Darkest Wolf(44)

“Drea hit you pretty hard with her spell. You’ve been out for hours.” Her mother’s words penetrated her happy haze and she sat up fast, making the world spin for a few seconds before it finally righted itself. “Hours? Where is Rex? What have they done to him?”

Rex? She called out telepathically and got no response. Her heart picked up in terror.

It didn’t have to mean anything. He’d ignored her in the hotel room too. Her mate thought she’d betrayed him, which was true. Only not in exactly the way he believed.

“The wolf? I haven’t seen him. Everyone is abuzz about the fact he’s here. But we’ve been locked up with you and he was not brought here.”



“Damn it.” That was not the answer she wanted.

“Elizabeth, language, please.”

She looked down sheepishly at her mother’s rebuke. Apparently, no matter how old she got, her mother would have the ability to make her feel like a child. “Sorry.” Her mother laughed. “I suppose if there was ever time for swearing, it’s now. By the way, not to bring up a bad topic, but you are looking less … distorted than you did when you left.”

“Really?” She touched her face. She’d never been able to see herself cursed. The back of her neck tingled in the strange way it had been doing since she’d mated with Randolph. “More like myself?”

“Exactly. Not quite there yet, but closer.”

Elizabeth stood up, needing to move. “It must have to do with the mating. Where are the others?”

“They are in the other room. I asked them to give us some space when you woke up.” Her mother crossed her arms over her chest. “What mating?”

“Rex and I … we’re mates.”

“Like Drea is mated with Kendrick Kane?” The way her mom said “Kendrick Kane” it was clear she did not think highly of the man. It sounded more like she’d rather swallow venom than see him.

“I doubt anything Rex does is anything like Kendrick. But I’m not really sure. I was only mated for about a minute before everything went crazy.” She wished she had time to think about some of the things Drea had told her. Like, for example, the fact Drea was mated to Kendrick. How could that be? And something about Rex’s mother coming out of a spell. When she rescued Rex—and convinced him she had not meant to turn him over to his father—she would have to get him to explain some of it to her. If it made any more sense to him than it did to her.

“I have to get out of here. I have to get to Rex.” He needed her. She could feel it.

Every pore on her body had turned into a goosebump. Her desire to see him was so immense she thought she might actually spontaneously combust.

“Daughter, relax.” Her mother placed a calming hand on her arm. Seconds later, she could feel her whole body sigh with relief.

“You have power?” That was the only explanation she could come up with for why her mother had been able to use a calming spell on her.

“You just saw about the extent of it.”

A calming spell was the upper range of her mother’s power. It was really horrendous. Her mother had once held so much power in her soul she could have shifted the course of the world if she’d wanted to. Unlike Drea, however, her mother would never have used it, which was how they’d ended up in this situation to begin with.

“Mom, how did this happen? How did you not see Drea for what she was right away?”

Her mother sat down, her formerly brown hair which was not entirely gray moved up and down as she shrugged. “I’m a foolish woman.”

“No.” Elizabeth shook her head as she positioned herself next to her mom. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“If anyone has the right to ask me, it’s you, daughter. All I can think about all the time is you, out there with them, being asked to do who knows what. How could the goddess let this happen to us?”

“I don’t see any point in dealing with anything but reality. Asking whys doesn’t help anything.”

Her mother looked at her through the corner of her eye. “When did you become so wise?”

“As you pointed out, I’ve been having a rough time lately.” Rex. She called to him again and still got no response. Biting down on her fingernail, she wished there was something she could do, anything to not feel so completely helpless.

A thought dawned on her and she rubbed her forehead as she contemplated her next move. How could she expect to win if she played by all the rules laid out for them by Drea? They were doing just what their enemy wanted them to do. She thought about when Rex had stopped the car to confuse the wolves. If she hadn’t showed up and distracted him that might have actually worked.