Page 84 of The Mating Quest
“Not with Drust’s magick. That wizard is damn thorough.” Still he struggled to stand to check thevents.
Ilana pushed him back down. “Stay here. I’lllook.”
She returned shortly. “Everything looks fine, but thatsound!”
Ethan winced, his sensitive eardrums hating the whining, banshee shrieks. Ilana joined him on the sofa. “You need earplugs? I know this has to be hurtingyou.”
“They’ll leavesoon.”
She side eyed him. “Talk to me, wolf. What’s going on with these things? You some kind ofmagnet?”
Ethan nodded. “Male changeling shifters typically have much more magick than females. We can hold another animal form longer and we’re stronger at it. But shifting into other animal forms drains us. We need rest. And if we keep shifting into other animal forms, as I did in the water, our powers send out a kind of radio signal to dark creatures who crave thatpower.”
She grimaced. “I think they make sharks look like baitfish.”
He agreed. “If I hadn’t shifted, theAnam Cailltewould have stayed dormant. It takes powerful Changeling magick to activate them. They’re much more prevalent in the Dark Kingdom, which is one reason I had no desire to visitthere.”
Ilana curled up beside him on the sofa and shivered. Though his body still felt like a lead weight, he put an arm around her inreassurance.
Ilana glanced up at him. “They stalkyou.”
Loathe to admit it, he nodded. “Here? Not if I’m careful and never hold another animal form other than Lupine for more than a couple of hours. But I got carried awaytoday.”
Because of you, and seeing how much you enjoyed it. I wanted to make you happy. So seldom do you smile, Ilana. And we almost paid the price forit.
He shuddered, thinking of how theAnam Cailltecould have attacked Ilana. They craved dark magick the most. After the incident in the cave with the spiders, he realized Ilana harbored much dark magick inside her. Only her inner light kept the darkness in balance. Mages weren’t powerful. She was, and the only way for a Mage to assume her level of power was to embrace darkmagick.
Yet Ilana was different from the selfish Others he’d encountered who wanted power for the sake of ruling overothers.
“I thought I saw it all. Guess I haven’t,” she murmured. “I’ve never run into Changeling shifters, though. Kinda scary if it’s like that for you. No wonder you have to be cautious around your pack. Who would want to invite that into their home? You can’t cut them down with asword.”
Together they watched the spirit energy slowly dissipate. Finally after thirty minutes, the fog lifted and the sun returned. It was late afternoon. Damn, he was still too weak. And growing colder. His energy had drained, but his body needed more thanfood.
Warmth. The simple touch of another person to warm him expedited the healing process. Yet he couldn’t ask that of her. Ethan suspected Ilana’s baggage had to do with a man in herpast.
He would not push her into doing something she wasn’t ready for, even simply holding him to warm hisbody.
Ilana stood. “Stay here, wolf. I may not be a gourmet cook, but I can cook. I’m making dinner tonight. Lots of protein, like Tristansaid.”
After dinner,Ilana watched as Ethan did a healing ritual with incense in a pretty blue and gold bowl, chanting as he lit the granules. The pleasing smell of sandalwood filled the air. He said it was a precaution to clear the air of bad energy, but she suspected he needed it to regain his strength. He had a deep, melodious voice as he chanted, the words soothing her raggednerves.
After finishing the ritual, he breathed deep. “Thank you, Ilana. I’m really exhausted and I need sleep, but that was a deliciousdinner.”
She shrugged. “Figured your wolf needed raremeat.”
He gave one of his winsome smiles. “I did. If you don’t mind, I’m going to bed now. Stay indoors, and if you must venture outside, don’t go onto the sand in case one of theAnam Cailltestilllingers.”
She had no intention of doing so, no matter how spectacular thesunset.
Seeing Ethan seriously weakened troubled her. He was a strong alpha and she never imagined shifting into other forms would invite danger. Yet he knew, and had doneit.
To please her, because she’d asked him. Ethan guarded her because she asked him, and she had endangeredhim.
He’d been so much fun, playing with her in the water and fending off the annoying merman. So little she knew about Changeling shifters. Now she did. So odd that she’d originally seen him only as a menace and obstacle to getting what she wanted – the lock of Caderyn’s hair guarded byBrianna.
Now she saw him as a man, a sexy, gorgeous man who was starting to get inside her emotions. With a start, Ilana realized she was troubled because she didn’t want anything to happen tohim.
Didn’t want anything bad to happen to the Lupine who clawed her face, whom she had fought? Certainly he’d moved with deft skill, dancing on his toes, his lean, muscled body sideswiping her moves as she battledhim.
