Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,12
grinned, but Ethan, seeming to sense that something wasn’t right, asked, “What’s going on, mate?”
Her nose crinkled further. “It’s just… I’ve been having weird dreams again.”
“I told you, they’re normal—”
“When I’m pregnant,” she sputtered. “Far as I can tell, I’m not pregnant anymore.”
And the stinky diaper wasn’t the only proof we had on that score.
“True.”
As this was the first I’d heard of any dreams, I arched a brow at her and asked, “What kind of dreams?”
She sighed. “Stupid ones.”
“Stupid ones,” I repeated, well aware that was a gross exaggeration. “What kind of stupid ones?”
“Ones that I…” She tipped her head to the side before she raised a hand and scrubbed her fingers over her face. “It’s crazy.”
“Nothing’s crazy. Haven’t we already established that?”
To be honest, I was kind of pissed that she hadn’t talked to me about this already.
She bit her lip, and I knew she’d felt my hurt. “I didn’t want you to think there was something wrong with me.”
Her words had me scowling at her. “Why on earth would I think that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because it’s insane?” She sighed. “You know when the council attacked that night?”
“How could I forget?”
“If you didn’t crack jokes all the damn time, Austin, maybe she’d feel more comfortable sharing this kind of stuff with you,” Ethan rasped, prompting me to glower at him.
“It isn’t my fault you’ve got a stick shoved up your ass—”
“This isn’t helpful,” she groused, her tone dryer than a Martini.
I heaved a sigh. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. But that isn’t why I didn’t tell him, Ethan. I like his sense of humor. You each have your own way about you, and I go to you for different things.
“I was hoping Ethan had read something about the kinds of dreams I’ve been having.”
I frowned at that. “What kind of dreams?” Weren’t there only two kinds? The good kind and the bad?
“They’re like nightmares, because they always end in blood, but it’s the same one, time and time again. It’s gotten worse since Maribel and Seth showed up.”
“In what way?”
“I’m in a clearing, in the middle of the woods, and then I hear this horrendous laugh. It’s like a cackle, but it’s not human. Not at all. It’s an animal, but I don’t know what kind. It’s monstrous. It makes me shudder just thinking about it, never mind experiencing it in sleep.
“I’m just standing there, spinning around in a circle, trying to get my bearings, and even though it’s like Groundhog Day, I never remember until I wake up that I just had the same dream over and over.”
She reached for her drawing pad, which was always close at hand now—she even carried one in her Mary Poppin’s purse—and as she started doodling, I could sense she was trying to calm herself down. Something she confirmed when her voice hitched as she continued;
“So, I stand there, trying to find the cackle because the source of it is getting nearer and nearer, and I know I’m going to get hurt… Next thing I know, I have a bow and arrow in my hands, and I let it loose, then thud. Silence.”
I knew from what Ethan had told me that she was handy with a bow and arrow, so maybe it wasn’t so bewildering that she dreamed such things, especially not when she’d reacted to a fox preying on a family of rabbits back during Ethan’s claiming.
I reached up and rubbed my bottom lip.
“What happens then?”
“I usually wake up.”
“What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know, but I just—”
“You just what?”
“I feel like it’s to do with my sister.”
“But, why?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “It’s just… whenever the dreams hit, I think of her every time I wake up.”
Before either of us could reply, Eli stormed through the doorway into the dining room. “I managed to get the number, love.”
“Who does it belong to?” I queried, shooting him a look as he passed a slip of paper to her.
She didn’t answer, just reached for her phone and dialed it.
When, a few moments later, she disappointedly muttered, “Damn, no answer,” then ran her hands through her hair, her distress boomed off her in a way that pissed my wolf off and made him want to fix her.
Of course, my wolf usually wanted to fix her by fucking her as a distraction—not so helpful right now.
“Who is it?”
“Her mom,” Eli said softly. “A few weeks ago, Sabina asked me to get her number. The Kingstown pack alpha just got in touch with me to hand