Page 14 of Shadow Spirit

“I can speak for myself,” Adriana snarled.

“Shh, sweetheart. Greg will figure it out.”

“We’ll have to all figure it out,” growled Greg.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she said, flicking her hand towards the door, causing it to slam shut.

“Put her on the examining table and get out,” directed Greg. “I need to examine her.”

Decker set her down gently. “I will stay.”

“She is my patient.”

“She is my mate.”

“That hasn’t been determined yet.”

Adriana lay back, closing her eyes while Decker and Greg argued as the latter tried to perform a routine, preliminary exam. Behind her closed eyes, Adriana began to experience a light as the headache began to subside. Dancing before her eyes there were three snarling wolves. Two were of a similar size, with one being slightly larger. The three were facing off against a much larger fourth wolf.

Instinctively, she knew the identity of all of them. The smallest was her, the one slightly larger was Greg, and the one larger than Greg, was Decker. The largest of the four had to be Eoghan. Why had she never perceived his power? Had it been there all along? Adriana watched as the wolves she knew to be her mates banded together to stay between her and the largest wolf to drive it off. That was the answer; it was so obvious.

Opening her eyes, she watched them argue, getting more heated by the moment. She slid off the examining table and stepped between them. Taking each of their hands in hers, she quieted them along the tentative tether she shared with both. Neither said a word and just stared at her. Murmuring softly, she pulled the magic of revelation to her. Her hands began to glow, and that glow transferred to each of them. Glancing at her and each other, she watched as the knowing overtook their anger.

Greg cleared his throat. “Are you feeling better?”

“A bit. The nausea and dizziness is gone, and I think the more completely you accept what all three of us know, the sooner the headache will be completely gone. It seems my acceptance of the bond I must share with both of you is helping a great deal. I suspect when each of you accepts it completely, it will resolve itself.”

“How the fuck is that going to work?” asked Decker.

“I don’t know. But when I’m with only one of you, the bond with the other corrupts my equilibrium, unless I’m in the throes of passion. But when we’re all together and at peace, the pain is negated as the bonds are no longer having to fight each other.”

“I don’t know that I’m ready to accept that,” grumbled Greg.

“Nor am I,” agreed Decker.

“I don’t think you have a choice any more than I do. But you didn’t see what I saw in my mind’s eye. I saw the two of you standing together, shoulder-to-shoulder, shielding me from a greater threat. A threat that neither of you can defeat alone.”

Decker, ever the warrior, snarled, “What is it we’re shielding you against?”

“Eoghan. I don’t believe he’s the weakling we’ve all believed him to be. I’m not sure we understand his relationship—for lack of a better term—with Strode.”

“Strode is dead,” said Greg.

“He is. I called forth my ancestors and sent his soul to the Shadowlands to wander forever. But Eoghan is still after me. He’s coming for me.”

“Well, he won’t have you,” growled Decker, “not on my watch.”

Decker loosened her hold on Greg, pulling her close and kissed her hard before stalking out of the room, leaving her alone with Greg.

CHAPTER 8

GREG

The silence that remained when Decker left the room was awkward as hell. What the hell had Decker thought he was doing—kissing Adriana like that? Granted, he and Decker hadn’t settled anything earlier, but that didn’t give Decker the right to make a verbal claim on Adriana. If he thought that just because he had more muscles than Greg that he was the obvious choice, Greg would have to set him straight.

“I have to say that kiss took me by surprise. I wish it had seemed more surprising to you.”

“It wasn’t surprising in the least. Earlier we had…”

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