Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild) - By Kate Douglas Page 0,108

so beautiful, holding on to a bloody rib bone with both hands and gnawing at the rare meat still attached? He loved her. There was no doubt, not after this past day when he knew his life had forever changed. He’d not only made love with Lily, but traveled on the astral plane and communed with a goddess and a spirit even more powerful, and yet making love with Lily was still the most life-altering part of his day.

That and his connection with Alex. He’d filed that experience away for a time when he could truly analyze what had happened, but he hoped like hell it happened again. He’d never connected with another man like that—such a soul-deep sense of something so close to love it was almost scary. His emotions were all over the map, except when he thought of Lily.

Lily grounded him. She gave him hope and a sense of peace he’d never known before. So many changes in his life, all in just the last three days. Lily. Alex. Anton and Keisha. The goddess Eve. Meeting the spiritual Mother who presided over all of them, discovering she was the same spirit he’d known for these past months as the lady of the tree.

The spirit he’d felt so close to on the ridge above was so much more than a mere dryad. The Mother was a feminine spirit of absolute power.

Almost absolute power. She still couldn’t tell him what he was. He spotted a jar of Anton’s capsules on the kitchen counter and leaned his chair back far enough to reach for it. Lily raised her eyes to his when he popped two of the big green pills into his mouth and swallowed them down with a glass of water.

He shrugged. “Time’s different on the astral, remember?” Then he chuckled as he grabbed his empty plate and carried it to the sink. “I felt like I was on my knees for at least two days.”

Lily cleared her dishes as well, rinsed everything, and stuck the plates and utensils in the dishwasher while Sebastian wrapped up the roast and put it back in the refrigerator. When he turned around, she was watching him.

“What did you talk about?”

He shook his head. “We didn’t talk. In fact, I didn’t do any talking at all. She said there were things I would need to know and she would give them to me. I stayed on my knees in absolute silence, absorbing whatever it was she gave me. And no, I have no idea what I know now that I didn’t before. It was really weird.”

Stepping close, Lily pressed her fingers against his chest. “Trust her, Sebastian. She really does watch over us, usually through Eve, though. The Mother has never openly intervened before, at least not in any way we’ve known.”

“I think she did some intervening today, though I have no idea how or what she did.” He wiped his hands off on a paper towel and tossed it in the trash. “C’mon. We need to go. I want to get up to the ridge before anything happens to Annie. I can’t imagine what Alex is going through. If he loves her as much as I love you . . .”

“Sebastian?” Lily paused and then turned. “Do you truly love me? Because I keep thinking about what Dad said, that mating could strengthen us even more.”

He stepped close and wrapped his arms around her waist, and realized she still wore the yoga pants and crop top from this morning. So damned much had happened since they’d left her little cottage. “The mating bond? The permanent link you told me about?”

Lily nodded.

Sebastian wanted to shout to the heavens. Could she possibly love him enough to commit herself to him forever? But what if he wasn’t Chanku? He said as much.

Lily shook her head. “If you’re not Chanku, the bond won’t work. But if you are, it’s forever. Do you think you can love me that much, Sebastian? Enough to tie yourself to me for the rest of your life? And believe me, if you are Chanku, it’s a long life.”

“That’s all I’ve thought about Lily. I said as much to the Mother. That’s when she asked me to stay behind.”

“Then she must approve. It’s almost ten thirty. We need to go.”

She paused and got that faraway look that told him she was communicating with someone. “I told Dad we’re leaving. He said pack members are already showing up. Some of the bigger guys