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“It was a small injury, but it’s part of the larger problem,” one man says, and I quickly place him as Lock.
I decide to make myself known, but then the other brother, Rush, adds, “Yes, the reincarnation problem.”
I freeze, barely daring to breathe as I stop pretending not to listen and lean closer.
“She’s safest in the castle.” Rush’s low growl reaches around the corner. “He’ll have to keep her here until we’ve found a solution.”
“Agreed,” Lock replies. “If he takes her back, the mating call will muddle his senses and make it more difficult for him to keep her safe. We can’t allow him to lose another mate. I don’t think he’ll survive it. When Delilah died, I thought we’d lost him. With each dead mate he grows more despondent, more distant.”
My heart aches for Keenan, but I don’t love the direction this conversation is taking.
“Magdalene is looking for answers in the Shadow Realm, but time moves differently there. It could take days or weeks or longer before we get any answers.” Rush’s voice begins to fade and I risk a peek around the corner. They’re moving away, heading in the direction of the Great Hall.
As silently as I can, I ease around the corner. They’re backs are to me so they won’t see me unless they turn around.
“What about her career?” I have to strain to hear Lock, whose voice is lower than Rush’s. “Keenan says it would devastate her to take her away from the film she’s working on.”
“Her life is more important and Keenan knows it,” Rush says dismissively. “He won’t fuck around with the life of another mate. If she needs to be bubble-wrapped and kept here in the castle…” His voice fades as they move too far away for me to hear.
I stand in shocked silence. Would they really try to trap me in the castle? Would Keenan allow it? The man I’ve come to know over the past month has been nothing but kind and accommodating, perfectly willing to allow me to make decisions about my own life. But was he acting that way to lure me to the castle? Now that I’m here, will he force me to stay? Was this his plan all along?
I decide to do something I haven’t tried yet. I reach out to him using our mating connection. I’m not good at mating telepathy yet, but Keenan has been teaching me. If I want to reach into his thoughts without him knowing, I’ll have to disguise my aura, which he describes as a ball of fire, like the sun. He says his is blue, like his brothers.
Try as I might, I can’t detect any kind of aura inside myself, let alone figure out how to disguise it. I screw my face up and try harder, this time reaching toward him.
I feel his presence, strong and sure. He’s inside the castle. I do as he taught me and try to see the room he’s in through his eyes. After a moment, I get a visual of a large round table and a screen, which he seems to be pacing in front of. He’s alone.
I push harder, trying to hear his thoughts.
…does the dead shifter have anything to do with the anti-shifter movement? Did they somehow get hold of him… Vanessa? Is that you?
I panic and close the connection, but he quickly reengages.
Are you okay? Do you need me?
I try to calm my speeding heart so I can project calm emotions at him. I’m perfectly fine! Just practicing talking to you in my head. I decide my fumbling attempts at telepathy aren’t conducive to addressing my concerns about the conversation I overheard. I also don’t know how involved he is in the trap-Vanessa-in-the-castle scheme his brothers are cooking up. I’d better keep it to myself in case I need to find a way out.
You’re doing great, he reassures me, but I don’t want you listening into this.
It’s about a dead shifter, isn’t it?
The more we speak to each other, the clearer his voice is in my head. It is, he admits, but the details aren’t nice. I’d prefer you not hear this.
A moment of vulnerability washes over me. What if he’s lying? What if they’re talking about me? Discussing how to keep me at the castle? I shove the thoughts away before he picks up on them. I’ll go back to our room and wait for you, I tell him.
He answers with an affirmative, but his words are drowned out by another voice.
“Do you need the toilet?”
My eyes pop open and I find myself staring into the chest of a very tall man. I look up and up.
“Keenan?” But I was just talking to him and he was definitely not standing right in front of me. Besides this guy is clean shaven.
“Lennox,” he says, amusement colouring his tone. “Keenan’s twin.”
I examine him as I absorb the idea of yet another Wolven-North brother. “Um, you asked me something?”
He chuckles. “I asked if you need to use the toilet. Your face was screwed up, thought maybe you needed a washroom.” He offers me his hand. “You must be Vanessa.”
