by S. L. Morgan
Watching the guys surf in the curls of the massive waves wasn’t my favorite part, though. It was therapeutic, watching Ethan’s owl soar in from out of nowhere and chase after Dominic, who would speed ahead of the waves as they crashed behind him.
It probably should’ve been something Ethan’s owl would get busted for, but the owl only came out to Dominic as he surfed while it was just us girls on the beach as an audience. It was so relieving to finally see Ethan interacting again. He wasn’t back to normal, though. He was using short words and talking only to Dom. It was heartbreaking to watch them together, but Dom wouldn’t give up.
All the while, I was fading behind Dom’s back. Dom had only seen a perfect little Jenna—what the wolf allowed him to see—but tonight, I looked like death as I walked out and sat down. I went to tell Vannah everything—again—and as usual, the wolf silenced me, but this time, my wolf was going to get busted.
She’d been letting me hang onto food long enough for my body to heal, so I looked normal to the others before she made me throw it all up, but all of that had caught up to me tonight, and my body wasn’t healing this time.
The jig was going to be up as soon as Vannah looked over at the skeleton sitting next to her, and Dom would find a way to kick my wolf’s ass. At least I hoped he could do it. My wolf seemed stronger than even his now.
“Oh my God!” I faintly heard Dominic’s voice cut through the only thing my wolf allowed me to have now, my thoughts. “When did this happen, Vannah? How?”
I could hardly feel his touch as he knelt next to me and ran a hand over my cheek. I was still utterly numb to feeling him all because my wolf decided to go dark and fight me. I was shocked she didn’t force the shift days ago and take over from there, but anything was possible now. I was entirely at this wolf’s mercy.
“Jen,” his brown irises were silver-brimmed and staring into mine. “Babe, come on. I need you to say something. You have more power, think past the wolf controlling you.”
“When did it happen?” he barked.
“She was nothing like this after dinner tonight. She looks like death! Oh my gosh.” Vannah was crying in fear.
“You think?” Dom’s voice was dangerously angry. “When did she stop eating again? Damn it! Why didn’t any of you tell me? Fin!” he called out to the shifter who was in charge of watching my every move outside of Vannah. “Do not stand here and tell me you ignored the wolf taking over Jenna.”
After more than a few curse words, Dom had everyone close to tears because of my condition. It wasn’t their fault. It was this pissed off, very wild wolf of mine’s fault.
“Dom,” Finley came back, “You need to calm the hell down right now. You’re not helping her by saying every curse word in the book so you end up getting your butt pulled out of here.”
“Babe. Jen,” Dom said, his voice tamer, and as if my wolf was going to show him that she wasn’t going to be put in her place, that’s when I shifted and hoped to God that no humans in the area saw it.
I took off, my wolf pounding through the sand and up through the enormously large green foliage of the trees to disappear in this dark forest. I heard wings of the owl flapping above my wolf, and my wolf’s ears flicked back to the threat behind her. She was being trailed by Dom’s large black wolf, and now, it was my only hope that Dom’s wolf could save us.
My vision and hearing were gone right after I felt my wolf get tackled to the ground. A bizarre clapping sound took the place of the sounds coming from outside of my wolf.
Shit! The demon spawn.
“You know, I thought it would be much harder to get you through the wolf, but since your wolf was feeding off the dark energy I’ve been sending her to give her power over you, it was quite easy.”
The dark void opened up inside of me, and I was standing outside a window and staring in at where I locked that demon thing up in the memory of my mind—where Jess died.
“You’re locked up, asshole!” I said from the other side of the wall where I had this thing mentally locked away.
“Really?” it responded. “You think it was that easy? You’re one negative thought away from opening the little magic door you have me locked behind. Do you even know the power you have with me?”
“I have all the power I need, and it’s keeping your evil ass right where it needs to be.”
“For now,” the faceless black creature said casually. “How does it feel to have your wolf in the driver’s seat. From here, I can see that it’s turning you into some crazy, starved-out lunatic! The best part…concealing it from everyone. That alpha is too late to help you.”
Its voice was so demonic that I cringed in fear of what I had locked up in my mind.
It began laughing maniacally. “I will just eat the fear you’re feeling and use it to strengthen me and take over your weak mind.”
Hell no. We are in my mind. This thing is locked up in a memory and can’t get out and take full possession of me. I’m in control. My mind, my rules. My inner magic had this thing sealed up. I was fine. I needed to snap awake and get back to Dominic.
“You may think you have the power to keep me from taking over, you don’t.”
I wouldn’t talk to the thing anymore. It was bad enough I already gave it this much power. I had to focus and get back to Dominic. I needed him, and my wolf needed his.
Damn it, this could be what awakens the school. I knew I needed his alpha power to get myself and my wolf back and resisting this demon. My stupid apex predator knew better!
“She’s coming around.” I felt the weight of my body again, but I was trembling and had zero control over my nervous system. “Vannah, I need you to cloak me or something. I need to open myself up to her.”
“Dom, you know you can’t do that. I can’t cloak either one of you more than I already have. You’re already in a major school violation just being in the position both of you are in.”
“Damn the school and its rules! I will lose her if I don’t fight to get her back. Get Ethan. He’s better, and he can help. Get him!” he growled. “Right now.”
I hated that he was treating Vannah like this from what I heard inside this faded version of my body, but right now I was feeling our warmth and our skin on skin connection that was literally working to fuel my body and mind.
It was the connection we had at the moment that was serving to keep my mind conscious of the outside world and away from that demon thing locked in my mind. I knew this was the demon’s chance to take over, and I had to hold steadfast to the alpha curled up behind me.
As I slowly began feeling for the first time since my inner wolf was driven by the demon to take over my body, I became more aware of my surroundings. I was lying naked except for my underwear, facing Dominic’s bare chest. My face was buried in his neck, my head tenderly gripped by his steady hand, keeping me as close to him as he could get me. Being a shifter with its true mate, my body took over in the natural healing process. I’d only ever heard of shifters going through this due to a debilitating wound that forced a need for its mate to help heal them.
The situation that Dom and I were in probably looked extremely sexual to my witch friend, but knowing that shifters needed this closeness of their alpha mate, I knew there was nothing sexual about it.
Dom was bringing me back and helping me reclaim my body and soul that was lost without him. His wolf was most likely directing his every move, helping to comfort me while I fought back. I raised an extremely weak leg up and dragged it along his waist. I felt his swim trunks, so it wasn’t that intense of a connection he was forming. That was a good thing, it meant I wasn’t in as bad of shape as I could’ve been.
“Ethan said that she can’t take your wolf’s power,” Lusa’s voice trembled.
“Ethan,” Dom called out. “You will help conceal us so I can give her my strength. This isn’t enough, and you know it. You can do this, buddy.”
“Dominic, the darkness will know,” Ethan said.
“Then I’ll
kick the darkness’s ass. Someone cloak us, now! We can’t lose her!”
“Yes. True. Okay,” Vannah said. “Ethan, let’s do this, sweetie. We just need to know deep inside that we can.”
“We cannot,” Ethan argued.
“Listen to her, damn it,” Dom barked out again.
“Let’s take them to a place that the school will never find,” Vannah said in a soft, tender voice. “We’ll mentally take them and hide them until Jenna gets better. Can you help me mentally bring them there? They will hide their power in a beautiful, safe place until Jenna is healed.”
“I can take them into the clouds.”
“Farther, Ethan,” Vannah said, while Dom held me closer into him. “Let’s work together and visualize them hidden deep in the Earth. No one will sense their strength there.”
“A den. It’s where they first connected,” Ethan said with a triumphant voice. “It’s when they first knew they were mates.”
“There you go, E,” Lusa said. I could hear the sadness in her voice. “Mentally hide them in the den.”
“You’re cloaked. Do what you have to do and get it done fast,” Vannah ordered.
I felt Dominic loosen his grip on me, and I strained to open my eyes and see him. It didn’t matter, Dominic was in control, and his lips, nipping at my bottom one, told me that the kiss I’d longed for was about to happen.
His lips pulled away, and I felt his hand on my face.
Damn it, can’t I just open my eyes?
“Jen. Come back to me, babe,” he said. His tongue urged my lips to part, and his hand held my head in place as I accepted his kiss. It was like a fairy had sprinkled energy dust on me when I felt the power of my man’s wolf step in and help me reclaim my body. I wanted to stay focused on Dom’s fervent kiss, but I couldn’t help but open up further and allow my wolf to be claimed by his.
My entire body shivered when I heard Dominic groan and his hand slid over my waist and pressed into my lower back. He was sensing his wolf as it sent its alpha power to mine, and it was the first time my wolf was sincerely submitted to him. I sucked in a breath of warm air, it was Dominic’s kiss, and it was intoxicating. My wolf, as if shaking off the demon’s energy that controlled her, released me as soon as Dom’s wolf bared his teeth at her.
Crazy how shifters worked like this. It was like we were watching our wolves have this interaction, but it was all mental. If only Dom could send his wolf straight to that demon and rip its throat out. I felt his lips on my forehead and his hand rubbing my back when I inhaled the fresh, crisp air.
“That’s it,” he said softly, still holding me tight into his hard muscles. “You’ve got this. We’ve got this, babe.”
I licked my severely dry lips, feeling his wolf recoiling from mine. The sensation of allowing the wolves in us to meet and mine to submit to his like this was like an elixir to my soul.
“Get her some water, Lus,” Dom said in a more relaxed tone. “She’s okay.”
“Dom,” I said. “Thank you.”
My eyes reopened now that I felt supercharged with Dom’s energy, and I saw the silver that lined Dom’s brown irises fade. His face softened when he smiled down at me.
“God dang, man,” he said as he brushed his hand over mine. “That was a close call.”
“Sounded like you were about to kill everyone.” I laughed.
“I was,” he snickered back. “I have never felt that kind of loss or separation before. I still have no idea how I was able to bring you back, but you’re here.”
“My wolf.”
“I know,” he said in a hushed voice. “We’ll talk about that later, and we’ll fix it. Right now, absorb as much energy as I can give you.”
I nestled in tighter to my man, not embarrassed for a minute at the fact that I was topless and he was able to feel my girls right up against his chest…none of that mattered. He was my man, his wolf was my wolf, and all of me was his.
No one comes back once their beast takes over, but as usual, Dom and I were some crazy exceptions to that shifter rule. I was breathing steadily now, the powerful, juiced-up energy his wolf gave me to recharge was slowly fading into a normal feeling, and I was never more certain of one thing in my life…that was the fact that I really wanted some freaking pie.
9
I dozed off like one would coming off an extreme adrenaline high, and I woke up in bed with Vannah sitting next to me. I rolled onto my stomach and frowned at my best friend who had her face buried in her hands.
“I’m sorry I put all of you through that,” I whispered.
The room was lit in golden hues, letting me know the sun was rising on this crazy day. It took all night for my inner wolf and me to recover from the spawn trying to take over, but I wasn’t complaining about lost time…I was back, and that was all that mattered now.
Vannah pulled her face out of her hands, and tears streamed out of the corners of her eyes. She handed me a tank top, which I pulled on to make myself a bit more presentable.
“Jenna, my gosh, we almost lost you. I shouldn’t be looking into your brown eyes right now,” she shook her head in sadness, “I should still be staring into your wolf’s blue eyes. The ones that came out of nowhere right before you shifted.”
I sat up and pulled on my gym shorts that had been placed on the table next to the bed. After everything that happened and from the way Vannah was acting, I wasn’t sure who might waltz into mine and Vannah’s hut at any given moment.
“If I only paid more attention—”
“Don’t do that,” I said softly. “No one is blaming themselves for something we never saw coming. Shit, I really thought I had this.” I exhaled. “I assumed if I used Dom and me being apart from each other last week, I could get a grip on myself around him when he got back. I figured having some distance from him would help me put my inner wolf in her place. The wolf was so caught up with Dom’s, that I had to stop her from constantly forcing me to lose control around him.” I laughed in disbelief, “I had no idea what losing control really was until my wolf turned on me and almost ruined us both.”
“It wasn’t the wolf’s fault or yours,” she said as she pinched her lips, trying not to lose it in front of me. “Jenna, you have that darkness inside of you. Ethan and I got a look at it, and even Dominic’s wolf saw it. It’s insanely strong.” She shook her head and looked past me. “Dear God, it’s so powerful that I don’t understand how it hasn’t taken control of you already.”
“You took the Lord’s name in vain,” I teased, trying to lighten my friend’s mood a little.
“Jenna, be real. I am dead serious. This is dire. I don’t know how you’re controlling something that even Dom’s wolf shied away from and that Ethan tripped out about after we finished hiding you two with our magic.”
“Ethan?” I asked. “Please tell me he’s okay. If he goes backward again, I’ll never forgive myself.”
Vannah exhaled. “Dom and Lusa were with him all night. Once Dom was confident you were stabilized, he took off to help Lusa get him calmed down. I talked to Lusa, and she assured me Ethan slept well and is going to be okay.”
I rubbed my forehead, feeling a tear slip down my cheek. “I swear if all of my stupid ideas hurt him in the end...” I couldn’t finish through the tears.
Dominic and Lusa had already gone through a lot with Ethan, then I went down, taking Ethan back down with me. Such crap and so unfair. “God, if only I knew that damn demon was screwing with my wolf…” I stopped, pinching my lips in frustration. “Vannah, I had that SOB under control until my wolf, who pretty much has a mind of her own, fell for its manipulations. All I wanted was to be more in control of myself around Dominic.”
“Like I said, none of it was your fault. Sadly, you are playing with fire because of that thing inside you. Being in your mind, we saw how you have it locked down, but you have to be on your guard constantly. That thing even tried to threaten us when Dom went in with his wolf to save yours.”
“I should’
ve have known, though. I should have felt my wolf being lured by it.”
“At the time, it took advantage of your wolf while you were doing what you knew was right to keep your mind strong.” She sighed, “I can’t imagine how hard it must be for you to be around him. When we cloaked you, I sensed yours and Dominic’s bond.” Her lips slightly lifted in a smile, “It’s the most intense bond I’ve ever heard of or felt. If it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t be here. I’d be talking to your wolf as it was controlled by the demon.
“The best way to prevent this from happening again is to remain positive and in control, no matter what happens. Your wolf’s anger in the initial separation from Dominic was its weak spot, and that’s how the demon used your wolf to almost fully possess you. If you get weak in your mind or anger drives you, that thing can easily control you next—not just the wolf.”
I felt my stomach twist in knots. Vannah wasn’t joking, and she looked like she was ready to barf. “What do I do? What if I get all braindead with Dom again because that’s the natural way shifters behave around their true mates once they’ve found them? That’s honestly where I felt my mind drifting before all of this happened—it’s when I’m around him. How is Dom able to keep it together? I don’t know how he does it.”
“Dom is a very powerful alpha, and he’s not dealing with a caged-up demon inside his mind either. You’re powerful too, you’re just feeling the emotions harder than him because you have your other genetics to magnify it all. That’s not what you need to be concerned about, though. What’s most important is that you’re in a positive, healthy mindset. That will help, but you have to face that you do need help. We have to get that thing out of you.”
