Page 40 of Fated to the Feral Wolf

Brielle smiled at that, then cast a worried glance over my shoulder toward the front door. “How long do we say it takes for him to appease Alpha Caesar’s feelings before I worry they’ve been kidnapped or drugged?”

I chuckled, then crossed the space between us to give her a quick hug. “Longer than the fifteen minutes it’s been. Kane’s a big deal now, so he’s going to have to have long, boring political conversations. Kiss babies, shake hands. That sort of thing.”

She laughed, some of the tension leaving her. “That’s true, very true.” But she stared down at her shoes, not looking back at me.

“Is that all that’s worrying you? You’re not having more symptoms, are you?”

Her head whipped up. “No, no! Please don’t worry aboutthat. I’ve been much better since Kane and I completed our bonding and the, umm, physical relationship also seems to keep the worst of it at bay.”

Now it was my turn to be surprised. Mate bonds were a powerful thing—themostpowerful thing in the shifter world, really—but his touch curing a witch’s curse, even temporarily, was next level. “That’s kind of cool. But… if it’s not that…?”

She sighed. “I keep racking my brain for why my family would have a witch curse. It would explain why no medical treatments—or the endless tests I’ve been running for years—ever turned up results. It’s just that nobody before my mom ever died young or of a sickness. And thinking back, my parents were so accepting of it all. Now that I feel the terror of it hanging over my own shoulder, knowing if I don’t fix it, I will for sure die and take Kane with me… It doesn’t make sense. None of it makes sense. And I wish I could go back and shake them, make them try harder to stop it, but they’re not here, and, and?—”

“You didn’t know then what you know now?” I offered, feeling her frustration.

“Yeah, exactly. It’s too little, too late.”

“It’s not too late for you, though. That’s the most important thing. If your parents were resigned, well, that is weird. But it’s possible they thought it was truly just a freak illness.” I shrugged, unable to think of any other reason they wouldn’t have hunted up an answer. “Besides, witches aren’t so common that they would have suspected a curse.”

Brielle’s head snapped up, her eyes widening. “Holy shit.”

“What is it?” I stood straighter, my wolf pushing close to the surface at her sudden shift in mood. She considered Bri under our protection and had since the first time she admitted to me that she couldn’t hold a shift herself.

“My mom’s best friend was a witch. I don’t really know what kind or if she was in a coven… Honestly, I hadn’t thought of her inforever. Karissma lived far away, but she was shipping my mom potions, trying to prolong her life there at the end.”

“You think her friend cursed her?” Horror filled me at the thought.

“No, of course not. Karissma was a real hard-ass, but she loved my mom. Mom used to say she was the closest she had to a sister, and I grew up calling her Aunt Kari. But, if Karissma was treating her, maybe she knew what kind of curse it was, and how it got there.”

“That would be huge, Bri. Where does she live?”

“Well, she was always moving, when I was a kid. She’d blow into town a time or two every year, but then she was off again. We lost touch after my parents died. I pushed her away the first time she tried to visit after that.”

“Do you still have her number? I know it’s been a long time.”

“It’s been more than nine years,” Brielle corrected with a remorseful grimace.

“I don’t think it would matter if it were a hundred years. You were grieving, and she was close to your mom. I bet she’d be thrilled to get a call from you. Even if she’s not, if she has information…”

“You’re right,” she said with a tight smile. After a deep breath, she pulled her cell phone from her pocket and flipped through the contacts. “I still have her number, but I’ve got no service out here. When we get back to the pack grounds, though, I can make the call. I can’t imagine reception’s any better on the island we’re heading to.”

“Probably not.” I shot her a grin. Even if she was hesitant, I was happy to have any possible lead, no matter how small a chance it might be. It felt like we were making progress. Well, somewhat.

Kane hadn’t shared any updates with us about the investigation into his parents’ killer, but we’d been a little busy. One lookat my friend’s exhausted pose and I decided to wait to bring that up until after we met the Kodiak shifters. Progress on her health was enough for one day.

“Come on, you. Let’s go find our rooms and check on Leigh. I should probably apologize for bringing up Gael again anyway. Then we can hit the showers.”

“Good idea.” There was a pause. “But I won’t sleep until Kane’s back.”

“The good news is you don’t have to. We’ll keep you company.”

My sweet, brilliant friend had tears in her eyes when she said, “Thank you, Shay. This is all just so much. I mean, I’m mated, which was the last thing I expected out of this, and my magic is on the fritz, and Kane’s parents, and I just… I don’t know what I’d do without you and Leigh to keep me steady.”

I smiled and wordlessly wrapped an arm around her waist and dragged her toward the stairs. The sooner I got her showered and in pajamas, the better. I had a not-so-sneaking suspicion that she’d be out the moment she crawled under the covers, whether Kane was back or not.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Dirge

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