Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild) - By Kate Douglas Page 0,50

power.

He felt dirty from the blood magic, as if he were shrouded in some sort of evil filth. He needed a shower, though he wondered if he’d ever wash away the feeling that he’d stepped into something foul. Something wrong.

Damn it, he hadn’t done anything wrong. It was his own blood. Nothing died, and the cut barely hurt. No sacrifice at all. So why was he so sure that using blood had tainted the spell?

Because he knew. He’d felt the evil, the sense of malevolence that seemed to shadow his every move from the moment he’d dripped his blood onto the flame. Blood had fouled the spell even as it strengthened it. He couldn’t explain it, but he could still feel it. And for whatever reason, it felt very much like his father’s energy. Almost as if his father had been with him, a silent passenger as he accessed the astral.

Impossible, wasn’t it? His stomach roiled.

What the hell had he just done?

“Lily? Lily, are you all right?”

Blinking slowly, Lily struggled back to consciousness, feeling as if she pulled herself out of a deep, viscous pool. Rubbing a hand across her eyes, she slowly sat up. “Eve? What happened ?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing. Who was that person? You said a name. Sebastian?”

Lily nodded as memories surfaced. “Sebastian Xenakis. I’m sure it was him.” She shook her head, hard, in an attempt to clear her thoughts. “Yeah. It was him. His eyes are so unusual, and the sense of him was strong. There’s no doubt in my mind, but the feel of him was all wrong. Eve, he’s the reason I wanted to talk to you, but now . . .” She shuddered. “Now, I’m afraid.”

Eve clutched Lily’s hands in both of hers. “You think you love him? I can feel the need in you. You see him as your mate, don’t you? They’re strong, Lily, the feelings you have for this man, but he’s evil. Didn’t you sense it? That malevolence?”

Lily shook her head. “No . . . I mean yes, I did sense it, but I don’t think that whatever feels so wrong is really him. I would have noticed it last night. We were completely intimate, our minds every bit as synchronized as our bodies. He was wonderful. Open and good, not this. Not this sense of evil. I can’t explain it.” She squeezed Eve’s hands. “I need to see him. Need to talk to him and find out what’s going on.”

Eve began shaking her head long before Lily finished her thought. “Lily, I’ve got to caution you against that. There’s something terribly wrong about him. You have to stay away from that one. I recognize the taint clinging to his magic. It’s the same as what’s causing the disruption here. I’m almost positive he’s the one destroying my world.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” Lily forced Eve to meet her steady gaze.

After a moment, the goddess lowered her eyes. “I believe he is the one. I hope I’m wrong. You know I can’t force you to my will. Even if I could, I wouldn’t. Promise me, Lily. Promise me you won’t take any chances. I think he’s very dangerous.”

“There’s definitely danger, Eve, but I’m not so sure it’s coming from Sebastian. I’m convinced it has something to do with his father and with the murders of all those young women, but I have no way of proving it. Not yet, but I do have some questions for you. Things I’m hoping you can find out for me.”

Eve smiled. “Things you hope will clear your young man?”

Lily couldn’t smile in return. Not with so much evidence against him. “I hope so, Eve. I really do. I hardly know him, but . . .” She shrugged. “I’ll be careful.”

When she finally returned to her parents’ home in Montana, Lily had Eve’s promise to learn what she could about the huge wolves that had attacked them on Mount Tam. She’d asked about Sebastian’s mother, too, but Eve’s answer was less than satisfactory.

Unless the Chanku blood ran hot and strong in his mother’s veins, since she hadn’t taken the nutrients and allowed her wolven nature to manifest itself before her death, there was no way for Eve to know if the woman might have been Chanku.

Lily would have to give the nutrients to Sebastian.

And that would mean seeing him again. Getting close to him, gaining his trust.

Eve hadn’t been at all happy about that. Lily, however, silently thanked the