Page 83 of The Mating Quest
Soon they were swimmingin the warm Gulf of Mexico. Ilana drifted on her pink flamingo float and he kept her company. He shifted into a friendly dolphin, pausing now and then to playfully push her float to take her for aride.
When the merman appeared, Ethan shifted into a shark and chased him away. Then he’d shift to a dolphin again, butting Ilana’s very cute ass with his nose. She’d laugh and try to swim away. Her laugh was enchanting, so he’d shift again into a fish and nibble at her toes, and even a seagull to ride on the float with her. He totally enjoyed this time withher.
But as time wore on, he found himself growing incredibly tired. They’d been in the water more than three hours. His head pounded. Ethan shifted back to Skin and bathing trunks and grabbed onto the edge of herraft.
Ilana immediately sat upright. “Wolf, what’s wrong? Your skin is greyish and your eyes… your eyes are allblack!”
Black like dolphin eyes. Skin like a dolphin’s. He felt his face, struggled to speak. “I need to get out of the water. Rightnow.”
Without hesitation, she pulled him onto the raft and then began swimming in sure, strong strokes, pulling him on the raft. Ilana did not stop until their feet touched the sand. Then she hoisted him up, helping him to walk onto the sand, where he collapsed. His head pounded as if someone hammered a railroad spike into it, and his legs were shaky. Ethan buried his head into his tremblinghands.
Ilana screamed, “Tristan!”
The Silver Wizard materialized, crouched down next to him. Judging from Tristan’s expression, Ethan knew he was in badshape.
The wizard conjured a potion and gave it to Ilana. “Make sure he drinks this and get him out of the sun and do not let him go into the water again. No more swimming in the salt water and no more shifting for at least 12 hours. Make sure he eats plenty of protein. His Lupine side needsit.”
“I’ll be fine,” he managed to say through dry, crackedlips.
The wizard frowned. “If you do as I say. I will let you explain to Ilana what happened to you. Beware, Ethan. There are those out there who would pounce, sensing you are vulnerable. Drust warded the house against them, but the rest of the area is notsafe.”
The wizard vanished. Ilana forced the potion past his lips. He drank, hating the noxious oily taste, but knowing it was the only answer. Otherwise he couldn’t shift for days and he couldn’t be a burden to theothers.
The empty vial vanished after he drained it. Ethan stared into the distance. True to Tristan’s dire warning, dark storm clouds gathered on the water’s horizon. Big gray and indigo thunderheads swirling like a vortex shoved aside fluffy white clouds and blotted out the warm sun. The tranquil blue sky, which had reflected the peaceful Gulf, suddenly churned with violence. A cool breeze drifted over them from the west, and then the air suddenly turned icy. Angry waves kicked up, washing on shore as alarmed birds took wing and headed inland to escape the approachingmenace.
Storm was coming, and not the ordinary kind. The beach wasdeserted.
Pride took a back seat. Ilana was in danger as well if they remained out here. He held up a hand. “Help me get into the house. Rightnow.”
She hooked an arm around his waist and together they ran toward the house, past the pool. Ilana opened a sliding glass door, helped him into the livingroom.
“Forget me!” he shouted. “Shut the doorquick!”
Already a gray fog rolled toward them, so thick he couldn’t see past the pool to the beach. Ilana scurried to the door, slammed it shut just as droplets of mist touched theglass.
She locked it as well. Not that a lock would keep those things out. Drust’s magickwould.
He hoped. “Ilana! Are there any windows openupstairs?”
“No, I don’tthink…”
“Check.Hurry!”
She ran upstairs and returned a minute later. “Everything is shutup.”
Whirling, grinding sounds began outside, as if giant hailstones pelted the windows. Only these were nothailstones.
“Ethan! What arethey?!”
Ilana stared, jaw agape, at the pounding rain beating at the sliding windows. Gray translucent figures the size of teacups swirled in the rain. They had tiny mouths filled with sharp teeth. Long, stringy tentacles emerged from their bodies, pounding at the glass as if to getinside.
He’d seen them only once before in his life, and hoped to never see themagain.
She backed off, staring at the sliding glassdoors.
“They’re theAnam Caillte, the lost souls of others still living who have little magick left and embraced darkness to survive. Spirit energy of Others craving magick to steal. We’re safe. They can’t get past Drust’s barrier.” Ethan drew in a deep breath, regretting his decision to shift earlier. “Those things are another reason I don’t shift into forms other than my wolf at the farm, unless it’s anemergency.”
A look of horror came over her. “The air conditioner! Can they get in thatway?”
