Page 125 of Wolf's Endgame

Squinting, I looked at her. “I did what now?”

I am free, child.

“I don’t think I can take the credit for that,” I told her dubiously. “You owe your thanks to a druid and a really ugly rabbit.”

A druid? Moonstar laughed and it was the lightest laugh I had ever heard. I could have sworn it sounded like wind chimes. A druid can do nothing to me.

Wow. She sounded smug.

“You sure?”

She beamed at me fondly. Only the one who binds can grant freedom.

Blowing out a breath, I sat on the ground, my butt protesting at the cold earth. “Barbara, she said…” I thought about it. She hadn’t said anything. She told me she’d never tell me. “She didn’t tell me because she didn’t know.”

Moonstar watched me curiously as I ran through all the scenarios and conversations. “I gave you your freedom,” I started slowly. “I told you, if you could heal him, you could take over.”

I healed the alpha as you asked.

“I gave you your freedom that day. In the compound, I gave you control. I…” I stared at her blankly. “I let you go.”

You let me go.

“But you stayed?” Tears filled my eyes. “You couldn’t take control of me anymore because I let you go. You could have left, but you stayed near?”

I was no longer bound, but I knew you may need me still. There was so much danger surrounding you.

“The fight?” I was crying again, tears streaming down my face. “Bale? I…I heard you?” She nodded as she watched me. “Why? Why help me? After all these years I’ve held you prisoner?”

Why? She frowned. I love you, child.

I started sobbing again, uttering over and over how sorry I was. When I finally stopped crying, I looked up at her.

“What happens now?”

I would like to wander. Her eyes turned north. I wish to remember the taste of the land.

“You can go,” I said softly. “You don’t need to stay for me anymore.” Scrambling to my feet, I rubbed my arms. “I’m safe.”

I know. Her hand cupped my cheek. He is strong. He will be a fine mate.

I was nodding, too choked up to speak. Moonstar turned from me and I grabbed her arm. “I still don’t know why that rabbit bugs me so much.”

She frowned.

“Barbara, the druid,” I explained hastily. “She put my spirit in a rabbit when Bale almost killed me.” Moonstar was watching, alert but confused. “She put my spirit in a stupid rabbit while she tried to…” I grappled for words. “Exorcise you.”

Moonstar didn’t look like she knew the word, but she still looked pissed off.

Standing back, I held my hands up. “Sorry, you don’t need this. It’s nothing. It’s all fine now, it’s…”

Something.

Relieved, I nodded. “Yeah, it’s weird.”

Her head tilted, and I studied her as she thought about it. A rabbit can be a conduit for transformation.

The shaman had told me this also. It made no more sense when Moonstar said it. She cocked her head again as she watched me.

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