Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild)

8

Counting her blessings and thankful she’d managed to duck her father’s inevitable interrogation, Lily walked quickly through her parents’ huge kitchen, down the stairs into the pantry, and from there through the narrow tunnel to the massive cavern beneath the house.

She really owed her mom on this one. Keisha had managed to interrupt Anton before he really had a chance to get started, and the moment Lily realized she’d had an escape handed to her, she’d taken it. Damn. What she wouldn’t give for a mate like her mom—one who understood the way she worked and loved her enough to put up with all her idiosyncrasies.

The way her mother managed her father’s. Laughter spilled out as she stepped into the cavern and paused. Moist, warm air washed over her. This had always been one of her favorite places, this massive cave that had provided sanctuary to the entire pack during the terrible fire so many years ago. All of them had remained safe down here while the entire house above them burned to the ground.

It had been a favorite place to play when she was a kid. Where she’d experienced her first sexual exploration with Alex when they were little more than children. Where she’d realized he wasn’t meant to be her mate, but someone just as important.

He was her friend. He would always be the man she could count on for complete honesty, the one to let her know when she was wrong, to encourage her when she was right.

Now, if only there were a man with all of Alex’s attributes—and more. A man who would love her in spite of herself, who would always be at her side. One with the strength of character to be alpha male to her alpha bitch.

Sebastian could be that man. She’d felt it from the beginning, but she had to know more about him. Had to know if he was as good as she wanted to believe, or if he were somehow tainted by his father’s darkness.

There was only one way to find out. Eve should have the answers she needed. Eve always had the answers.

Taking a deep breath, Lily cut to the left and walked around the large pool that filled part of the cavern floor. Low lights powered by solar panels high on the surface of the mountain illuminated the walls, the water, and the various tunnels leading away from this centrally located cave. The caverns were an important safety feature known only to members of the pack, with the extensive system of caves and tunnels spreading for miles beneath the rugged mountains. Solar panels provided power, the many artesian springs meant drinking water was always available, and her father maintained a huge stash of emergency supplies that could keep the entire pack fed for as long as might be needed.

Over the years they’d explored much of the system, but even more of the network remained untouched. However, it wasn’t the miles of tunnels and caverns that called to Lily on most of her trips home. No, it was the series of hieroglyphics carved into the wall beyond the pool—specifically a pair of handprints that were this cavern’s most intriguing feature—the key to a portal leading directly to the astral plane.

She still remembered the first time she’d discovered the doorway and scared the crap out of her parents. What felt like a long, busy day to her six-year-old self had actually been weeks for her mother and father. Weeks when they knew she was safely in the hands of first the goddess and then a small surviving group of ancient Chanku elders who taught Lily the history of their kind—but much too long for parents worried about their child.

That had certainly been a wild summer. Nick Barden, one of the younger members of the pack, had managed to out the Chanku to the world at large when he got caught shifting in front of cameras at a gathering in Washington DC, a forest fire burned her mom and dad’s house to the ground while the entire pack huddled here in the caverns for safety, and Adam’s mate, Liana, had given birth to tiny Phoenix Olivia while the fire raged overhead.

The pack had merely grown stronger, more united than ever after all that happened. But now, the attacks on young women threatened all they held dear. Threatened their peaceful relationship with the human population. Threatened everything.

Lily had sensed Eve for most of the afternoon, and the goddess filled her thoughts as she traced her fingers over the ancient marks carved in stone. She remembered when she’d looked at them the very first time and realized they weren’t just pretty pictures—they were words she understood.

What everyone had thought of as artful carvings, six-year-old Lily had been able to read. And what she read were directions to enter the astral. The markings hadn’t been left by Native Americans as the grown-ups had believed, but by some of the earliest Chanku.

Had they known what was to come? Was Eve expecting her now? Placing her hands on the palm prints she’d once had to stretch to reach, Lily pictured the goddess. She’d thought of her as Sparkly Eve when she was little, but over the years, as Lily grew up and their friendship grew stronger, she’d become just Eve.

Friend, confidant, sister of her heart.

The stone shimmered as Lily held her hands against the prints and visualized Eve’s perfect where and when. A patch of brilliant light poured through the portal, growing broader and brighter, filling the dark cavern with a shimmering glow. Without any hesitation, Lily stepped from the cavern in northern Montana through what had been solid stone and into the perfect dimension that contained Eve’s world on the astral plane.

There was no sense of the portal or the caverns behind her. Lily gazed in all directions, surrounded by Eve’s world. She’d always wondered if her blood pressure really dropped, if her heart rate slowed when she was here, though today, for some reason, there was an edge to the usual sense of peace she felt.

A mist hovered just ahead, a small cloud glimmering with its own inner light, filled with tiny sparkles that seemed to dance like dust motes in sunlight. Misgivings slipped away as Lily held out her arms. “Eve! It’s been too long. I’ve missed you.”

Forming fully from mist and sparkles to corporeal woman, the goddess shook her head slowly and sighed. Instead of the brilliant smile Lily expected from her friend, Eve hung her head.

Lily’s arms fell to her side. “Eve? Is something wrong?”

“Oh, Lily. Yes. I fear something is terribly wrong.” Then the goddess stepped close and enveloped Lily in a warm and very human hug.


Lily smoothed the soft white robe around her ankles as she and Eve sat together in the bright glow of what passed for day on the astral. They’d gone for a soothing dip in the magical waters of the pond that had fascinated Lily as a child.

It had bubbles. Lots of sparkly bubbles, and when they’d climbed out of the water, she’d wrapped herself in the soft robe Eve had conjured out of the air.

The grass might be a little too green, the trees much too perfectly formed, and the sky a robin’s egg blue that existed only in fairy tales—or here in what was truly Eve’s very own here and now—but it was familiar and comforting to Lily.

Most of the time.

Not so much right now. Eve, always so calm, was obviously anxious. All was not right in what should be paradise. Lily took Eve’s hand and felt the tension in her slim fingers. “Eve? Enough small talk. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Instead of answering, Eve stretched out her hand and pulled a glass of sparkling white wine out of thin air. She handed the chilled goblet to Lily and then grabbed one for herself. Any other time, Lily would have teased her about such a blatant display of power, but Eve seemed so disconnected from the process, Lily kept her mouth shut.

Once they both had their glasses, Eve took a sip of her wine and sighed. “Over the years, I’ve learned to sense when you’re troubled, Lily, and I know you are tonight, but I have a selfish reason for wanting you here. I’m so glad you’ve come. I need your help.”

Lily stared at her friend over the lip of the glass. “Anything, Eve. You don’t even have to ask. I am troubled, but obviously so are you.” She smiled. “Your turn. I’m listening.”

Eve stared beyond Lily. Her eyes swirled in their familiar but disconcerting pattern from green, to gold, to blue. Finally, she seemed to shake herself out of whatever thoughts held her, and focused on Lily.

“When I became the goddess, I knew such unbelievable power. For the first time in my life, I could choose my own way. I could help those I loved, experience the love each of you felt for one another. There was very little beyond my abilities. Nothing, I believed, could ever hurt me again. Or hurt the ones I love.”

She turned her swirling gaze on Lily and sighed. “I was wrong, Lily. So terribly wrong.”

She glanced about, as if searching for something just out of sight. “There’s trouble on the astral plane. I sense it, but I’m unable to determine its source. All I know for certain is that it’s based on magic, but not a magic I’ve ever experienced. I’m afraid it’s dark magic. You’re sensitive to magic in its many forms. I’m hoping you’ll be able to trace the dissonance to its source, find out who or what is causing the rift in my world.”

“Have you gone to the Mother? Asked her?” Lily sipped her wine, but her mind was spinning. Eve could do anything. She knew everything. How could Lily know something Eve didn’t?

“I’ve tried, but she doesn’t answer me, and that’s part of my worry. Something is disturbing the normal flow here. It’s interrupting my ability to communicate with the Mother.” Her chin dropped; she bowed her head. “I’m unable, at times, to connect with any of you. When I knew you were coming to me, I wasn’t sure we’d be able to meet. It’s as if the dimensions are sliding along beside one another, not linked as they should be, as if the fibers of time are disrupted.”

Staring into her glass of wine, she sighed. “I can’t watch over you when that happens. I worry, especially now, when humans are growing concerned about your place in the world. I don’t want any of you to come to harm.”

Lily tossed back the last swallow of her wine and handed the glass to the goddess. Eve threw it into the air, and the glass winked and disappeared.

Lily blinked and squeezed Eve’s hand. “Now that beats washing dishes all to hell.”

Eve smiled, stood, and tugged Lily to her feet. “It would have been handy when I was still part of the pack. I washed a lot of dishes.”

She’d once been as mortal as Lily, mated to the pack’s healer. But because their first goddess had screwed up, Eve died before her time. As punishment, the goddess Liana was sentenced to life on earth while Eve took on the role of goddess and protector of the Chanku.

Liana’s punishment had worked beautifully for everyone. She was now happily bound to Eve’s mate and mother to Adam’s children, while Eve had blossomed as the perfect goddess for a growing group of shapeshifters.

She’d also taken on the job as Lily’s guardian angel long ago, something that gave Lily the courage now to follow Eve across the meadow and take a seat beneath an impossibly huge tree with gnarled branches and thick moss growing over the thick trunk. Protected beneath its branches, Lily opened her senses to the ebb and flow of power within the astral plane. No matter what she found, she knew Eve would watch over her.

Sitting with legs akimbo, Lily searched for any anomaly, for the slightest touch of magic that could be causing trouble.

She loved taking mental journeys while on the astral plane. She’d traveled it in reality when she’d been nothing but a child, and now, as an adult, relished the rich sense of power, the ebb and flow of life and time, of energy linked to forces both negative and positive.

There was balance on the astral—for every light, a shadow, for every spike, a depression. Floating, her mind moving free of her body, Lily spread her questing thoughts wider, opened her heart to the bits of consciousness caught within the flowing bands of energy and life.

She had no idea how long she sat, arms spread wide to capture the slightest sensation, when a ripple passed through her. The fragile wave of energy was slightly out of sync, not part of the ethereal rhythm of the astral plane. The anomaly was so slight that Lily had to consciously reach for it. She concentrated all her senses on the dissonance, that tiny bulge of energy moving across the astral bands, rather than with the flow.

The bulge paused, almost as if it were aware of Lily’s perusal. Without any defined form, it still managed to project a sense of curiosity, as if it wondered who or what she was, why she was here, what she searched for. Then, as Lily opened to the energy, something changed. She sensed darker emotions, hate and malevolence growing and expanding, taking shape as the bulge of energy slowly spun. Caught in the swirling strands of power, Lily stared at the thing, at the way the energy swirled and clumped and slowly morphed into . . . oh, shit.

A pair of shimmering teal blue eyes—familiar teal blue eyes—blinked slowly and locked on Lily. Sebastian? But how? Why?

She gasped, covered her lips with icy fingertips. It had to be him, and yet she saw only the eyes. The color was magical, as true as the brightest tropical lagoon with dark, liquid pupils, perfectly human-looking eyes framed in thick lashes, staring at her out of swirling darkness. No face, no sense of gender, though she had no doubt she looked into the eyes of the man who had been her lover just last night.

Only now, there was a sense of evil surrounding him, an ugly nature the beauty of his eyes couldn’t disguise. Not merely the darkness she’d felt in him, but a truly evil nature that was every bit as wrong as his father’s.

Yet even so, Lily’s body reacted in pulsing need, a tightening of womb and nipples alike, a flowering of moisture between her legs—sensual heat unlike anything she’d experienced with any other man. Only with him.

Physically captured in a power she couldn’t explain—something as sensual as it was terrifying—Lily struggled, but her muscles wouldn’t obey. She tried to scream a warning, but her lips formed only the sound of his name.

“Sebastian?” Barely a whisper before her voice was silenced. Those gorgeous blue eyes seemed to widen in surprise even as Lily sensed Eve’s desperate attempt to pull her free. She wanted to go to her friend, to her goddess, but the power in those mesmerizing eyes sucked her down, deeper into a shimmering pool of power, until she was nothing more than a wisp of energy. A tiny breath of life clinging to a mere shred of reality.

A scream. Far, far away, she heard an angry scream.

“No. You can’t have her. Go! I command it!”

Lily sensed a small pop, as if a tiny bubble had burst. Then all was darkness and silence as she tumbled bonelessly into utter emptiness.


Blinking rapidly, shaking his head in confusion, Sebastian pushed himself up from the wood floor in his bedroom and leaned against the edge of the bed. As his head slowly cleared, the pain set in. Every muscle, every joint, every bit of him inside and out ached. His stomach lurched, and he thought he was going to throw up. A few deep breaths brought the nausea under control.

For now. He gazed about, wondering how he’d ended up here. He’d been lying spread eagle in the midst of the pentagram, his body naked, his wrist bleeding when he’d cast the spell.

The last thing he recalled was staring through heavy mist and seeing Lily. On the astral? Only his spirit should have moved from the place of magic he’d created, but somehow, he’d either been tossed out of the pentagram or he’d made it here, entirely across the big room, on his own. He couldn’t remember.

Blood dripped slowly from the shallow cut he’d made across his wrist, pooling on his naked belly, but otherwise he didn’t think he’d hurt himself. He was erect. Now that was weird, but he was hard as a post, his cock and balls aching. No matter. He turned slowly. Clutching the frame of the bed for balance, he managed to stand and take the few shaky steps to the bathroom.

He turned on the faucet and thrust his wrist beneath the cold running water, holding it there, staring blankly at the blood dripping into the sink until the wound looked clean. Wrapping a soft white towel around his wrist, he held a washcloth under the running water, squeezed it out one-handed, and wiped the blood off his belly and groin.

Damn, for a small cut, it bled like crazy. He rinsed the cloth and watched the red-tinted water swirl down the drain.

He shut off the tap and turned away from the sink. His cock bobbed against his belly. He often grew aroused when casting spells, but generally returned to his flaccid state once the spell ended. Obviously that wasn’t the case today.

He still felt light-headed. The room slowly spun. He grabbed at the door frame with his uninjured right hand and stared at the mess he’d left in his bedroom. Smears of blood from the self-inflicted slash on his wrist left garish streaks on the pale oak flooring. The bloodstained lancet he’d used to cut himself still lay safely locked within the pentagram he’d etched in charcoal in the middle of his bedroom floor.

The stink from the burning candle sitting beside the bloody blade almost made him gag.

Carefully, he pushed himself away from the door and stumbled to the edge of the pentagram. Kneeling just outside the carefully drawn design, he leaned across without touching it and blew out the sputtering candle. His nose wrinkled against the stench of burned blood, and he swallowed convulsively, once again fighting the urge to puke.

He’d followed the instructions perfectly, but where had he actually gone? He’d not stayed long enough to determine whether or not he’d really been on the astral. And what the hell was Lily doing wherever he’d ended up? She’d seen him, recognized him. He’d heard her whisper his name, but were they on the astral? It felt right, but she was here in San Francisco, wasn’t she?

Well, hell. So was he. Did Lily travel the astral? But how? Was she that much stronger than he?

Head still reeling, his gut churning with nausea, he sat back on his bare butt on the cold floor and stared at the red seeping slowly through the towel.

The blood fascinated him, even as it repelled him. Was this what was meant by a step too far? As the thought entered his mind, his erection quickly deflated.

Fear did that to a man.

He wanted power like his father’s, but all of the man’s spells, his dark brand of magic, demanded sacrifice. Sebastian had sworn never to cross that line. Nothing justified taking any kind of life for the sole purpose of making his magic stronger.

This time, he’d skirted the edge. He’d tried something new, but had he gone too far? Blood magic merely required blood. Nothing he’d read in any of his research defined the source of the blood needed for the spell to walk the astral, beyond the fact it must come from a living, warm-blooded creature.

Nothing said he couldn’t use his own. Even so, the moment he felt the sharp bite of the lancet slicing across his wrist, Sebastian knew he’d gone beyond anything he’d ever attempted. Everything had changed when those few drops of blood dripped into the flame.

The small candle hadn’t sputtered at all—no, it had flared brighter and higher until its brilliant flame lit the entire room. He’d lay there, bare back flat to the cold floor and watched as a gateway somewhere had opened like the aperture in an old camera, slowly at first, then bursting wide in brilliant color as if inviting him to come inside.

An entire dimension had opened up to him.

Along with Lily Cheval. Rubbing his hand over his eyes, he tried to remember exactly what he’d felt when he saw her. What he’d thought. And he realized his first thought was, What the f*ck is Lily doing there?

He hadn’t noticed the one beside her until she’d shouted at him, blasted him with her power.

Lily was strong, but the one who remained hidden in the shadows was at least as powerful as his father, if not stronger. Her shout still vibrated through his body like a physical blow. Her words had rattled him so badly, he hadn’t been strong enough to hold on to his magic.

Had she been strong enough to throw his physical body out of the pentagram? He doubted even his father had that much power.

He felt dirty from the blood magic, as if he were shrouded in some sort of evil filth. He needed a shower, though he wondered if he’d ever wash away the feeling that he’d stepped into something foul. Something wrong.

Damn it, he hadn’t done anything wrong. It was his own blood. Nothing died, and the cut barely hurt. No sacrifice at all. So why was he so sure that using blood had tainted the spell?

Because he knew. He’d felt the evil, the sense of malevolence that seemed to shadow his every move from the moment he’d dripped his blood onto the flame. Blood had fouled the spell even as it strengthened it. He couldn’t explain it, but he could still feel it. And for whatever reason, it felt very much like his father’s energy. Almost as if his father had been with him, a silent passenger as he accessed the astral.

Impossible, wasn’t it? His stomach roiled.

What the hell had he just done?


“Lily? Lily, are you all right?”

Blinking slowly, Lily struggled back to consciousness, feeling as if she pulled herself out of a deep, viscous pool. Rubbing a hand across her eyes, she slowly sat up. “Eve? What happened ?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing. Who was that person? You said a name. Sebastian?”

Lily nodded as memories surfaced. “Sebastian Xenakis. I’m sure it was him.” She shook her head, hard, in an attempt to clear her thoughts. “Yeah. It was him. His eyes are so unusual, and the sense of him was strong. There’s no doubt in my mind, but the feel of him was all wrong. Eve, he’s the reason I wanted to talk to you, but now . . .” She shuddered. “Now, I’m afraid.”

Eve clutched Lily’s hands in both of hers. “You think you love him? I can feel the need in you. You see him as your mate, don’t you? They’re strong, Lily, the feelings you have for this man, but he’s evil. Didn’t you sense it? That malevolence?”

Lily shook her head. “No . . . I mean yes, I did sense it, but I don’t think that whatever feels so wrong is really him. I would have noticed it last night. We were completely intimate, our minds every bit as synchronized as our bodies. He was wonderful. Open and good, not this. Not this sense of evil. I can’t explain it.” She squeezed Eve’s hands. “I need to see him. Need to talk to him and find out what’s going on.”

Eve began shaking her head long before Lily finished her thought. “Lily, I’ve got to caution you against that. There’s something terribly wrong about him. You have to stay away from that one. I recognize the taint clinging to his magic. It’s the same as what’s causing the disruption here. I’m almost positive he’s the one destroying my world.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” Lily forced Eve to meet her steady gaze.

After a moment, the goddess lowered her eyes. “I believe he is the one. I hope I’m wrong. You know I can’t force you to my will. Even if I could, I wouldn’t. Promise me, Lily. Promise me you won’t take any chances. I think he’s very dangerous.”

“There’s definitely danger, Eve, but I’m not so sure it’s coming from Sebastian. I’m convinced it has something to do with his father and with the murders of all those young women, but I have no way of proving it. Not yet, but I do have some questions for you. Things I’m hoping you can find out for me.”

Eve smiled. “Things you hope will clear your young man?”

Lily couldn’t smile in return. Not with so much evidence against him. “I hope so, Eve. I really do. I hardly know him, but . . .” She shrugged. “I’ll be careful.”

When she finally returned to her parents’ home in Montana, Lily had Eve’s promise to learn what she could about the huge wolves that had attacked them on Mount Tam. She’d asked about Sebastian’s mother, too, but Eve’s answer was less than satisfactory.

Unless the Chanku blood ran hot and strong in his mother’s veins, since she hadn’t taken the nutrients and allowed her wolven nature to manifest itself before her death, there was no way for Eve to know if the woman might have been Chanku.

Lily would have to give the nutrients to Sebastian.

And that would mean seeing him again. Getting close to him, gaining his trust.

Eve hadn’t been at all happy about that. Lily, however, silently thanked the goddess for giving her just the excuse she needed.


She left the astral plane, slipping through the portal and into the cavern where she’d begun her journey. Movement caught her eye, a ripple in the pond, and Lily went perfectly still, scanning the surface of the water while staying in the shadows.

She heard a soft laugh, a familiar voice, and she relaxed. “Hey, Alex. What’re you doing down here?”

Alex laughed and said, “Hiding from Tinker.”

“What? But why?” She walked around the pool to the far side. Alex stood in water that lapped around his thighs, his nude body so perfectly sculpted, his obvious arousal creating its usual havoc with her senses. Maybe this was what she needed to settle her rattled nerves. Sex with Alex always calmed things down.

Then she realized he wasn’t alone. She caught a glimpse of a slim arm snaking around his waist and realized a woman stood behind him. If he’d brought that bitch Jennifer into the caverns, her dad was going to be furious. It was an unwritten but closely held rule: no one was allowed unless they were pack. “Alex, please tell me you didn’t bring . . .”

A small, dark sprite dressed in wet cutoffs and a tank top slipped around Alex. “Hi, Lily. It’s okay. It’s me. Annie.”

“Annie? I would never have recognized you! When did you get back? Oh my god! You cut all your hair!” How many years had it been since they’d seen each other? Lily burst out laughing. “Goddess, girl! Last time I saw you, you were still a little twerp with long frizzy hair and skinny legs.”

“Thanks loads. I really needed to hear that. Again.” Annie punched Alex’s shoulder, laughing as she stepped out of the pool with Alex right behind her. She threw herself into Lily’s arms for a hug. Her slim arms and surprisingly long legs left wet splotches on Lily’s jeans. Lily stepped back, but then she got a better look at Annie.

Gently she traced the dark bruise on Annie’s left cheek. “Sweetie, what happened?”

Annie shot a quick glance at Alex and sighed. “A couple of jerks cornered me in town. Alex rescued me.” She gazed at him with a look of absolute hero worship.

Lily tried to catch Alex’s eye, expecting his usual twinkle, but he was staring at Annie as if the sun rose and set with her smile. Lily felt an unwelcome twist of something in her chest.

Jealousy? No, at least not of Annie. Maybe of what Annie and Alex seemed to have discovered. And of course, her thoughts chose that moment to drift to Sebastian. Damn.

“I’m just thankful I showed up when I did,” Alex said. He wrapped an arm around Annie’s slim waist. “Three big guys had her cornered.” He ran his fingers over her unharmed cheek, and when he glanced at Lily, she almost sighed.

It looked as if Alex might have found the one. Only his true love wasn’t working dark magic and f*cking with the astral plane, blast it. She shoved Sebastian Xenakis out of her head. “Me too,” she said. “Any idea who they were?”

Annie shook her head. “Alex’s girlfriend Jennifer acted like she knew them, but I’ve never seen them before. Of course, I’ve been away for so long that I’ve lost touch with a lot of people I might have recognized before.”

“I told you, Jennifer isn’t my girlfriend.” Alex focused entirely on Annie. “And after tonight, I don’t think she’s even my friend. Not after the way she acted.” He glanced at Lily before looking at Annie again. “Jennifer showed absolutely no compassion for what happened. It’s like she thought it was all a big joke. Friends like that I don’t want or need.”

Lily nodded. She knew how that was. Humans were often fascinated by Chanku, but so jealous that they seemed to relish bad things happening to shapeshifters.

Another reason why they needed to solve the murders. “So why are you hiding from Tinker? You afraid your dad won’t want to see you with Alex?” She laughed. “Of course, I couldn’t blame him.”

“Watch it.” Alex growled. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“Since when?” Laughter bubbled up before she could stop it, but it was so much fun, seeing that absolutely besotted expression on Alex Aragat’s face. He didn’t do besotted, and she clearly remembered telling him years ago that Annie would be his perfect match. This was gonna be so much fun!

“Since we were toddlers and you used to cover for me. That set a precedent. I’m sure it’d stand up in court.”

“Yeah, right.” Lily was still laughing, but Annie leaned against his side and Alex tightened his arm around her waist.

“I don’t want Dad to see the bruise. He’s so overprotective that he’ll never let me out.”

“He let you go to Europe for what, six years?”

“I know. Can you believe it? Mom convinced him that since I was on another continent, he couldn’t worry about me, that Eve would watch over me.”

Alex’s eyebrow shot up, just like his father. “And he bought that?”

“Alex!” Lily jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. “You know Eve watches over all of her Chanku, no matter where they are.” She glanced at Annie. “I see your point. Why don’t you shift? That always helps heal stuff faster.”

Annie’s eyes practically glowed. “It’s been such a long time since I’ve shifted. Alex? Do you want to run?”

“Whatever you want.”

His studied disinterest was such a tell. The boy definitely had it bad. Lily glanced from Alex to Annie. “Do you mind if I come with you? I was planning to go by myself, but . . .”

“I’d love it.” Annie squeezed her hand. “It’s been so long since I’ve had anyone to run with.”

Lily opened her thoughts, checked in with her father, and let him know they’d be out for the next few hours. She could hardly contain her relief when he merely said he and her mom were going out for the evening and they could discuss her visit with Eve in the morning.

She wasn’t ready to talk to her dad. Not yet. Not until she had more time to figure out how she planned to approach Sebastian. Not until she knew for sure if his magic was the source of the malevolence tainting the astral, or if Aldo Xenakis had somehow commandeered his son’s abilities.

She barely knew Sebastian Xenakis, but she’d sensed goodness in him. Even when he’d chased her on Mount Tam, she’d not been able to accept that he was scaring her on purpose.

Somehow, once she got back to San Francisco, she needed to get him on the nutrients. Once he shifted naturally, without magic, she should be able to read him better, see what made him tick.

And hopefully discover what force was using him, working through him, to harm her. Lily had no doubt someone wanted her either too badly frightened to function, or maybe just plain dead. But it wasn’t Sebastian. It couldn’t be Sebastian.