Page 25 of Bad Moon Rising
“Isn’t there an antidote?”
“No. It’s permanent, as far as I know. It wouldn’t make you forget you’re lycan, though. That would’ve required something like hypnosis before you had the drug injected.”
“How does this work for you to figure out what happened to her memories? Like who she is?” Roman asked. “We need to find her people.”
Although she wanted to know something about her past, she didn’t want the information stolen from her. She wanted to play a firm part in the remembering aspect. Seemed as if Roman was excited to get her issue solved, perhaps to get her out of his life as fast as possible.
“There are flickers in her mind,” Dom said evasively.
“Did you see my past? Do you know who I am?” she asked.
“Perhaps.” Dom glanced Roman’s way for no more than a few seconds, but she caught the gist that he didn’t know anything.
She asked, “Are you like Roman? You have some sort of aura or something about you I can’t put my finger on. You’re pretty enough to be non-human, even if you’re dangerous.”
“Pretty?” Humor crinkled the corners of his eyes. “I’m not lycan. I’m mage. I don’t have hundreds of archaic rules of conduct I must live by. I can do whatever the hell I want.” After a short pause, Dom asked softly, “How do youknowI’m dangerous?”
She touched the base of her neck, and her eyebrows squished together. “When I look at people, my brain gives me a rundown on the person’s strengths and weaknesses, and catalogs all the best attack points. It warns me that you…it says to be careful.”
“You have combat training.” Dom frowned. “That’s not taught to lycan females. It’s not allowed. In fact, your people barely let their females see daylight. They’re so paranoid you’ll be killed or kidnapped. It means you’re unique in more ways than one. You’re a puzzle.”
“What exactly is a mage? Are you some sort of sorcerer?” She crossed her arms.
“Not sorcery.” Dom waved at a chair for her to sit.
“There is magic, though.” She took a seat in front of him, not breaking eye contact. She had marks like him. Did that mean she had his same kind of magic?
“There is. Do you remember its source?” He leaned forward, kept his gloves on, but took her wrist again.
“I remember nothing.” She massaged her forehead.
“Will you let me help you find out what you remember of magic? We’ll get to your past in a bit.”
She appreciated him finally asking, and nodded.
“Close your eyes, Nova.” She closed them for a moment, but totally peeked. With circular movement of his arms, a ring of light formed between Dom’s hands, which he slowly expanded outward. “Keep your eyes closed. You feel it, don’t you?”
“I feel energy.” With her finger outstretched and eyelids closed tight, she touched the edge of the energy and drew a triangle inside his circle.” Small peek again. Wow. The lines she traced in the air appeared in a different-colored light.
“Tell me,kis druida, of yourmultja.” Dom’s voice had lowered an octave and came out mesmerizing and soft. The circle of light with the triangle Nova had added rotated to lower over her head and surround her.
Her eyes drifted closed as if induced into a dream. Words came, but she wasn’t sure what they meant. “She was born with the Understanding of our world, Otherworld, and the harmonies of nature. But he didn’t like that. She gave him two children, but his hate forced him to push me beneath the ice.”
What? Someone tried to kill me?
Her eyelids snapped open. Within an instant, the light disappeared.
“What was that? What’s amultja?” Roman asked.
Dom flashed annoyance Roman’s way. “Past life.” He waved a hand over her wrist. A multitude of orange and yellow sigils lit up her skin. Dom sucked in a breath. “Oh.”
“What did that mean?” She watched Dom with rapt attention. “Why is my arm lighting up?”
“It says you practiced magic in this life. If you can remember any of it, you can be powerful. It’s why you have the marks on your neck.” He stared at her forearm while the illuminated marks disappeared. Dom seemed distracted, almost as if surprised.
She grabbed Dom’s gloved hand to draw his attention. “What did all that mean?”
But the mage smiled like one would at a child, patronizing. “You felt it,kis druida. The magic.”
