“Your magic has changed,” Salvator commented. “It feels different on my skin.”
“Mother priestess said not to use our magic as Balor could track it.” I shrugged. “So I learned a different way to use magic from the other witches I met along the way.”
He watched me from the side of his eye. “I knew you from the temple, and I wouldn’t have recognised you.”
“You shouldn’t have recognised me,” I replied. “There is a powerful enchantment in my amulet to repel anyone from seeing the real me.”
His sigh seemed to come from the depths of his soul. “Luna, you are my mate. There would never be a situation when I wouldn’t recognise you.” He turned toward me and our eyes met for several moments.
My stomach clenched and my breath caught in my chest.
As much as I wanted to protect my heart, a small voice in my head whispered that I had lost it a long time ago to this man, and he would always own it.
Chapter Ten
Salvator
Whatever Luna had done, it felt as if I was waking from being in a drunken stupor. I trailed my fingers through my hair again as I tried to work out what the hell was happening to me and what had been wrong with me until she walked back into my life again.
I drove without talking, lost in my thoughts as I tried to figure everything out in my head since that was where I tended to spend most of my time.
“Can we stop at the next town to stretch our legs?” Luna asked, her voice low.
It shook me from the dark cavern of my thoughts. “Yeah, sorry, I was in a world of my own for a moment.”
“You were in a world of your own for over two hours,” she replied, shocking the hell out of me as my gaze snapped to the display at the front of the dashboard.
“Shit! Sorry, Luna. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.” I rubbed my eyes with my hand and realised it was trembling.
“Why don’t we just stop now and take a walk?” Luna suggested. “I think we can agree that no one is following us.”
I pulled over and sat for a moment, my head falling on my steering wheel.
“Come on,” Luna said, her fingers touching my arm and drawing my attention. “Walk with me.” She opened the car door and stepped outside.
I drank in the sight of her outside, bending over and swinging her arms as she stretched. My life had existed in three eras: with Luna, the grey area in the middle, and the return of Luna. I sucked in a breath and climbed out of the car.
My wolf howled in my head at the sight of Luna with her long, black hair, and the sun shining behind her to highlight her beauty. My canines ached in my gums with the need to claim her, my claws digging into the palms of my hands as I fisted them to stop myself from touching her.
She held out her hand to me, and like a lovesick fool, I obeyed her silent command. “We never got to experience the light,” she said, her hand squeezing mine. “Our entire relationship was in the shadows, and nothing ever grows properly there since the sun nourishes.”
There was a narrow trail not far from the small carpark I had pulled into, leading into nature filled with trees and birdsong. We stopped close to a clearing and stood for so long that I thought Luna wasn’t going to speak.
“I’ve travelled this world more times than I can remember,” she finally said. “It is filled with wonders, and at the same time evil lurks where you least expect it.”
I leaned against a tree trunk to watch her. Luna crouched low to touch the ground, and leaves swirled up in a small funnel.
“Magic is the most powerful force in this world since the magical realm was closed to only the oldest of families. That means, this is the only place where some creatures can get their grimy hands on magical beings.”
I had no idea where this conversation was going, and that didn’t sit well with me as I tended to know what I was walking into.
“The amulet you are now wearing will block anyone who is trying to control you,” Luna said. “Over the next few hours, it will remove any curses or psychic anchors lodged in your aura.”
I cleared my throat, rubbing the back of my neck. “What the fuck am I supposed to say to that?”
“You don’t need to say anything,” Luna replied. “All you need to do is give the amulet time to work and free you from those seeking to control you.”
“It’s my job to keep everyone in my organisation safe,” I snapped. “How can I do that if I can’t trust myself?”