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  “Three days then,” she told him and watched as his image faded from her mind. Jewel wished that she wasn’t in a coma because it was one of those moments when she desperately needed to throw her body back on her bed with a loud sigh. Not to mention, a nice hot shower was appropriate as well considering how disgusted she was with herself. How on earth could she even consider his words, even if there might be some truth to them? She wasn’t guilt free, she definitely had her transgressions, but she had never thought of herself as evil. Did she want to be powerful? Maybe to a certain extent, but she didn’t want to exert that power over others; she simply wanted to have the power to change her circumstances. She wanted to have the power to not be hurt by others and to not feel inadequate because of the place in life others had put her. Knowledge gave her that power. But she would never want to use any of her knowledge to hurt others.

  Her mind traveled back to the decision at hand. Part of her wanted to laugh at the irony of being in a coma like state and yet having to make the biggest decision of her life. She would go with Volcan because there was no way she would let innocents suffer if she could stop it. But what would she tell Dalton? Would she tell him the real reason, which in turn would make Dalton feel guilty and responsible for not being able to save her, or would she tell him a lie? Could she convince him that she wanted to go with Volcan? That it was her choice because she didn’t want to be the weak little mate hiding behind her big bad werewolf husband and kneeling at the feet of those who needed her to clean their cuts? Could she tear his heart out by telling him she didn’t want him, just to keep the healers she knew and ones she didn’t safe? She let out a mental sigh. Can I break my own heart, she thought as her mind wandered to Dalton. Can I really give up the first good thing that has come my way? The better question was did she really have a choice. No, I don’t.

  Chapter 10

  “I can feel her. She lives inside the very blood that courses through my veins. She is a part of the marrow deep inside my bones. Her soul melded with my own before I ever gave her permission and all that I am and all that I have is for her. And even though I’m willing to give her everything I still can’t save her. I can’t save her because she doesn’t want saving.” ~Dalton

  Dalton felt her confusion though she was attempting to block him and doing a rather good job of it. What Jewel didn’t know, couldn’t possibly know, was there were some emotions so deep that they would be impossible to block fully from a true mate. His first instinct was to run back to her, but he needed some space. He hadn’t realized how upset it had made him or his wolf to hear that she was considering trying to get close to Volcan, even if it meant she could help them find the evil fae. Was she right? Maybe. Did that mean he was going to let her get close to a monster that wants all of her blood? Hell no. He knew that he had come off as possessive and controlling, and he didn’t want to smother her before she was even conscious and had met him in person, but he’d be damned if he was going to lose her.

  He shed his human skin and phased into his wolf in midstride as he took off in the fae forest. He needed to run, to get all the pent up energy out. He’d rather get rid of it in more pleasurable ways, like kissing Jewel, but until she was conscious and no longer attempting to save the world by running headlong into the hands of a twisted psycho, running in his wolf form would have to suffice.

  Dalton allowed his wolf to take over as the night enveloped him. As the moon smiled down on him, the cool fall air slid over his muzzle and down his back in a sensual caress. His beast reveled in being part of the shadows of night. He took joy in the hunt, especially when he was frustrated. He ran for what seemed like hours, but he knew wasn’t because he wouldn’t spend that much time away from his mate. It was as he was running back to her that the images filled his mind. His usually graceful feet stumbled beneath him, nearly causing him to face plant his muzzle into the unrelenting ground beneath him. He phased without thought to his human form as more and more images of his Jewel in the arms of another male assaulted his mind.

  They came faster and faster. Jewel kissing a tall thin male with white hair, laughing with him, and doing other things that made Dalton want to puke and to make it very clear who her man was. There were also other images―terrible images of Jewel making sacrifices to something dark and unseen. The final scene that threw him over the edge and had him gagging and dry heaving was the image of Jewel, dressed in a black semi-transparent gauzy dress, with a baby in one hand and a knife in the other. Volcan was mocking him. As the maker of witches he would have known of Gwen and known that she had attempted to become a witch, and obviously he knew that Dalton had killed her before that could happen. He let out a low snarl as he forced himself to his feet only to be shoved by an unseen hand back to the ground.

  “There are always consequences for crossing me, Dalton Black,” Volcan’s voice resonated in his mind and he realized that the dark fae was once again using the mate bond. Jewel definitely hadn’t shut hers down like they had discussed. “even centuries later. You took a potential acolyte from me. She held great promise.”

  “Why? Because she was particularly sick and twisted in the head?” Dalton growled.

  “Insults don’t affect me, wolf. The point is you have something that I want. You took a witch from me, and now I will take a healer from you. She’s powerful,” his voice was a purr and Dalton felt a level of violence rise up in him that he hadn’t thought possible.

  “She’s mine.”

  “Are you so sure about that?” Volcan questioned. “Does her loyalty really lie with you just because you happen to be her true mate? She’s a human, not a wolf. Do you really think that whole true mate business really means that much to her?”

  Dalton didn’t answer him. He was too busy trying to figure out a way to get the prick out of his head.

  “Don’t bother,” Volcan told him. “As long as her end is open, I’m here to stay.”

  “What do you want with me?” Dalton finally asked.

  “I don’t want anything with you. I simply need you to be occupied for a few days so that you can’t be near our little dove while she is making a very important decision. I wouldn’t want you swaying her choice.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “All you need to know is that whatever wonderful future you envisioned with your mate will now be mine. You, who have lived by choice alone all of these centuries, will endure loneliness by the choice of your true mate when she comes to me, willingly, of her own free will. Take a few days out here in nature and think about all that you wish you could have but can’t. And while you’re at it, because I’m such a generous man, any time you think of your little dove, I’ll continue to give you little previews of the plans I have for my Jewel. I know I’m not all that much to look at right now, but it’s nothing that a little magic can’t help. Soon she will be awake, out of that bed, and into mine.”

  Dalton tried to roar at the declaration; he tried to lunge, at what he didn’t know since Volcan’s physical form was nowhere near him. All he knew was that he needed to kill something. He needed to rip the dark fae from limb to limb, tearing through muscle, tendon, and bone until all that was left was a pile of unrecognizable mush. He couldn’t move. The more he struggled, the more restricted his muscles became until all he could do was breathe and move his eyes. He stared up into the night sky as the stars looked down at him. He imagined them laughing at him, gawking at his audacity to think that he could really have a mate, especially one such as Jewel. Perhaps this was his punishment to have the one thing a male Canis lupis longed for dangled in front of him only to be ripped from him by an evil that he and his kind once tried to destroy.

  “Jewel?” He reached through their bond but there was nothing on the other end. He was once again bombarded by an image of Volcan and Jewel, and if he could scream he would have, but it seemed the dark fae had taken care of that as well. Dalton was helpless. His wolf attempted to force their phase, perhaps the transformation magic would break wha
tever dark magic Volcan was using, but this too proved fruitless. No matter how badly he wanted to run back to her, he was stuck, naked, in a field in Farie with images of his mate and a dark fae dancing through his head.

  He had thought centuries ago he had reached the darkest place he could ever fall inside of himself. But as he heard Jewel sigh Volcan’s name in his mind, he knew that there was a new depth in hell reserved especially for him.

  ~

  Jewel had no concept of time as she lie there lost inside of herself. Sally came in and checked on her periodically, caring for her daily, but other than that she had no way to keep track of the passage of time. She had no idea how long it had been since Dalton left her after having shown her how to build the wall in her mind. She knew he was frustrated when he left. He had pressed a kiss to her forehead and told her to keep fighting and then he was gone, taking all the warmth and security she felt when he was near him. She wondered if maybe he had been able to sense that she planned to try and help despite his warnings. Had she angered him to the point that he didn’t want to speak with her? She had attempted to reach out to him, following the chorded thread that seemed to link them together, and yet there was only emptiness on the other end. Part of her thought that maybe it was best that he had kept his distance, considering she was trying to decide how to tell him that she planned to go along with Volcan’s plans. She didn’t want him trying to dissuade her. But at the same time, if she was giving up her chance at something better with Dalton in order to appease the evil fae and keep her new friends safe, then she wanted all the time she could get with the male that was created just for her.

  Jewel hadn’t realized that the last time they had talked, argued really was more like it, might have been their last. She wished now that she had told him how much it meant to her that he had stayed and cared for her, a stranger to him. She wished that she had shared more about herself with him, considering he had poured out all of his past to her, and yet she had given him nothing in return, not really. She thought there would be more time. Jewel hadn’t considered that there wouldn’t be a future with Dalton. He had always made her feel like she and he were pretty much a done deal, and she hadn’t realized just how much security she had found in that until now.

  As she lay there wondering if he would return before Volcan, she thought back to all of the times Dalton had said her name, touched her hand, or kissed her forehead. She had yet to lay eyes on his physical form and yet she craved his touch. She wanted to hear him call her Little Dove just one more time before she faced forever without him. Jewel didn’t think that she could hurt any more, not after all that she had been through, but lying there knowing she was going to walk away from her destiny created an ache in her that she knew would never be dulled.

  “Please come back,” she whispered into the bond hoping he would hear her. “There’s so much I need to tell you. So much I’ve never told anyone and I finally have someone besides my mom who wants to listen.” She waited, hoping he would answer, hoping his deep voice would send a warm shiver down her spine. But she was answered with the loudest silence she had ever heard.

  ~

  “Where in the world has he gone?” Sally asked throwing her hands up in the air as she paced the yard with the others watching her. “It’s not like he could possibly have somewhere more important to be.”

  It had been over two days since Dalton stormed out of the house with the other males and Sally staring after him. She had thought that he was finally on board, that he had accepted his fate, and that he was actually happy about it.

  “He wouldn’t leave her,” Dillon spoke up as he stood with his arms crossed over his chest staring out into the forest beyond Peri’s home. “He loves her.”

  “No male would stay away from their female for nearly three days, especially not if she was injured,” Sally pointed out. “So either he had another one of his I’m not worthy, my past sucks blah, blah, blah moments, or he ate a rancid rabbit and has gone to meet his maker. Why else would he leave her lying there, alone for three damn days?”

  “Sally,” Costin’s soothing voice brushed over her mind as he attempted to calm her. She didn’t want to be calmed. She wanted that stubborn, massive moving mountain to be there with Jewel.

  “I’m fine, Costin. I just hate that she’s going through this alone.”

  “You don’t know that she is. Their bond has opened remember; she might know exactly where he is.”

  Sally turned on her mate, her hands plastered on her hips as her eyes bore into his. “Surely you haven’t forgotten that I am a gypsy healer and that must mean that you know that I would know if she knew where he was.”

  Costin took a step back with his hands raised. “Okay, first of all, what?”

  Sally growled as she stomped her foot. “I can see inside of her to an extent; I can feel her. She doesn’t know where he is. She’s confused and she misses him. I’m telling you he did not inform her that he was going on a vacation.”

  “We will give it until the morning,” Peri spoke up, her voice unusually flat. “If he hasn’t shown by then his Alpha can hunt him down.” She glanced at Dillon from the corner of her eye who gave her a slight nod.

  The group dispersed leaving a still upset Sally and gun shy Costin standing in front of Peri’s home. She continued to pace back and forth, her hands resting on her sides as she considered all the emotions that she had felt running through Jewel the last time she had taken a look inside the healer.

  “What’s going on, Sally mine?” Costin asked gently. He didn’t approach her but gave her some space as he waited for her to open up.

  Sally didn’t know how to answer him because she honestly didn’t know what was up. All she knew was that Jewel was hiding something, something big. Part of her felt like she should speak up because it might have something to do with Dalton’s sudden disappearance, but another part of her felt like if she did say something she would be betraying her fellow healer. So instead she kept it all bottled up, and the more she paced, the more she felt like a carbonated beverage being shook. The pressure was building and she knew that all it would take was small twist and everything would come spewing out.

  “Sally.”

  “I DON’T KNOW!” she yelled. Her frustration was at an all-time high. She felt totally useless and the waiting was beginning to drive everyone, herself included, a little mad. “I just, something doesn’t, I . . . ,” she stumbled still unsure of whether or not to tell her mate her suspicions.

  “Do you want me to just take a look and then you can blame me if I know something I shouldn’t?” Costin asked her.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “You taking the information from my mind is just as bad as me telling you.” They had had this argument before―patient confidentiality as she called it. She knew that there would be things that she wouldn’t be able to help seeing when she healed others, but that didn’t mean that she had the right to tell anyone about the private things she saw, her mate included. Costin didn’t see it that way. He felt as her mate, and basically the other half of her soul, he had a right to anything and everything in her mind. Dang stubborn, nosy wolf, she thought, not for the first nor last time.

  “I can wait until you’re asleep so you won’t know that I’m taking a peak,” he said as he waggled his eyebrows at her.

  Sally laughed. “Well now, that won’t work because you just told me what you were going to do, dork. And man that sounded sort of creepy.”

  “Ahh, maybe so, but I also got a laugh out of my beautiful, stressed out mate.” He reached out his arms to her and she went into them willingly. They both let out relieved sighs as if being apart was physically difficult and unnatural, which Sally knew was actually very true at times. She pressed her cheek to his chest and took a deep breath of his masculine scent and felt her nerves relax as his scent enveloped her. His wolf rumbled at her appreciatively and she grinned.

  “I love you,” he told her seriously. Sally could hear the worry he felt for her
in his thick words. She hated that she was causing him apprehension, but was also thankful that he wasn’t one to continually push her. He knew she would tell him when she felt she could.

  “I know you do,” she whispered against him. “I love you more.”

  He chuckled and tugged playfully at her ponytail. “In a world so full of possibilities, you pick the one thing that is an impossibility.”

  “What can I say, I like a challenge.”

  “I’ll remember that when you’re being all handsy with me.”

  Sally’s head rose to look up at him and wasn’t surprised to see the flirty, dimpled grin plastered on his too handsome face. “Handsy? I do not get handsy.”

  “So what would you call what you were doing the other night under the covers?”

  Sally slapped a hand over his mouth as her own mouth dropped open. Her head swung from side to side as she checked to see if any of the others were close enough to hear her mate spouting off his outrageous claims—even if they were true.

  “I was looking for something,” she said before she realized how it would sound.

  “Oh, I’m sure you were,” Costin laughed and tried to jump back away from her swinging hand. “What audiences everywhere want to know is did you find what you were looking for?”

  Sally was pretty sure her face couldn’t get any redder.

  Costin’s eyes closed and a low growl emitted from his chest. “If my memory serves me correctly, I’d have to ease the public’s mind by saying yes; yes, you definitely found what you were looking for.”

  She was wrong, her face could definitely get redder.

  “That’s it,” she said turning on her heels. “I’m going inside now, you coming?”