Page 22 of Collar Me Crazy
Ryker's head snapped toward him. "He had no right?—"
"He had every right. You're part of this community, whether you want to admit it or not. And when something threatens that community, we all need to know." Callum's amber eyes were serious now. "But here's the thing, brother. Prophecies aren't instructions. They're possibilities."
"Easy for you to say. Your prophecy doesn't involve potentially destroying everything you care about."
"No, it just involved being so territorial and possessive that I nearly drove away the best thing that ever happened to me." Callum's voice carried the weight of hard-won experience. "You think I wasn't terrified when I realized Cora was my mate? You think I didn't spend weeks convinced I'd hurt her just by being what I am?"
Ryker stared into his whiskey. "That's different."
"How?"
"Because you're not cursed. You're not marked by some cosmic destiny to either save or destroy." The words came out bitter. "My pack died because of what I represent, Callum. They died protecting me from people who were so afraid of the prophecy they were willing to commit genocide to prevent it."
"And you think honoring their sacrifice means living alone forever?"
"I think it means not dragging innocent people into danger."
"Innocent?" Maeve let out a harsh laugh. "Boy, that woman tracked you down through visions and faced down a snowstorm to help rescue strangers. She's about as innocent as a shark."
"She doesn't know what she's getting into."
"She's a seer," Callum pointed out. "Pretty sure she knows exactly what she's getting into. Question is, do you?"
Before Ryker could answer, the lights flickered. Not just once, but in a pattern that made the hair on his arms stand up.Around the tavern, conversations faltered as everyone noticed the disturbance.
"That's been happening all day," Maeve said quietly, her lioness instincts clearly on alert. "Started right after the storm passed."
"The protective wards are acting up too," Callum added. "Cora mentioned they've been humming with stress. Whatever's causing it, it's got everyone's magic on edge."
Ryker felt his wolf stir uneasily. The animal's senses were more attuned to magical disturbances than his human consciousness, and right now it was practically vibrating with anxiety.
"It's getting worse," he said, more to himself than the others.
"What's getting worse?" Maeve demanded.
But before Ryker could answer, the lights flickered again, longer this time. Through the tavern windows, he could see streetlights doing the same thing, as a protective ward gave off a low, harmonic wail.
"Something's wrong with the Veil," he said, standing abruptly.
"How do you know?" Callum was on his feet too, his own predator instincts clearly triggered.
Ryker met his eyes, seeing his own fear reflected there. "Because my wolf can feel it breaking."
Around them, the tavern's patrons were beginning to murmur nervously, their supernatural senses picking up on the wrongness that was spreading through Hollow Oak like a disease.
Whatever was coming, whatever his presence in Sonya's life had set in motion, it was starting to happen.
And running away wasn't going to stop it.
13
SONYA
The November air carried the sharp promise of winter as Sonya helped Freya string luminescent garlands between the lamp posts on Main Street. Hollow Oak was transforming for the annual Founding Festival, scheduled for this weekend, and the entire town buzzed with preparation energy despite the early cold.
"Higher on your end," Freya called from her ladder, her copper hair whipping in the brisk wind. "These need to be even or Twyla will have our heads."
"Got it." Sonya adjusted her grip on the magical lights, which pulsed with a warm amber glow that would last through the winter months. "These are incredible. Do they run on magic or actual electricity?"
