Warriors, all, with names like flora.
Save them from themselves, for they will not know their foreordination.
They will not be bound byshiftenlaw, but their destinies entwine so strongly with their fated mates, that any not mated by their thirtieth year will be moonstruck. Those who are lost may be dangerous.
He shuddered as he came back from wherever he’d just been.
“So now you see,” Rory said, reaching out to gently take her hand. Her slender fingers were swallowed up in his. “You’re one of the women the prophecy talks about. Your name is Ivy. You’re twenty-five years old. And I bet you never knew your father, right?
“Just one question,” Ivy said in a small voice. She didn’t think she was going to like the answer. “What does ‘moonstruck’ mean?”
“Moonstruck?” Rory frowned. “It’s a kind of madness that can strikeshiften, or the One True Mates if they aren’t found in time.”
“Oh,” said Ivy. She swallowed. “In that case, I think it might be too late.”
Rory rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, sending little shivers of arousal over her skin. A trickle of moisture dampened her panties, and she silently cursed herself for allowing him to get under her skin.
“What do you mean, it’s too late?” he said gently. “You called for me, and I came. I found you.”
“I called for you?” she murmured. His pupils were blossoming pools of blackness in the vivid blue of his irises as he gazed at her.
“In your head,” he explained. “We call itruhi. You called for help, and I heard you, and I came.”I’ll always come for you, Ivy.
He hadn’t spoken that last sentence. Not out loud. Had she really heard it inside her head? Or was it just another symptom of her mind slipping away?
Her heart was like a panicky bird in her chest, and her voice shook as she replied. “You were too late, Rory. I think I’ve already gone mad.”
She saw the firefighters exchanging concerned glances. Well, if she was right and she’d inherited her mother’s mental illness, she’d better get used to that.
“You seem pretty sane to me,” Ben told her. “Kept your shit together – more or less – when you found out aboutshiften. Clearly revolted by Rory taking his pants off. Not noticeably foaming at the mouth.” She could hear the concern under the banter, though.
“I’ve been having hallucinations,” she told them. “Before the fire started, I saw… Well, I saw spiders. Thousands of them, running over the piles of paper and trailing flames behind them. I…”
She trailed off as she saw the looks of pure horror on the guys’ faces.
“Okay, it’s notthatweird. Why are you all looking at me like I’ve got two heads?”
“Khain,” said the Chief. “Jake, Jasper, lock this place down. I want it airtight. Rory, Ben – watch the girl. Brady, with me. We’re gonna notify Wade Lombard.”
Ivy disentangled her hand from Rory’s as the men scrambled to their feet and bolted into action.
“What’s happening?” she demanded. “What does he mean, lock the place down? You said I could go once you’d explained everything.”
Ben shook his head. “Sorry, doll, not happening. Not today.”
“That was before,” Rory explained. “Before we knew for sure that Khain’s after you.”
