“As long as ye anchor yer somewhere in yer mind so ye can find it when ye wish to retrieve yer clothes.” He tapped his temple. “To make it easier, choose the memory of a place ye have always loved. That memory can be yer somewhere.”
A distant memory of an isolated beach at sunset came to mind. The sound of the waves as they crashed on the shore. The stretch of sand and stones seemed almost black as they were silhouetted by the colorful reds and oranges of the sinking sun reflected on the water’s surface. Seabirds squawked as they circled overhead and dove for their last meal of the day. The wet sand, still warm even though the sun had nearly hidden itself behind the horizon, squished between her toes. Yes. This would be the somewhere she could always find.
In her mind’s eye, she pictured a large, black hatbox sitting atop an outcropping of boulders, well out of reach of the tide. One by one, she removed every article of clothing, folded it, and placed it in the box. Excited about what she felt had to be victory, she opened her eyes, fully expecting to be naked. Sadly, she wasn’t. “Well, damn. What did I do wrong?”
“Try again. Believe that ye’re actually putting yer clothes away. Feel the buttons and cloth. Feel the warmth of the material and breathe in yer own scent as ye remove it from yer skin.”
Mathison’s voice had become husky, and she had a pretty good idea why, since an aching surge of heat had kindled deep within her as well and was smoldering its way through her. But they couldn’t enjoy each other just yet. She was still too weak and needed what little strength she had to learn how to shift. Business now. Pleasure later.
She walked herself through the steps of stripping down once again and concentrated on the sensory part of the process. When Mathison groaned, she smiled and opened her eyes. She was now as bare as the day she was born.
“Now, allow Litress to come forward and change yer form to hers.” The forced restraint in his voice was unmistakable.
Calia closed her eyes again and visualized herself in a cozy little room, sitting on a crushed red velvet settee. Why she had chosen such a tacky piece of furniture, she had no idea, but it had been the first to come to mind, and she’d stuck with it. “It’s up to you now, Litress. I’ve done all I know to do. Show me what it feels like to be a wolf.”
“I am afraid,” Litress whispered.
“So am I,” Calia whispered back, “but we can do this. Think how good it’s going to feel to shock Carman with how adept and powerful we’ve become. She probably still thinks we’re dying—or maybe already dead.”
“It would be most enjoyable to smell her fear in the air. Fear of us and all that we have become.”
“And you’ll be real this time. Not just a spirit wolf. You are real, Litress. I know you can do it.” Calia tucked herself back into the cushions, hugged her knees, closed her eyes, and imagined herself loping through a field on all fours instead of two. “We can do this. We will do this.”
“We have done it.”
The excitement in Litress’s voice was unmistakable. Calia opened her eyes and discovered they weren’t her eyes anymore. Well, they were, but they weren’t. Her sight was so much sharper, and her sense of smell. She lifted her muzzle and sniffed, or maybe Litress did. They were a singular unit now, a complete functioning whole for the first time. Raising a paw, she turned and twisted to see as much of the large, silvery white wolf as she could. She and Litress were beautiful, if she did say so herself.
“While Litress controls the form, ye support her in the background, give her mind yer strength in times of battle,” Mathison said. “In times of peace, ye may rest in the in-between to give her a bit of privacy.”
“Just as she and Dubh gave to us during our bonding,” Calia thought to him.
“Aye, my love. Exactly so.”
But then she sagged forward and collapsed, awkwardly rolling to her side since she couldn’t hold on to the side of the nest with her paws.
“Calia!” Mathison rushed to arrange her more comfortably among the velvety pillows.
“So hard to breathe. So very tired.” She struggled to find the strength to will the words to him.
Litress groaned, “The poison is still within us. I can no longer hold this form. Must return to the shadows.”
Calia shuddered, then bit her lip to keep from crying out as each bone and sinew reshaped itself like something out of a horror movie. It hadn’t hurt or been this weird when she’d gone from human to wolf. Why was the reverse so painful? “Mathison—help me!”
Mathison climbed into the nest and held her, pulling the covers around her trembling body. “I am here, love. I have ye, and here I shall stay. Our bond protects ye, as well as the powers of the wolfstone.”
She clutched him closer, burying her face in his chest and breathing him in. He grounded her. Saved her. Just like always. But then an ominous knowing hit her, making her swallow hard to keep from retching.
“I think Carman is near,” she whispered, then shuddered even harder. “She’s found us.”
He held her tighter, engulfing her in his embrace. “We will prevail, mo chridhe, my precious, precious heart. We will prevail, and she will die.”
She closed her eyes and allowed herself to sink into him, into his warmth, into the safety and completeness he always gave her. “As long as we’re together.”
“Aye, love. We shall always be together.”
Chapter
Seventeen
