Page 33 of Brock’s Mate

“Why?” Desi asked. “What difference does it make?”

Brock said, “If you have any kind of innate magical or psychic abilities, it could affect your wolf. It might make it easier for you to learn to control her, and work with her. Or it might make it more difficult. And also, I’d really, really like it if you would try not to do that while I’m inside your mind.”

“Bet that would get you to pull out,” she murmured.

Brock winced.

“I thought you were a big tough wolf,” Desi teased.

“Wouldn’t you be surprised to find out I’m really just a sensitive little flower.”

That made her laugh. “I’m waiting to see that side of you.”

“Don’t hold your breath.” He went over and leaned against the counter next to her. “I’m going to put my hands on your head, and then I’m coming in. Close your eyes and relax, and it won’t hurt.”

She muttered, “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

Chapter 13

Brock put one hand on the back of Desi’s neck and one on her forehead. He expected some resistance as he eased inside her mind, but he was surprised to find a smooth, well-worn path.

Like someone had been in there many, many times in the past. He’d never seen anything quite like it.

He wondered who’d made the path, and how often they’d invaded her brain. What they’d done to her. And most important—why.

He followed the path, which gave the image of being a smooth-sided tunnel, almost like a slide, sloping downwards. Unlike other minds he’d been in, there were no branches or intersections, no images of buildings or forests or the other ways that people presented their interior space.

He moved to the bottom and looked around. He was standing on a stone terrace, bounded by a low wall on one side. He walked over and looked down.

Below him was a dark, sludgy pond that looked vaguely familiar, as if he’d seen something like it somewhere before. The not-quite-there memory sent a little shudder through him.

To his left he saw a thick door, bound in iron, halfway open. He could see shadows moving inside, and hear faint voices. But as he walked toward it, it slammed shut, and he heard bolts locking into place on the other side.

Okay then. That was somewhere she didn’t want him to go.

He turned away from the door and saw that a tree had appeared by the low wall. Growing out of a crevice in the rock, it looked like it belonged on a windswept cliff over the sea—like it had been twisted and sculpted by gales and storms.

His first instinct was to call it warped and misshapen, but the more he looked at it, the more he could see the graceful lines in its shape. All at once it seemed perfect and whole, uniquely beautiful.

It was a manifestation of her spirit, he realized.

Brock blinked, and suddenly Desi’s wolf was there, standing by the base of the tree as if on guard.

She was beautiful too. Created out of Desi’s spirit, as an adult. Not malleable the way baby shifters were, growing with their humans. She was strong and wild and free, unconstrained by whatever had happened to Desi in her life.

I can set her free, the wolf said to Brock. I am her freedom.

Not if you take over her body without her knowledge and use it for yourself.

The wolf growled. I protect her. She must submit to me.

You’re putting her in danger, Brock replied. You need her to show you the ways of the human world.

She cocked her head and studied him. I know you, she said. You are the wolf from before. Submit to me, and perhaps I will let you show me this world.

Brock grinned at her. Still a ‘no’ on the submission. Just came to see if you’re okay in here. And if you’ll consider working with Desi? Like a partnership?

He was reaching out to her with his mind, hoping she wouldn’t notice. She seemed stable, coherent, only minimally angry at the moment. Not insane.