Juniper #2
The world exploded in a flash of white light. I put my hand up to block it out and—
“Levi? Is that you?” Naphele asked, taking a step out of the bedroom.
Glancing around, I found myself in the room behind her. The house was dark but for the candles flickering on the bedside table. The hallway beyond was cloaked in shadow. She called again.
Silence.
“Levi, if that was you, this isn’t funny,” Naphele said.
The only answer she received was the thump of a boot.
Fear welled up, creating a storm of terror in my heart.
I took a step back. The simple sound seemed to harbor a strange foreboding menace.
Naphele appeared much less shaken. Instead of retreating, she stepped forward, almost disappearing into the shadows.
“Who’s there?” she cried, her voice firm and commanding.
From the far end of the hall, a low, angry growl rumbled from the shadows.
My blood ran cold, and Naphele finally took a step backward.
I moved around the bed, thinking I’d see a look of horror or terror on her face.
Instead, she looked irate, angry beyond belief.
This woman was formidable. The very fact that someone had intruded upon her home unasked should have had her shaken. Instead, she looked ready to fight.
“Fine,” she said through clenched teeth. “If that’s how it has to be.”
She shifted in a blink, sliding into her wolf body the same way someone might slide into a comfortable pair of pants, but before she’d even finished changing, the intruder bolted from the shadows, yellow eyes wide and mad with rage, mouth open, teeth slick with saliva.
The wolf was massive, far bigger than Naphele’s, and when it slammed into her, it looked like she’d been kicked by a horse.
She crashed into the wall, letting out a sharp yelp of pain. I could hear a dull crack as something inside her broke.
I screamed and leapt forward, trying to drag the other wolf away from her, but my hands swept harmlessly through its fur as he savaged her.
Naphele tried to fight back, but the other wolf was too big, too strong.
Nothing was stopping him. Eventually, I sat back, tears welling in my eyes as he bit into her neck and thrashed about, shaking her like a rag doll.
Her legs broke, skin tore, and blood coated the floor, soaking into the rug near the door.
The damage was devastating enough that I could barely force myself to look at her.
Not even her shifter healing would be enough to save her.
The attacker flung her aside and sprinted out of the room, running down the stairs.
The sound of paws became the thudding of boots, then the front door slammed shut, leaving us in silence.
Looking over at her, my jaw fell open at the ruin of her body. She’d shifted back to her human form. She lay twitching, blood staining her lips as she tried to gasp for breath. She was slowly suffocating. Her arms and legs were splayed at horrifying angles, shattered and broken.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, even though I knew she couldn’t hear me.
Downstairs, the front door opened again, and a voice rang out.
“Naphele? I’m home. Sorry I’m late.”
Levi. I closed my eyes, and let out a sob before opening them again—
Sitting forward, I sucked in a breath, feeling like I’d escaped drowning.
The stones tumbled from my hands. I opened my mouth, and a long, mournful howl burst out of me.
Surprised, I looked down and nearly fainted.
Instead of my hands and feet, all I saw were furry paws and legs.
There was also an intense presence in my mind, alien yet familiar in some strange way.
It reached out, tentative tentacles of thought and emotions winding themselves around mine. My inner wolf? I’d shifted. Oh my god!
For several moments, I simply stood there, staring down at my paws.
A strange sense of surrealness washed over me, like I was looking at something else rather than myself.
Yet, when I went to lift my hand, the paw rose up instead.
A whine of surprise trilled in my throat, and I turned to look at Levi.
“June?” Levi said, standing and staring at me in open-mouthed wonder.
I would have grinned at him with excitement, but my new mouth couldn’t create that expression.
The best I could do was pant happily, my tongue lolling out.
While watching his expression go from shock to joy, I noticed the rest of the forest. The sounds!
There were so many—more than I could have ever realized.
That was nothing compared to the scents.
The power of it almost bowled me over. So much information came through my nose that it made it difficult to concentrate.
My senses had been somewhat better than the average human due to my shifter blood, but not having my inner wolf had dulled them, though until this moment I hadn’t realized by how much.
“You look amazing,” Levi said, a hint of awe in his voice.
That muffled sensation had vanished from the circle.
The shock and amazement of my sudden and unexpected first shift waned when I remembered the main reason we’d come out here.
“Did it work?” Levi said, turning to Rainier.
Rainier was gaping at me with a surprised smile on his face.
At Levi’s words he blinked and dug through the leaves and pine needles to find the stones that had fallen from my hands when I shifted.
When he picked them up, he frowned. The red stone glowed with an eerie inner light.
The white stone lay dull and lifeless in his palm.
Rainier shook his head. “I don’t think so. If she really was a reincarnation, these would be swapped,” he said, showing the stones. “White for yes, red for no. I’m sorry, Levi. She’s not in there.”
“What if the ritual is wrong?” Levi said, his voice rising, whether in panic or anger, I couldn’t tell.
I reached out with my mind, doing my best to communicate with my inner wolf, asking for control of my body again.
With a massive force of will, I managed it, then fell forward on my hands and knees, dizzy with the sudden change of perspective.
My senses all felt incredibly heightened.
The sheer amount of information coming in almost overwhelmed my brain. Levi knelt and helped me up.
“Are you okay?” he asked, rubbing my back.
“I’m fine,” I mumbled, and looked at Rainier. “What did you say?”
“I was saying that this is magic, not science. There’s obviously a chance it was wrong, but all we have is this answer.” He held up the glowing red stone and shrugged helplessly. “What did you see in the trance?”
I couldn’t tell Levi I’d witnessed Naphele’s murder.
He knew how she’d died. God, he’d probably found her lying in that pool of blood.
I’d seen everything as an outsider, not a participant.
If I really was Naphele’s reincarnation, then wouldn’t I have experienced all that firsthand?
I’d focused on her, and instead of reliving a past life, I’d simply been brought in to witness someone else’s life.
Though, I had felt a sharp, emotional connection toward her.
It was almost like I was terrified for her, in a way that was more instinctual than simply being a bystander watching something horrifying.
It didn’t matter, though. If what Rainier said was correct, then there was no connection.
I was both relieved and heartbroken—relieved that this was over and I had an answer, but heartbroken to know that Levi would still be trying to find Naphele, and any life we had together would be a half-life, a life where a dead woman would always be standing in the corner, unseen but holding sway over everything.
“I’m not her,” I said. “That’s what I saw, and it’s all you need to know.” I pulled away from Levi, turning to walk back to town.
“June, wait,” he called, but I didn’t turn back.
I had to take some time to figure out if I still wanted to work things out here or whether I should take Anders up on his offer and return home.