Page 29 of Wolf Tamer

To see her going pale because of a spell… It’s like I’m watching my idea circle right down the toilet.

If there were any way around what I have to do, then I would have found it already.

I barely got any sleep last night since rescuing her, and I went over things in my head too many times to count. Even with the weight of my own healing crashing down around me, my eyes felt propped open by toothpicks and the rest of me on pins and needles.

Whenever I managed to drift off, nightmares plagued me. Memories of Crane’s neck breaking. The flames determined to devour Tasha and her brilliant burst of magic that saved us both.

Am I a fool for thinking I can rely on her powers a second time?

“What’s the matter?”

Tasha worries the inside of her lip and pointedly ignores me.

“Maybe we should just postpone it,” I offer suddenly. “Until you have a little more time to heal.”

Or until she can figure out a way to do the spell.

I know her skills with witchcraft aren’t where they should be, but I honestly thought the spell was the best course to navigate through this crap.

Tasha glares at me. “I am absolutely fine, wolf boy. We have to do this in order to keep up our ruse and find out what we need to find out.” She glances down at the spell a second time, with a contemptuous look. “I can do this. I can do the spell, no problem. It’s simple, isn’t it? A child can do it.”

Okay, we both know she’s lying through her teeth and she’s unsure.

“And you’re positive?” I pry, trying to test her. To see how far she’s willing to go with her lie. “I wouldn’t want to overtax you after everything you’ve been through. And you’re not exactly a practicing witch anymore—”

“Stop.” She swallows hard before forcing herself to meet my eyes. “Let’s try it.”

“You want to test it out first?”

“Duh. Will you get the ingredients? I’d rather try it from the sanctity of your bedroom than during the moment of truth in front of all your people and your brothers.”

My people are less in number now than they’ve ever been before. At the height of my father’s rule, there were fifty wolves in this mega mansion. Now we’re less than half that number. It takes daily work for me to not feel it’s a personal reflection on me and my leadership.

And I have a dreadful gut feeling that I may lose more wolves if they find out Tasha is here and I plan on sleeping with her again, with or without punishment for her running away.

Never mind that I let her go in the first place.

Eventually I cave to her, as I usually do. “Okay. As long as you’re sure that trying it now won’t make it less potent later.”

And there I go, sounding like the damn portent of doom. It’s a personal skill of mine.

“Of course I’m sure.” Tasha is insistent, and I doubt very much that she notices the way her heart has sped up. The way it seems to almost skip a beat. There’s no way for me to miss the sound. “Now go get the shit I need, Reid.Hurry.”

I go downstairs to grab the ingredients she needs—nothing much and easy enough for me to scout out in the pantry—but it isn’t long before I’m being stopped by Bullet. He comes out of the living room, spots me, and hurries to meet me half way up the steps as I make my way back to Tasha.

“Reid,” he whispers harshly. “Is she ready? The pack is starting to gather—”

“Almost,” I tell him. My stomach twists with what’s coming. “We’ll be down shortly.”

Bullet nods. “Give me ten minutes.”

By the time I make it back to the room, Tasha is standing in a change of clothes she must have found from a guest room and glaring at the spellbook like it’s the bane of her existence.

“What’s the matter?” she asks when I pause in the door.

Nothing.

Her. I’m just so fucking happy to have her back in my house, even with the fucked-up situation we’re in. Seeing her always does something to me. It’s as if, for a second, the world seems to tilt on its axis, and my wolf sits up a little straighter.

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