Nahuel opened his arms. “I would if I could, but you’re True Mates. It’s something you agreed upon before you came here, it’s been happening slowly for months.”
I growled. Not this reincarnation crap my mom always talked about. I hated the idea that I wasn’t in charge of my destiny. But what he said felt right, and if it would help both of us, I would do anything. “I’ll go. Tell me what to do.”
Jaxon and Gavin both tried to interrupt, but Lina stopped them. “She must go alone or Spirit will not approach her.”
Jaxon, eyes yellow, had a rumbling in his throat. “The Skin Walker better not approach her either. Or I’m going to kill all of you.”
Lina raised one eyebrow as if she didn’t think that was possible but nodded. “The warriors will stand guard on the peripherals.”
My stomach growled. “Please tell me I get dinner.”
Nahuel shook his head. “You must give up all earthly things in order to walk on the spirit plane.”
Tomorrow I was going to be one hangry bitch.
*
After a sweat lodge ceremony where I basically sweat my ass off and apparently all of my impurities, I went to shower in a cute little bath house. No running water but it had a bucket of hot water and a cup next to an old clawfoot tub. Good enough for me. How long had it been since I checked my cell phone? This whole living off the grid thing was kind of cool. If my mate hadn’t just learned that his thirteen-year-old mother was raped by evil incarnate and now I was dying, then I might actually be enjoying my little camp out right now. I let the water pour down my body as my thoughts bounced around in my brain. Gavin was part Skin Walker. Jesus. How did I even feel about that? It wasn’t his fault … but it was a little scary if I was being honest. I finished my shower, threw on baggy sweats and a hoodie and exited the little hand-built bathhouse cottage.
“Little wolf,” Nahuel whispered behind me. I froze before turning to face the shaman. It was pitch black out and after the nightmarish stories of the Skin Walker, I was more than a little spooked.
He was leaning against a tree, carving something from a large hunk of wood. I took a few steps closer to him and his gaze fell to my mother’s protection pouch around my neck and he smiled.
“There’s more I should tell you. Gavin isn’t ready to hear it all,” he stated.
Oh, shit. Seriously. What more could there be? Was I ready to hear it all? Channeling my bad-ass mother, I simply nodded. Bring it on.
Nahuel pointed to the protection pouch around my neck. “I’ve watched you grow up in a loving home with a wonderful childhood. There isn’t much the Skin Walker could do that would bring you mental agony, but Gavin–”
Icing on the cake right there. What did he say earlier? The Skin Walker could replay your nightmares over and over. Nahuel was right. I suddenly felt very spoiled that I didn’t have any awful traumatic experiences. But Gavin … Oh God. If the Walker got near him, he could trap him in a cage of his own demons for eternity.
“Why tell me?” Because I was beginning to see the shaman had a plan. Always thinking two steps ahead.
Nahuel winked. “You’re True Mates. You’re linked. If the time comes than you may be able to free him from a mental Skin Walker prison.”
Fabulous. “What else?” Because I knew there was more. This was just one of those epic shit days that kept dumping on you.
Nahuel looked uncomfortable then. “It’s a theory,” he finally said after a pause.
I groaned. “Out with it.”
He nodded. “If you survive tomorrow, you may not come back a werewolf, a Matefinder, or a witch. You may be … something else entirely.”
WTF? And that’s when my breathing stopped, and dots of black blurred my vision. Panic attack in 3, 2, 1. …
Hunched over on the forest floor, I panted as the anxiety of what he said rocked my world. Nahuel crouched down beside me, humming a slow tune, a lullaby, and suddenly the anxiety left me. I looked up at him.
“Why? Why is this happening?” Because I realized that’s what I really wanted to know. Couldn’t I meet my mate and live happily ever after like in the movies?
Nahuel sighed, suddenly looking older than his supposed forty years. “Because we’ve created it. But that’s a lesson for another day.”
My brow furrowed in frustration, but I finally took a deep breath and stood feeling stronger.
“Tell me about tomorrow. I want to be prepared.” My voice was strong because I wouldn’t let this crap get to me and make me weak. If tomorrow was going to be some spiritual fight for my life, I needed to be the daughter of the Alpha and not some fearsome little girl. Nahuel began to walk and I slid into a pace beside him.
“If Gavin was born without a True Mate, he would have perished shortly after his fourteenth birthday. A shaman cannot live long after missing the calling.”
I nodded. Kind of like when a human was bitten and made the change into a werewolf. There was a point in the change where you could tell if they would survive or not. Gavin should have perished, but somehow–
