Page 45 of Bound By Roses

Confusion quickly turns to embarrassment. “I can’t hear them. Only you.” I know the wheels in her head are turning as she studies the wolves in front of us and then speaks directly to them. “How far away were you?”

‘A few miles,’Seamus answers.‘Give or take. We had to run pretty hard to get here as fast as we did.’

I relay the answer to Abby.

She’s quiet for a long moment before her attention falls entirely on me. “I want to try something.” With no further explanation, she closes her eyes and lets out a slow breath of air. As her lungs expel, I feel the wolf in me quiver. I don’t fightit, because I immediately realize what’s happening and let her change me.

The wolves don’t bother to avert their gazes, and I don’t bother to cover up because we’re used to nudity. After years of turning into wolves by the will of the moon, modesty all but ceased in Rosewood.

‘Can you still hear me?’

I’m about to answer her, but she’s not talking to me. I can no longer hear the wolves, but by the way they both nod their heads, I’m certain they can.

“What are you thinking?” I ask after a too long minute. It wouldn’t make sense if the wolves were privy to our bond. A mating bond is sacred. Private. I don’t want to have to worry about eavesdropping wolves.

She doesn’t answer me right away, but when her eyes fall closed, I know she’s working something out. “There’s something different. It’s like how our bond feels, but it’s more like a window than a door. Maybe I can…”‘If you can hear me, spin around.’

“Excuse me?” I ask her, incredulous. Of course I can hear her, but I am not about to do tricks.

She laughs. “Not you.”

We watch the wolves, and nothing happens. They look at each other, seemingly confused.

‘If you can hear me, spin around,’she repeats, and this time they do. At least they’re willing to perform. “I knew it! It works the same way as when I want to keep you out of my head, only easier. I can just turn it on and off with them.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain why they can hear you in the first place. They couldn’t before, and the curse breaking shouldn’t have changed that. If anything, we shouldn’t be able to shift at all now.”

She raises a hand out to them, and their bodies quake, just as mine did. Within seconds, the two wolves are now human. Atleast this time, they do bother to cover themselves. I hand each of them a blanket and they wrap themselves up. “How’d you do that?” Ellis asks.

“And warn us next time,” Seamus adds.

I’d always thought that Abby could only force Jade and I to shift because of the bond we all shared. She lost the ability to control Jade’s form when the bonds snapped, but she can still change me. It can’t be because of the bond, because she can clearly change the other wolves as well.

Which can only mean one thing…

“It’s because of Terranous,” Abby says, fully sure of herself. “Whatever power gives me the ability to grow plants also lets me control the wolves. Why, I don’t know, but it probably has something to do with Rosewood. That’s where the Echo was.” She looks to me. “You said yourself that your parents didn’t build Rosewood. It was already there.”

“But Imelda cursed me. That had nothing to do with Rosewood or Terranous.”

“All she did was use Jade’s blood to turn you into a beast. I don’t think she knew what form you would take, though her loyalty to Lunalissa might have impacted it. Wolves are linked to the moon, after all. She couldn’t have known it would spread, though. I thinkthatwas because of Terranous.”

“Too bad we can’t just ask him.”

“So what does that mean for us?” Ellis asks. “I mean, you are his Chosen and you’re Quinn’s mate. As far as I’m concerned, that makes you our queen.”

Abby flushes, and I don’t blame her. “Can we leave titles out of it?” I ask, getting annoyed on her behalf. She’s too nice to snap at them even though I know she feels the same as I do when it comes to leadership.

“Titles or not, we’re going to follow you.” Seamus takes a step closer to Abby. “There must be a reason we can hear you. Areason you can control us. Unless you can think of a better one, this is it.”

“I’m not going to do it again,” Abby says after a moment, and her words leave no room for argument. “Speak to you, sure, but I’m not going to force any of you to take a form you didn’t choose.”

“So, does that mean we can stop being naked?” Ellis asks with a laugh. He doesn’t wait for her response before shifting back into his wolf form and shaking off the blanket. Seamus does the same.

“Now, if you two don’t mind, I’d like some time alone with my woman.”

One of them snorts, though I can’t tell which, as they turn on their heels quickly, and disappear into the blackness. I run a hand through my hair and take a seat on the dried log. I regret it the moment my bare skin touches the flaking bark. “Well, that was certainly interesting,” I say with a huff.

Abby joins me on the log and runs warm hands across my chest.

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