than other people’s expectations.” This time, the edge in Aiden’s voice was deeper and hinted at old hurt—one that went far deeper than Katie’s death. “She did this for us—to keep us safe—as much as for the reservation itself.”
“And yet it was her husband’s actions that ultimately placed this reservation in danger.”
Annoyance surged, but I tamped it down. Hard. This situation was tense enough without me unleashing emotionally. “That was not Gabe’s intention, but strong magic always comes at some cost to its initiator. He simply didn’t expect his death would be the price he paid.”
She studied me for a moment. “You use the magic of this land—what’s the price you pay?”
“That is yet to be fully revealed.”
“Interesting.” She took a sip of her red wine. “How would I know that I’m actually talking to Kate rather than simply you using information gleaned from Aiden over the last few months?”
“Mother—”
I touched his thigh, felt the taut muscles there jump in response. He glanced at me, anger briefly flaring in his eyes before he contained it. I suspected this time it was aimed at me; he was, after all, an alpha in waiting, and given I wasn’t, my interrupting could be seen as overstepping boundaries.
“That is a question we get quite often from skeptics.” My voice remained surprisingly calm, despite the inner turmoil. “And the easiest to answer. Ask her a question about something only you and she would know.”
“Then when are you free to do this? Tomorrow perhaps, after the café closes? I wouldn’t expect you to drop everything, of course.”
There was something in her tone that suggested the wise would do exactly that, but I was nothing if not obstinate.
“No. If you want to talk to her, we do it tonight, after dinner.” I couldn’t quite help the edge in my voice. “It has the benefit of reducing any chance of you being spotted with me. Can’t feed the gossip mill, can we now?”
The black in her aura abruptly sharpened. I had a vision of teeth being bared, even though she hadn’t moved a muscle. As a pack leader, she was well used to controlling herself.
“Neither of us are dressed for walking around in the bush at night, my dear.”
“We don’t have to. We can stop on the road that circuits a good part of the O’Connor compound near the wellspring, and I can call her to me.”
I crossed mental fingers as I said it, because in fact I had no real idea if it was at all possible for me to initiate contact via the threads of wild magic. It wasn’t something I’d had to do—and until last night, something I hadn’t even thought was possible.
“You don’t usually carry your spell stones with you when we go out,” Aiden said. “How safe is it to attempt such a connection without initiating an active protection circle?”
I hesitated. “Ashworth created a non-pinned circle around the first lot of feathers we found. I’ll try and repeat that.”
“And if that fails?”
“Then hope nothing attacks us while we’re doing this.” Or, if it did, that I could use the wild magic to protect us all.
Karleen frowned. “Why would something attack? And why would you need a protective circle when talking to my daughter?”
“Because, as I informed the full council yesterday, we have a flesh-stripping demon stalking the reservation.” Aiden’s tone was full of bite. “Allowing Katie to speak through her basically leaves Liz defenseless.”
Karleen’s frown increased. “But you have a gun—”
“Bullets are rarely a viable option against demons, unless they’re made of silver and blessed by a priest, and we all know just how unwelcome any weapon made of silver is in the reservation.” I was damn lucky to have gotten my silver knife back, and that had only happened because Aiden had seen firsthand just how necessary items of silver were in the fight against supernatural beasties. “If you don’t mind me asking, why the sudden desire to speak to her now?”
The black smoke flared again, but this time it was definitely grief, though it disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared. Maybe the only reason her aura wasn’t as dark and as turbulent as Aiden’s had been when I’d first met him was thanks to sheer force of will.
She picked up her glass and took a drink and then studied me several seconds before replying softly, “Perhaps I simply wish to know that she is indeed happy in her choice.”
It was a statement filled with so much unintended heartache that