Page 77 of A Wolf in the Garden

Push it back.

It’s surprisingly easy to do, that magic sliding back into its spot, buried inside my soul.So strange.

“You did it.”

I keep my eyes closed, because I can feel something else, some other magic, and now that I’ve noticed it, now that I’ve dug it out of its hiding place within me, it feels uncomfortable, like a lump under the skin. “There’s something else here,” I say. “Some other magic that isn’t mine.”

“Probably Nerilina’s protection ward. Don’t touch it.”

“Okay.” I pull away from it all and open my eyes, relaxing in relief as I touch my head and find nothing but my hair there. “Oh, thank god.” I’m laughing, shaking my head, the stress floating off my shoulders. Van gathers me up in his arms, spinning me around in the tub, heedless of the water spilling over the sides.

“I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks. I’m exhausted and the day hasn’t even begun.” I feel drained; this has been far too much thinking before breakfast.

In the distance a peacock cries out, and I lose it in a fit of laughter; a ridiculous emotional release for an equally ridiculous morning.

* * *

After returning to Lost Moon and confirming with Nerilina that we’ll meet in the evening to discuss the latest developments, I decide to spend the rest of the day working with Kaito’s team on the vineyard’s garden. After all, gardening is the one thing that usually helps clear my head. The smell of fresh plants, the breeze in my hair, the hum of bees and insects, the reassuring way that nature just continues to go about its business every day, regardless of what’s going on in the world — all of that calms me, connects me, makes me feel centred.

Even so, today I’m still riding that wave of restless, frenetic energy, and planting out rows of native flax and hebe in Lost Moon’s garden hasn’t done much to settle that feeling. I’m hoping that seeing Nerilina tonight will help me to relax a little, but at the same time, I’m not holding my breath.

Three weeks of solid work by the twelve-person team on the garden space has transformed the first third of Lost Moon’s huge paddock from an uneven, grass-covered block of land to one with real structure. I always love this part of the job. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing your designs taking shape, a basic parcel of land turning into something beautiful and functional. There’s still a huge amount to be done, but we’re tackling the land in three stages, meaning that we can complete and open up the first acre to the public in time for the holidaymakers’ rush just after Christmas.

I finish patting down the soil around the final plant and stand, stripping off my gloves with a sigh, catching Kaito’s gaze as I do so. The dragon shifter’s dark purple wings move ever so slightly from where they sit folded against his ‘human’ back, but I’m not familiar enough with dragons to know what that body language actually means. Even so, his green reptilian eyes are thoughtful as he stares back at me. I’d never met a dragon-shifter before working with him, and had assumed that the term dragon shiftermeant he appeared fully human most of the time, so it had been a surprise to me when he’d shown up with huge wings and a pair of lilac horns sprouting from just above his temple, his glossy black hair falling around them.

I have seen him without both the horns and wings; he makes them disappear in order to drive his car or operate a piece of machinery. It makes him look almost entirely human, bar the emerald eyes with their striking vertical pupils, but other than that he remains in this half-shifted state — sometimes with the addition of a long purple crocodile-like tail — and it’s something I’ve been meaning to ask Van about.

Kaito’s wings make that same small movement again. “Something has been bothering you today,” he says conversationally.

“I grew antlers this morning.”

The verdant stare doesn’t change, and if it weren’t for his filmy inner eyelids blinking once over his green eyes, I’d think that he’d suddenly turned to stone.

I shrug when he doesn’t react any further, pulling my gaze away from his unnerving stare to look out at the ocean view instead. “So there’sthat.”

“Was it done on purpose?”

“Sort of? I was pulling out my magic, and pulled those out of my head, I guess.” I give a self-deprecating snort, and when I glance back, the ever-present crease between his brows has deepened.

“And clearly you mastered shutting that magic back away.”

“I wouldn’t call it mastered. Van helped. A lot.”

“Hn.” He stares again, his pupils moving just enough to indicate that he’s looking me up and down. “I don’t know what the fae want with ones like you, but there was another kidnapping last night.”

“What?”

“Not here. In Australia — Mount Isa.”

“Mount Isa? The mining town?”

He gives a curt nod. “I have a friend there who sent me some video footage that’s doing the rounds. The higher-ups have been doing their best to keep it out of the news cycles. Do you want me to send it to you, or to your mate, or neither of you?”

“Both. Both of us, please. What do you mean, the higher-ups are keeping it out of the news?”

“I mean exactly that. Even that article you found — Evander shared it with me, on my first day here — that’s now been pulled. They don’t want people to know that unsuspecting changelings are being taken.”

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