Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 47894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
“And you,” she agreed, even with the worry creasing her beautiful features. “Though I’d prefer you not be bleeding to death to do so.”
“I don’t want to leave Lorne.”
“Well, no, of course not,” she said drolly, kneeling beside me and putting her warm hand on my forehead.
“I was so glad to see you and Gramp at my wedding.”
“You couldn’t have kept us away.” She said happily. “Now listen. You know as well as I that you have no choice but to wake the land, as you need to heal. Be on your guard when you do so, as all is not what it seems.”
“The time, you mean. The cottage and the land not matching.”
Big smile for me. She was clearly relieved I was paying attention.
Though it was hard to focus—I suspected that having one foot in Summerland and one in the waking world wasn’t helping, nor was the reason—I could still ask questions. “Tell me how it’s possible that they’re not aligned.”
“There’s a spell over Corvus.”
“Meaning?”
“It is, and it isn’t, your land.”
Over Corvus, she’d said, not on. “I have to go deeper.”
“Very good,” she praised me before shifting to rise.
“Wait, I want a hug.”
“You’re a ghastly shade of gray. I want you to return.”
“Hug,” I insisted.
“If I must,” she said, like I was putting her out, but the mischievous grin gave her away. She had been, and remained in the afterlife, crazy about me. I was the same. Wrapping me in her arms, she hugged me tight.
The tears were immediate and no surprise. I would never stop missing her. The grief had become easier to carry over the years, a stone in my pocket now, no longer a boulder on my back, but still, it remained.
“I love you,” she stated, touching my hair. “You could drag a brush through this mane of yours once in a while.”
I chuckled, but it hurt.
“Move the slip, save our family.”
And because I wasn’t stupid, I knew she meant all of us. Giles was messing with time, and that could be disastrous. “I hate him.”
“Hate requires so much energy, my love,” she said, then hugged me again.
The warmth, the love, the tenderness, all of it was overwhelming, and then there came a hint of cinnamon, musk, and male.
Jolting, I opened my eyes that I hadn’t realized were closed, and there was Lorne, staring down at my face, his own streaked with blood.
“Are you hurt?” I gasped, instantly terrified for him.
“Oh God, I thought I—I thought I lost you,” he said, catching his breath. “There’s blood all over you.”
So not his blood, just mine. That would always be preferable.
“Did the wolf bite me or claw me?”
“It bit through your shoulder,” he barely answered. “I…I was sure you were…Xan.” His voice cracked.
He was scared, and I knew why. We would never make it to the hospital one town over before I bled to death. On top of that, there was the snow and the lack of a car to transport me in. To Lorne, things appeared dire. Little did he know, the near-death experience was necessary to get the direction I needed.
“I was gonna run back to the house to get my shotgun, but I only have iron bullets, and I didn’t want to take the chance that the lore was true and I couldn’t save you because they’re not silver.”
I needed to gather my strength before I could speak to him again, so I smiled.
“And also, I have no idea if either of my weapons are in the cottage. I want to think they are, but I don’t know.”
“I’m glad you stayed with me,” I husked. “Thank you.”
“I couldn’t do anything else,” he said, smoothing the hair out of my face.
“Where are Giles and the wolf?” I managed to get out.
“Giles is behind me holding up a circle of fire, and the wolf is pacing the perimeter. Giles doesn’t think he can hold it long.”
None of that made sense. Giles was a powerful witch, so why was he performing protection magic on something of flesh and blood when he could have simply obliterated the threat? And yes, werewolves were terrifying, but again, why was he scared? Me? Yes. I should have been scared. Unless I called on the land, I was as susceptible to being mauled to death by a gigantic wolf standing on two feet as the next person. But Giles needed to call on nothing. All his magic was contained within himself. So why wasn’t he destroying the shapeshifter threatening him?
Unless all the magic he’d performed to alter the cottage, and the land, had taken a toll on him.
“Okay,” I said. “You’re gonna have to help me, because I must speak to Corvus.”
“I don’t under—”
“It’s gonna be all right, love,” I soothed him. “Sit me up.”
He was trembling, partly from fear for me and partly, I was sure, from cold. It was utterly freezing.