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I nodded. The origin of my wild magic might not be this wellspring, but it all comes from the one source deep within the earth.
The delicate threads of power began tugging me forward. Katie’s doing rather than the wild magic’s.
I’ll wait here, Belle said.
You’re safe from the wild magic. It won’t ever hurt you.
A smile touched her lips. I know, but I think it better at least one of us remains fully aware of what is going on around us.
Good point. Just because I believed we were safe from Clayton for the next couple of days didn’t mean we should throw caution to the wind—especially when there was a murderous ghoul roaming around the reservation. It might have kept its kills to newlyweds, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t broaden its tastes if the opportunity presented itself.
I switched off the flashlight and shoved it into my pocket as I stepped into the clearing. The gentle moonbeams spun around me, their music echoing through my mind, the notes alien and yet not. It was a sound I’d heard intermittently and distantly over the years, and long ignored.
It was through that sound—through the power of it—that I could now see Katie. Her form was ghostly, but she very much looked like a younger version of Ciara.
Standing behind her was a pale, wispy figure. I knew who it was without his features being clear—her husband, Gabe, who’d died here during the process of melding Katie’s soul to the wellspring.
“You have questions?” Katie’s voice was soft—melodious.
“Yes, about the wild magic and what it’s doing.”
Her gaze swept me; I suspect she missed little. She motioned toward the wellspring. “Let’s sit. I like being close to our energy source.”
‘Our’ meaning not just hers and Gabe’s, but also mine. Interestingly, the closer we got to the wellspring, the more Gabe’s body solidified. He reached out and pressed his hand against Katie’s spine, and the two shared a glance. The sheer joy and utter love so evident in their faces had me blinking back tears.
No wonder she liked being close to the wellspring—it enabled the two of them to physically interact.
I crossed my legs and sat in front of the basin. Its energy was fierce and skittered across my skin like thousands of tiny fireflies, a warm rush that both burned and welcomed. Katie elegantly sat opposite me. Gabe remained standing.
“Why do I suddenly appear to have wolf-like senses?” I asked, once she was comfortable.
“I think it’s a combination of me briefly taking over your body and my presence within the wild magic. Some sort of bleed over has occurred.”
Which was exactly what I’d thought might be happening. “How far do you think the changes will go?”
A smile touched her ghostly lips. “Not far enough for you, I suspect.”
“I don’t want to be a werewolf.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Not even to catch one?”
“That’s never going to happen—even you know that.”
“I know the heart usually wins, even when the head wishes otherwise.” She glanced up at Gabe. Love shone like a beacon from her eyes and her body.
It made me feel like I was intruding. Made me envious of what they still had.
I cleared my throat. “In the case of your brother, his heart has already been taken, so it’s really not a contest.”
“Perhaps,” Katie said, amusement gleaming in her eyes, “and perhaps not.”
I raised my eyebrows even as my heart began to beat a little faster. “Meaning that you’ve now revised the warning you gave to both your mother and Aiden?”
“No. What they both wish will come to pass—that, I’m afraid, is inevitable now. It’s what happens after she returns that remains unclear.”
Meaning there was no escaping heartache for me. Great.
Katie’s hand lightly touched mine. Her energy fizzed across my skin, as electric as lightning. “Hold on to hope. What isn’t yet written can always be changed.”
