Page 73 of Bound By Roses

‘I’m okay,’he replies instantly, as if he were waiting for me to notice his disappearance.‘Don’t move. I’ll be right there.’

I’m already standing when I see him charging down the beach towards me. At least he’s still in his wolf form. My eyes are drawn to the flower in his mouth and my blood runs colder than the salty wind whipping off the ocean behind us. “You went into the forest?” I don’t bother to hide the betrayal lacing my words.

He slows to a stop in front of me and drops the rose at my feet. There’s something shining in his molten amber eyes and it matches the fear I’d felt when I awoke on the beach without him.‘I was sleepwalking. Just like you did.’

His words don’t reassure me, even though I feel better knowing that he didn’t go in there on his own. “Tell me everything,” I say, reclaiming my seat in the sand. He sits beside me, pressing his soft fur against my side as if he knows I need thewarmth. I listen as he tells me of his nightmare, the wraith, the rift, the roses, and of Jade.

When he finishes, I pick up the rose and twirl it slowly between my fingers and thumb. “You think these flowers are connected to the wraiths? Or the veil?”

‘They have to be.’

“But there’s no rift in Rosewood, and you’d never even heard of the wraiths before this. It doesn’t make sense.”

He blows out a heavy breath of air.‘None of this makes sense. I didn’t notice any flowers near the rift the first time I saw Evan, but I wasn’t exactly looking.’

Neither was I. Thinking back to it now, there could have been some tucked away in shadow and we would have never known. The only thing that’s clear is that these roses hold more meaning than either of us could have imagined, and we might never truly understand it. If they really are connected to the veil or the wraiths, we need to stay as far away from that as possible. The knowledge isn’t worth Quinn’s life.

I toss the rose aside, no longer wanting anything to do with the flowers I once thought beautiful. “It looks like we have a while before the sun comes up.”

Quinn’s head tilts upwards to the star filled sky above.‘About three hours. You should try to sleep. I think I’ve had enough for tonight.’

He hasn’t had near enough sleep, but I can’t blame him for wanting to wait for the sun. “I think we both have,” I say, coaxing him down. He lays his head on my lap and allows me to run idle fingers through his coarse fur.

Dawn comes slowly. Three hours have a way of feeling like a lifetime when you’re desperate for a new day.

Quinn wastes no time in shifting as soon as he’s certain there’s enough light that no wraith would dare wander out of the forest. He dresses quickly, and then we’re off to start our respective training sessions. Quinn will spend the morning sparring while I work with the wolves. Yesterday, Quinn gave his people the choice. He’d promised them that none of them will ever have to shift again if they choose not to, but those who want to will have to learn to work with me.

I hadn’t been expecting much interest, but when I move further from Marein to where the edge of the forest comes into view, I find at least twenty wolves waiting for me. Ellis and Seamus are easy to pick out from the others, as is Fern. She’s significantly smaller than the other wolves.

“I think you’re in the wrong group,” I say, looking directly at her so she knows I’m speaking to her.

The wolf nearest her chuffs in agreement.

‘I thought the point of this was so you could learn to tell us apart. We’re not going into battle.’

She has a point, but I don’t want her going into the forest at all. “Won’t Tess be worried?”

A sudden flash of an image appears in my mind. I see Tess asleep by a crackling fire in the home she and Fern have been sharing. As quickly as it appeared, the image is gone. I nearly stumble backwards, but one of the three entirely black wolves darts behind me so I can use them to steady myself.

“What was that?”

Fern tilts her head to the side.‘What do you mean?’

“I just saw Tess. In my head.” Maybe I really am losing my mind.

I can almost swear she rolls her eyes.‘Yeah, because I showed you.’

I look from her to each of the other wolves and none of them seem to find this information unusual. “Can you all do this?”

The wolf I recognize as Ellis steps forward and the image of Quinn appears in my mind. I hear his words as he speaks to the wolves as easily as if he were speaking them now. “I’m counting on you to show her how we used to communicate. Just because we can talk now doesn’t mean we always will. Teach her how.”

The image fades and I’m left dumbfounded. He could have told me about this himself instead of letting them spring it on me, though I guess this is the best way for me to learn. I’m the reason they can hear each other, but an image could be far more effective when we bring the fight to Lunae.

“Okay,” I say. “Show me what else you can do.”

All at once, the wolves scatter. A few run into the forest, while others take off at all directions down the beach. I’m entirely alone, but at the same time, I’m not. I see the empty beach, the tree line, and the open sky above, but I also see so much more. It’s as if I’m seeing through twenty pairs of eyes at once. Although I’m standing perfectly still, I see myself running through the trees, through the waves, leaping from rock to rock. One of the wolves trips in the sand and my stomach lurches as if I was the one who’d fallen.

‘Come find us,’Ellis says in my mind. It’s surprisingly easy to pick out which image is his. He’s somewhere by the water, and I can see Marein to his right. I think he’s one of the closest wolves to me, so I move in his direction first. It doesn’t take long for me to see myself depicted in his eyes.

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