Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,87

been able to live in a cabin in the middle of a forest like Little Red Riding Hood, doing my level best to stay away from humankind before they drove me crazy with all the feeling they did, or before they sent me to a psychiatric hospital when they figured out the weird shit I could do. So, to enjoy his company, to want more of it, was infinitely surprising.

“Is that what happened when you came to me the other night? As a she-wolf? You were trying something out?”

Preferring the topic of conversation to my train of thought, I shrugged. “Pretty much. I knew Sabina was scared for Daniel, and I figured that if I was the same as her, that would be two people to protect him, to defend him. No one fought for us,” I said, my tone sadder than I’d have liked. “I’ll always fight for people who need it.”

A shaky breath escaped him. “If I could kiss you now, I would.”

Startled, I whipped around to look at him. “What?”

“You embody everything that means anything to me.” He shook his head, another shaken exhalation rushing from his lips. “But I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“You didn’t.” Actually, I was quite touched.

I’d never been ‘the embodiment of everything that means anything’ to someone before.

It was kinda nice.

“I’m glad. It wasn’t my intention.” He cleared his throat. “How did you do it?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I have all the time in the world for you.”

Kali Sara, did he know what it meant to me, what it did to me, when he said stuff like that?

I gulped, because he sounded so earnest. So genuine. It messed with my mind.

“There’s a mother and a son living with Sabina and her mates.”

“Related to you?”

“No. I don’t know who they are, just know they’re a part of their pack. But the boy, he’s different. Unusual.”

“In a bad way?” he surmised from my tone.

“Yes. She’s pregnant, and he tried to push her down the stairs.”

“What?” The wheel jerked under his touch, and I yelped as we drifted off the road and almost squealed into the embankment before he righted us, then parked up on the side so he could stare into the distance. “Are you telling me she’s pregnant? With another child?”

I blinked at him, surprised by the urgency in his tone.

“Yes, but that’s not that weird, is it?”

A flurry of what I assumed was Korean whispered from his lips, and his hands tightened around the steering wheel to the point where his skin bled white and it creaked under his hold. I wanted to help him, but could see he was processing whatever it was that was weird about a mom having two kids.

I mean, hell, my mama had four living kids, and she’d had a few miscarriages along the way.

It wasn’t that strange, was it?

Of course, his surprise made it clear that it was.

He was freaked out. His skin paler than usual, his eyes wide as he stared at nothing.

“I wonder if that’s what people feel like when they figure out I can sense their emotions,” I muttered softly.

My voice had him twisting around to look at me, and this time, he cocked his leg so that he could twist better in his seat and face me totally.

“Why’s the boy strange?” His voice was guttural, and the urgency in him, an urgency that I’d never felt before, when I’d always sensed how calm he was, made my heart pick up in pace.

I bit my lip. “Remember I said when I look at you, I can see a fox?”

He nodded. “How could I forget?”

“Well, all my life, I’ve been able to see inside people. For a long time, I thought I was going insane, but now I know about shifters, it makes sense.” I shrugged. “In him, I see shadows. I know that sounds strange, but I do. He’s tainted, and he’s powerful. I caught him controlling Ethan today. Putting thoughts in his mind.”

“Dear Mother,” he rasped. “It’s actually happening.”

“What is?” I sputtered, tired of being kept in the dark. “Tell me!”

“Carry on first. How did you turn into a wolf?” he asked, his voice insistent.

Though I scowled at him, I muttered, “When Seth tried to hurt his mother, I looked into him and saw a spirit, but I couldn’t make sense of what it was. That isn’t so surprising. I mean, I don’t understand a lot of what I see. But Sabina, she can read auras and things, so she, I mean, well…