Page 49 of Enspelled

Not a damn thing.

I lean my head against the fridge and stare up at the ceiling. “You have the Destin wolf pack inside you. Surely that has to count for something… right?”

A whisper of a memory flutters in my mind.

Keane’s old cabin. Me on the floor. The large gray wolf with amber eyes stands near a fire in the Madden Grove Wood. “Why did it feel like he was trying to tell me something?”

“You have to stop talking to yourself, Briar. This can’t be healthy.” I sigh.

I was desperate to silence the wolf growls in my head before they drove me insane. But now that they’ve fallen silent, I need them to start back up again.

So maybe I couldn’t understand them before, but now that I can shift to a wolf, I might be able to do it.

If it was Layla who enslaved the souls, maybe they can tell me why she did it—or even better, they could tell me the spell she used so Sera can reverse it.

“You’re expecting an awful lot from potentially crazy souls, Briar,” I mutter.

But that doesn’t stop me from crossing over to the couch and sinking into it. Even if it doesn’t work, it’s a distraction from thinking about what Keane is doing with the body in his truck. Or about all the places I’d like him to kiss next time.

Next time?

Nope. There won’t be a next time, because he’s a wolf and you’re… whatever you are. So focus. No more thoughts about dead bodies or Keane.

I close my eyes and spend the next several minutes not thinking about Keane pressing me against his truck, so I can concentrate on talking to his dad.

My eyes snap open.

“Would he have known what we did? Could he feel me making out with his son?”

I blanch and desperately hope he didn’t. The thought is enough to make the contents of my stomach curdle, because… no. Just no.

After taking a few slow breaths to steady my flustered mind, I close my eyes and resume my focus on the matter at hand.

I lose track of time as I sit with my eyes closed, hands on my knees and my thoughts on the wolf souls. When my butt starts getting numb, I sigh and peel my eyes open.

But my gaze doesn’t land on Erin Sue’s TV set or coffee table.

I’m standing in a dark forest, but not just any forest. This is the wolf territory part of the Madden Grove Wood. The same fire that was burning when I saw the gray-haired wolf with amber eyes is still there, but I’m alone.

Something makes me glance down at my body, and I straight-up nearly have a heart attack, because the gray wolf is me. Or I’m him. Even if I do still feel like me.

Do I try talking to myself?

“Hello?” I call out.

There’s no response, because this has to be a weird vision and I’m alone.

A hand grabs my shoulder from behind and jerks me around. I’m full-on high-pitched screaming until I realize I don’t need to be afraid.

“Dad?” I gape up at him in disbelief. He’s wearing the same shirt and pants I remember from my fire dream, but there’s a wild panic in his eyes that’s new.

He nudges me away, even as I cling to his arm. “Go, Briar.Run!”

“But I—”

His next shove sends me crashing to the ground.

As I sit back up, he’s gone, and I’m alone again. Or I think I am, until I peer over my shoulder. The fire is still burning happily under the full moon, but this time wolves stand around it.

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