While I make my coffee, I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s wearing rumpled pink pajamas, and her blond hair is a tangled mess around her shoulders. She has her chin in one hand as she flips the pages of the magazine, looking casual and comfortable.
Well, probably not that comfortable now that I’m here.
The thought further darkens my mood, and when I sit down across from her, I’m aware that I’m carrying a bucketload of tension, but I have no idea how to escape it.
Just don’t take it out on her.
“So, Trina—” I begin.
“I’m going out with Sadie today,” she says, looking up. “We’re going to try and trigger my powers, or something. I’m not really clear on it.”
“Okay,” I reply. “That sounds constructive. Is there anything you need me to do?”
“No,” she answers, turning her face back to the magazine. “I’ll get ready soon. She’s picking me up, and we’re going to the park.”
“What will you actually be doing?”
“I have no idea,” she chuckles softly. “It’s not like I’ve ever practiced witchcraft.”
I can’t think of anything useful to add, so I just drink my coffee, letting my thoughts spin and trying to sort them into words that might encourage her. When she finally stands up, my nerves jangle, and I have a sudden urge to tackle her to stop her from leaving.
I tried that already. It didn’t work.
“Okay, I’m going to get ready,” she says. “I’ll see you later.”
“Sure,” I answer, still struggling to find a coherent sentence but feeling like my entire vocabulary has vanished.
I need to ask Rhys if it was the same for him—if he completely lost all reason every time Sadie was in the room.It might make me feel better to know this is actually normal behavior for a wolf in love.
That thought shocks me to the core, and I reject it immediately. What I feel for Trina definitely isn’t love. My wolf craves her, and I am attracted to her, but love is an entirely different matter.
I’m still pondering when I hear Trina walk through the house and go out the front door. After the sound of the door closing, I hear Sadie beep the horn, and I know they’ve left together. It leaves me with just a lingering flicker of jealousy, but I push it away so I can focus on my other duties.
After I get ready, I go out to our infirmary, where Serina is treating pack members who have come down with the disease and are unable to care for themselves. I stay for about an hour, helping out in every way I can and feeling more useless by the second.
Was I right? Will having sex with Trina really break the curse for us? I wish I could clear my thoughts on this—but my personal feelings just won’t get out of the way!
As I go out to my car, I try to separate my desire for Trina from the needs of the pack to look at the situation objectively, but it’s impossible. At the briefest suggestion of being with her, my body responds, flooding my senses with potential pleasure and wiping my mind free of rational thought.
Before I really know what I’m doing, I drive to the park where Trina said Sadie was taking her. I don’t see them in the main area, so I take one of the walking tracks, instinct more than senses guiding me.
The silence of my wolf is concerning, but he seems to have no problem rousing at the idea that we might lose Trina.
As if to make a point, my hackles rise, and suddenly I catch Trina’s scent, as thick and sweet as if I’ve just dropped my head into a fully flowering rose bush. Following the scent, I turn off the main path and cut through the woods, finally coming across the girls in a small, grassy clearing.
The scene looks positively idyllic. Sadie and Trina sit across from each other, smiling and laughing as they make strange hand signals at each other. Cassie, Sadie’s daughter, is there, too, and she keeps grabbing their hands to distract them, making everyone laugh even harder.
I stay concealed behind a big tree, watching the girls. My heart warms as I see how comfortable Trina is, but a cold knot of something that feels like jealousy tightens behind my ribs.
“Okay,” Sadie laughs. “Let’s try that again. Cassie, sit your little butt down and stay out of the way.”
Sadie ruffles her daughter’s hair to take the edge off her words. Cassie giggles, trying to catch her mother’s hands.
“I’ve got stronger magic than you,” she says to Sadie, sticking out her tongue.
“There you go again,” Sadie sighs woefully. “Rubbing it in my face.”
Cassie giggles harder, reaching out to her mom again, and the two of them end up in a brief tickle fight.
