chest clench.

“What do you mean?” Hugh asked, concern clouding his kind brown eyes.

Selene grimaced. “I left the Vyusher not just to go to college—that was just a welcome excuse. I left because I’d been having these dreams. Nightmares really…”

“About wolf attacks?” Dexter guessed.

“Yes. In my dreams it’s always a white wolf.”

“But you control dreams, right?” Nate asked, his deep brown eyes openly curious.

“Not necessarily. I can visit people, but they’re still in control, mostly. And they have