Page 14 of Echo Of A Wolf

“Mentally exhausted shit,” I clarified. “Have any of you been feeling strange lately? Paranoid, maybe?”

Waylen looked at me with a puzzled expression. “Strange how?”

“And what are you feeling paranoid about?” Sienna added.

I pulled in a deep breath and rubbed the back of my neck. This wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped it would be. “I’m not sure how to even explain it. Maybe it’s just me. I’ve been on edge lately.”

“Understandably so,” Ellis said, and I knew he got it. They all did. After all, each of us had been under Lucius’s mind control. “I think we’ve all felt on edge lately.”

“Definitely.” Sienna nodded. “What specifically has been going on for you lately, though?” she asked.

She was too focused on me. It had my wolf pacing and my heart racing inside my chest. This woman knew how to get straight to the point without any twists or turns.

It was unnerving.

I took another swig from my beer, stalling while I tried to find the right words. “I’ve just felt off. Disconnected with my wolf,” I said. “I’ve even felt like someone is watching me a couple of times the last few days, like I’m being followed. I know how paranoid it sounds.”

I didn’t mention the prickling sensation in my head I’d felt out in the parking lot a minute ago, because everything I’d already said was enough for now.

Sienna narrowed her eyes. “Is someone following you?”

“I haven’t seen anyone,” I admitted.

“It’s probably nothing,” Ellis said with a shrug. “Lucius messed us all up. Feeling off for a while is bound to happen.”

I nodded, trying to brush it off, but their lack of concern didn’t ease my mind. While I downed the rest of my beer, a conversation sparked about the worst karaoke song of all time. It was harder than I thought it would be to nail down one song we all agreed on when there were so many that came to mind. Even so, the conversation had us laughing, even me, which was something I’d needed.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed.

While meeting everyone for a drink hadn’t gotten me any closer to figuring out what the hell was wrong with me, it had been the stress reliever I’d needed. For the first time in days, I didn’t think about Astrid or Xander. I didn’t even think about the familiar sensation I’d felt prickling through my head in the parking lot.

Instead, I enjoyed being in good company.

7

ASTRID

My raven perched in the tree near Xander’s house, staring at him through his living room window. We’d been here for almost an hour now, watching him meticulously plan something.

What was he up to?

He looked like I did when ideas were flowing while I plotted out a storyline—his pen scraping across the sheet of paper in front of him rapidly while a look of complete focus twisted his expression. If it hadn’t been for the strange cold darkness that surround him lately, I would have thought nothing of his excitement.

Energy doesn’t lie, though.

I knew something was off with him. Plus, it didn’t help that Dean clearly had felt the same or else he wouldn’t have confronted me, thinking I was stalking him for Xander.

Funny, I’d claimed I wasn’t a stalker and now, here I was, stalking my brother.

Xander suddenly pocketed the paper he’d been jotting things down on and disappeared from my raven’s line of view. She shook out her feathers, debating on moving to a new branch,but before she could fully commit to the idea, he came out his front door. My raven slunk back on the branch, hoping to not be noticed. However, from the ecstatic look on Xander’s face, he wouldn’t have noticed her if she’d been right in front of him.

My brother was on a mission.

Shifter magic pulsed through the air, and in the next instant, Xander’s raven soared through the sky. I didn’t know where he was headed, but I knew my raven would follow him.

She waited for a heartbeat and then flew after him.

My raven had no idea where Xander was headed either, but a heavy sense of dread uncoiled in us as we followed him. When a small house came into view along with a gray truck, I knew immediately where we were.

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