Page 80 of Dark Embrace

Brie couldn’t answer, but she was praying even harder now to every god she could think of.

“I hope you’re right,” Allie whispered, “and he’s taking us to Aidan.”

Suddenly Ian’s ghost vanished in the midst of the thick forest. They were on a deer trail, surrounded by nearly impenetrable woods. Brie stopped, so badly out of breath that her lungs burned. And the dark heap of brush blocking their way seemed to move.

She cried out. It wasn’t a pile of dirty leaves and deadwood. It was a wolf.

Bloody and mangled, it rose up and crawled forward a step, its gaze blue and direct. Then it collapsed.

“Aidan!” Brie screamed, running to him. She knelt in the dirt and leaves, horrified. His left hind leg was almost completely severed from his hip. His chest and shoulder were raw, gaping wounds and his coat was soaked with blood. He was going to die if Allie couldn’t save him.

She gathered his large head into her arms and held him tightly to her breasts, overcome with fear. “It’s okay. You’ll be all right. Allie is here,” she choked.

Surprisingly long lashes lifted, and he looked at her with his human blue eyes, which were clouded with pain.

Brie kissed the fur at his temple, suppressing another sob.

Allie knelt beside them, showering him with a thick cloud of white light.

The Wolf’s eyes closed and Brie held his head more tightly to her chest, leaning her cheek against his furry neck. You will not die, she told him fiercely. I love you so much.

The great beast seemed to stir in her arms. She looked up at Allie, knowing better than to interrupt her while she healed. Allie was focused entirely on Aidan, and her body radiated with her white healing power. Brie had never seen so much power coming from her before. In seventy-two years, her healing powers had obviously grown a lot.

Brie saw that his hind leg looked whole now and she watched the pink skin knitting and the fur growing back. She stroked the thick fur at his nape, watching his shoulder healing. She couldn’t see the rest of his wounds, but she felt his body finally relax in her arms.

Allie sat back, emitting a huge sigh. She was covered in perspiration and she wiped her brow with her sleeve. “He’ll live. Wow.” She finally looked at Brie very seriously. “He was in a fight for his life.”

Brie stroked the Wolf, who lay still now. She and Allie regarded one another, and Brie didn’t need telepathy to know that Allie was wondering how they would ever defeat Moray, just as she was. Then she glanced down. Aidan gazed up at her out of his brilliant, human blue eyes, but he remained in the Wolf’s body.

He slid back on his haunches and simply sat there, dwarfing her.

Brie tensed. She didn’t really like being seated on the ground with the Wolf there, watching her so intently. “Is he healed?” she asked, cautiously standing.

“Yeah,” Allie said, wiping her cheek this time. She didn’t try to get up.

“Then why isn’t he shifting back into a man?” Brie did not take her eyes from the Wolf.

“I don’t know.” Allie sounded tired.

Brie didn’t move and neither did the Wolf. Why hadn’t Aidan shifted back? “Aidan? You’re making me nervous. Can you come back to us, please?”

He gave her a very human, very direct, extremely male look, and he stood on all fours.

Her tension increased. She reminded herself that he did not look vicious now, but that unwavering stare was unnerving.

The forest shuddered as wolves began slipping out from behind the trees, some gray, some darker, some black. Not one was as pitch-black as he was.

Brie didn’t move, frozen, and finally Allie was on her feet, too. “What’s going on?” Brie asked Allie.

“I don’t know,” Allie said, but her hand produced a small, dangerous-looking dagger.

They willna hurt ye.

Brie jerked, for she had just heard Aidan speaking. She looked at Allie, who hadn’t reacted. “You didn’t hear that, did you?”

“No.”

Brie looked at the huge wolf, and it stared back at her. “You almost died. Thank God you’re alive.” There was no response. “Why won’t you shift into a man?”