Page 29 of Fated Moons
“Where’s Jackson?” her father asked.
“In the shower. He said he’d be out soon. He looks worse than I feel.” She fiddled with her coffee mug. “He told me it was Trask who reversed the spell, but that he had to leave. Did you speak with Trask?”
“I did.” Her father nodded. “He said you were in bad shape. A few minutes longer and I hate to think what might have happened to both you and Jackson. Helping you while waiting for Trask took a lot out of Jackson. He’s been living with two evil spells for a long time. Banishing them while helping you heal could have destroyed him.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Shall we talk about what all this might mean? Especially the fairy dust?”
She shook her head. “Did Trask tell you what the spells were?” Most of last night turned into a mirage of agony and darkness. Her bones were frozen to the point they could easily snap. Her blood so thick it hurt as her heart tried to pump it through her system.
Jackson’s touch turned into a raging fire against the frigid ice cube she’d become. The worst part had been hearing the agony in his howls as Trask lifted the spell and banished it into the abyss. “And why did they enter my body when I looked inside his aura?”
Her father dumped eggs onto three plates as the toaster popped with slightly overcooked bread. “Jackson needs to be here for this. It affects him as much as it does you.” Her father rested his hand on her shoulder. “You should know that a book is being written as we speak that seems to have something to do with why you’re suddenly emitting fairy dust. Trask admitted that he’s been waiting for something like this to happen.”
“But he’s never told you before?”
“No.” Her father sighed. “I wasn’t thrilled when he clued me in last night, but he has his reasons and I do understand them.”
“I can feel it inside me and whenever I’m near Jackson, the dust just wants to come out and play.” She rubbed her temples. The headache had subsided to a dull throb. “Why did I wake up in Jackson’s bed? With him? And you in the guest room?” Her father hadn’t been overly old-fashioned like her mother with theproper rules of dating a royal, but Amanda couldn’t imagine him being okay with her sharing a bed.
Even if nothing happened.
Not that anything would.
Imprinting.
Fated mates. Fated Moons.
None of that could have been real.
She touched her lips. His scorching kiss still tickled the inside of her mouth, sending pulses of desire to her belly.
“You needed his warmth. He needed you and your dust. Not to mention he imprinted on you. It seemed like the only choice at the time.”
She dropped her head to the table and groaned. “How do you know?”
“I just do.” He tapped her shoulder. “Wolves are an interesting breed with how they do that. But something tells me that imprinting happened a long time ago, and it was blocked through black magic.” Her father set the plates on the table and then poured three cups of coffee before sitting down. He’d always been the serious type with a dark sense of humor that only came out in the comforts of his family. He took his role as prince to heart, trying to do right by his father’s memory.
She wrapped her arms around her middle. Waking up in Jackson’s embrace felt normal. Natural. Like she was always meant to be there. When her eyes flickered open, he’d already been awake, staring at her, his hand draped over her hip. A long silence followed before he told her he needed to shower. As he rose out of the bed, deep groans filled the air. Bruises and scratch marks lined his back, though they were half-healed already.
She cringed, knowing she’d done that to his magnificent tanned skin.
“Am I allowed to reject a wolf imprinting on me?”
Her father chuckled. “Yes and no. I mean, an imprint is a claim. When it’s wolf on wolf, there is an acceptance of it. It’s more like a call to date. When it’s wolf on another creature, there still needs to be a desire to be together. But Trask explained to me last night about how wolfairies and fated mates happen. It’s a soulmate kind of thing and there’s no stopping it.” He leaned forward and cupped her cheek. “You have to claim him too. The way Trask described it is you have to take a stand. Almost a vow of protection. It sounds like you might have done that last night. But there is so much more to this, and I fear something is out there trying to prevent it.”
“Seriously, Dad. Any decent being would have tried to protect him in my shoes. Those fake wolves wanted to kill him.”
“It wasn’t just that. It was the compulsion to peek inside his aura. As if you knew there was black magic in his soul.”
She let out a long breath. “There is something about him, Daddy. I feel like I’m supposed to know him better, but it’s like he pushes me away. Pushes everyone away.”
“It might not be him doing that, but the spells clinging to his heart.”
“He’s not that easy to get to know. Trust me.”
“I can’t imagine it was easy growing up as the son of a murderer. But Trask said he had a very powerful spell inside his inner aura. It was deep and did its best to wrap around yours. That’s not easy to deal with. And he’s a guarded creature.” Her father had an uncanny knack for reading people, and she trusted his judgment more than her own.
“I’m starving,” Jackson said, startling her.
She jumped, hitting her coffee mug. The black liquid sloshed out, splattering on the table.
