Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Do you think she is going to be back soon?” Wendy’s voice was soft as she squeezed my hand.
Toya stared down at my body and raised her shoulder. “I don’t know.”
“It’s been so long.” It felt like days had passed since I left my body and started down the black chain leading to Aurora.
Toya smiled. “It’s barely been an hour.”
The truth hit my stomach. An hour. How was that possible? So much had happened in the short time. I stared at the lost soul, listening to her manic laughter as she faded. And my stomach dropped again.
I cracked open my eyes to find the two women still clutching my hands. “Amy!” Wendy screamed and dove into my arms. “You’re back.”
I smiled and nodded. But Toya, Toya seemed a little reserved. “I read the book while you were gone.” I turned to her and cleared my throat. It felt dry and painful.
“And?”
“Tell me something only Amy would know?” Her words were measured and her eyes stared into my soul.
“Our fathers are still alive.”
Toya seemed to glare at me, as if trying to think if it was enough. “More.” I guess she deemed it too little.
“I am descended from the goddess. From her power, her blood, her body. I’m half wolf, half Lycan. I also have witch’s blood, which gives me power-”
“Okay.” Toya waved me off and then pulled me into her arms, but froze when I hissed.
Pain radiated up my spine, from my head, and my arm and I realized that the lost soul, the woman, had somehow hurt my shell, my body.
Everything she did to my soul transferred to my body.
“What’s wrong?” I watched as she pulled away from me and realized I was dripping blood.
“Fuck. Wendy, go get the first aid kit.”
“What why?” Wendy stood and ran out of the room, coming back with the kit.
“She’s bleeding.” Toya pulled my long sleeve off my body and looked at my arm. “What the hell happened and why aren’t you healing?”
I leaned over my knees, but Toya grabbed a pillow from the couch. “No, I’ll bleed on it.” She smacked my hand away.
“I’ll buy you a fucking new one. Lay down on your stomach.” I stared at her for a moment before I listened. I slid my legs under me and laid down on the pillow, pointing my face towards Toya.
“Happy?”
“Very.” Toya smirked, but Wendy grew pale.
“What happened, Amy?” She knelt near my head, and Toya began pulling things out of my kit. “You were fine before you left.”
Before I opened my mouth, Toya poured liquid onto my back and it felt like fire. I gritted my teeth. “Tell us what happened after your soul left here. It will distract you from the pain.”
I gave a tiny nod. “When I pulled away, I thought I failed until I turned and saw you two over my body. There was this black chain that was coming out of my chest, so I followed it.”
“Followed it where?” Wendy petted my hair, running her hands through it, and then she froze. “Oh, Amy.”
I could feel her sadness. “It’s okay.” I closed my eyes to focus on the story and not on the burning in my back. “I followed the chain all the way to my father’s pack lands.”
“Holy shit.” Toya’s hands wiped my back and I hissed.
“The world seemed to blur. I was moving so fast. Until I came to the caves.” I felt my back cramp and the pain that I was doing my best to ignore kicked up as the muscles danced.
“Caves.” Toya redirected me as I hissed.
“The caves by my father’s house that were used for the dead. We thought they were haunted. My father told me to stay away from them. But the chain trailed in, so I followed it.”
“Was it haunted?” Wendy almost whispered as she picked through my hair.
“No. It was the rogues.” Both their hands froze on my skin.
“What did you say?”
“Rogues, they made a camp in the caves. I don’t know if that is all of them, but the encampment was big.” I winced as she taped up my back. “I found Aurora. The wolf who tried to take over my father’s pack, she was the one that hexed me. I was able to break the spell, but then she found me.”
“Aurora? How?” Toya moved to my arm and started over, pouring pure fire onto my arm.
“No, it wasn’t Aurora.” I gritted my teeth so hard I could hear them grind. “I don’t know who she was. I just know what she was. She was like me, gifted with power, probably an ancestor of mine. But she spirit walked without anchors, and she lost her shell, her body.”
“What? That’s possible?” Wendy gripped the pillow under my head.
“Yeah, and she was left to wither in the dark, until she saw me, and decided to take my body instead.”
“Holy Goddess.” Wendy’s fingers twitched in my hair.
But Toya just nodded. “As I read more about spirit walking, I learned about the Mara.” Toya wiped my arm and caused me to hiss again.
“The Mara?”
“It means bitter soul. It’s like what you explained. A lost soul, whether they lost themselves while they were still alive, or after they died, and they wander, looking for a life to take over. If you had read more about it all, you would have been prepared.”
“Hey now.” I pulled back, but she pushed me back down.
“Lay down. I want to check your head.” Toya pushed again and Wendy helped her part my hair. “Amy.” She hissed as she saw the damage.
I laid back down, but huffed out my breath. “I read that book, inside and out.”
“There were a few pages stuck together. I don’t know why.” Toya tapped a page. “Wendy helped me figure it out.”
“I had to use a tiny bit of water around the edges to release the pages from each other. Then I used a blow dryer to dry them again.”
“Seriously?” I hissed as Toya’s fingers brushed against a chuck of my scalp. It burned.
“There were a few pages of explanation, and a few other spells that I don’t understand.” Toya got up and started to walk away. “Stay down.”
I chuckled softly. “She is demanding.”
“She was worried.” Wendy’s voice was soft. “Really worried because you screamed for us, you screamed our names and I think this was the first time she couldn’t do anything about it.”
She came back with a brush, a comb, a spray bottle and some scissors. “What’s that for?”
“Babe, your hair has been yanked out and cut in spots. I’m going to do my best to fix it in a way that no one will notice the bald spots.” Toya pulled me up and made me lean forward so she could sit behind me on the sofa. She brushed the tangles out of my hair. “You scared me.”
“You scared us,” Wendy corrected.
I nodded as Toya worked, but her hands froze when a phone rang. Wendy and Toya looked at their phones but I recognized the ring. “Wendy, can you go grab my lock box? It’s my spare phone.” She nodded and ran to my room.
“Who could be calling you?” Toya continued.
“I don’t know, but not many have the number.”
The ringing had stopped by the time I got the lock box open. I grabbed it out just as it rang again. I answered, putting it automatically on speaker. “Hello?”
“Amy?” The soft voice had my inside clench.
“Lynn?” I hesitated. “What’s wrong? Why are you calling me? How are you calling me?” A little panic set in. “Your call-”
“Is secure.” She finished, but her voice was still soft. “Your father gave me a phone to connect with you if needed.” I breathed a sigh of relief until my brain caught up to her words.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re dad, before he died…” Her words trailed off, and the punch hit my gut. She didn’t know.
“Lynn-”
“No, let me finish. I don’t have time.” Her words came out in a rush. “I had to run out here, away from Morgan. Since the king made you and Shannon stay at school, Morgan has been being weird.”
“What do you mean? Is my mom okay?”
“I have your mom protected. I won’t allow anyone to get their claws into my Luna. But one time Morgan tried to drug her with kudzu.”
“What’s that?”
“A herb that induces a female’s heat. If it wasn’t for the fact that we caught him before she drank it, she would have been stuck.”
“Goddess.” Wendy whispered, but Toya kept snipping at my hair.
“Are you and my mom okay?” I bit my lip, a habit from childhood I hadn’t managed to break. “You can both come here. I have a place you can stay.” I didn’t even know why I hadn’t offered up my apartment.
“Your mother wants to stay. Vince and Morgan are doing something. We just aren’t sure yet.”
“Okay.” I paused. “But why did you call me?”
“Because I saw Brandon in the pack house.”
“Why were you in the pack house?”
She drew in a breath. “Because I found my mate.”
I felt my chest warm. “That’s amazing Lynn.”
She hesitated. “I rejected him.”
“What why?”
“Because I found him hilt deep inside of your sister.” Her words were flat, but I could hear the pain that it hid.
“Who?” I had a sinking feeling. There was one wolf Shannon was fucking in my previous life that never found his mate, either. Please don’t be him, I prayed to the goddess for this little tiny shred of hope. But in the next sentence, Lynn shattered it.
“My mate was the Beta to Brandon. My mate was Derek.”