Page 55 of The Wolf and his Witch

“Mine. Forever,” he whispered against her neck.

A deep calm settled in his chest at his words. “Yours.”

It started as a tingle, radiating from his bite. Within minutes the tingle was a burn, and it was spreading, spearing deep. “Gabriel?”

Gabriel was off the bed and prepping her vein. “I’ve got you,bebe.”

A sluggishness settled in her veins, and darkness tugged at the edge of her vision as Gabriel set the used syringe aside and climbed back into bed with her.

“I love you, Annabelle Jackson.” He dropped a kiss on her nose. “I’ll see you in three days.”

Annabelle let the darkness consume her.

Epilogue

Two weeks later

“Concentrate, Annabelle.”

She poked her tongue at him. “I’m trying. It’s not easy, you know. It’s so overwhelming. The wolf inside me is so strong. It wants to be free, to run, to chase…”

She was halfway to her feet when he moved to block her path. “Non, non, Annabelle. Leave the poor rabbit alone.”

“But…”

There was a distinct whine in her voice, and her musky scent had deepened. Her wolf was close to the surface, pushing for a shift.

“Focus on something else.”

Blue eyes, with dark indigo shadows flitting in their depths, turned to him. A growl rumbled in her chest.

He chuckled. “Not on me. You know how that ended last time.”

She pouted. “I didn’t hear you complaining.”

His grin grew wider. “I’ll never complain about having my mate in my arms, but you need to learn to control your wolf. You have a coven to run, Annabelle. And we need to prep Isobella for her journey back in time.”

At the mention of Isobella, Annabelle’s face clouded over. “We can’t keep hiding her illness from the family, and her doctor’s pushing for chemo and surgery. We have to get her to the tenthcentury as soon as possible. Any word from your brothers about Cordelia?”

He rubbed his hand over the stubble on his chin. “Cordelia’s proving more difficult to find than we expected. She’s got to have someone with some tech experience working for her. She’s got identities popping up all over the world. Pierre and Louis are working day and night to crack them, but none of them are leading to anything. For all we know, she could still be here in San Francisco. Right under our noses.”

“Or she’s gone back to the tenth century for a stint.”

He hoped not. The last thing he wanted to do was send a sick and weak Isobella back to the tenth century, only to have her encounter Cordelia.

“I was talking to Aunt Marjory yesterday about this. Every couple of years, Cordelia would vanish. She’d be gone for long stints of time. The first time it happened, she was young, in her early twenties. She disappeared again a few years later. There were suspicions she was pregnant to a warlock from a rival coven, but when she returned, she was alone.

“The same thing happened when Aunt Marjory took over the coven. She vanished again. This time for a few years. It’s one of the reasons Aunt Marjory became the High Priestess. Cordelia wasn’t around to challenge her. Do you think, maybe, she was going back in time?”

Gabriel considered the possibility. Annabelle’s theory made a lot of sense. “If the grimoire is hers, as we suspect, it would explain why the pages are vellum and old, but the writing is in modern American English.”

Worry flickered in Annabelle’s eyes. “If she’s back in the tenth century…”

He cupped her face. “Hey. Let’s not jump to conclusions. Don’t forget, Cordelia is an old lady now. That time travelingspell is brutal. As powerful a witch as she is, her body might well be too fragile to withstand it.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Pierre and Louis won’t give up. And they’re good at what they do. If she’s here, in the twenty-first century, they’ll find her.”

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