“Tell him to come.”
“Really?” She said it as if I’d suggested something crazy. “I thought his control wasn’t good enough, and after your performance at dinner, your control isn’t good enough for your own wolf. You can’t help him.”
“But you could. You’re Lunar Court. You can control his wolf.”
“I could.” She sat on the pouf and shrugged like controlling someone’s wolf was no big deal. “You’re right. But I don’t enjoy using my will like that. It…it can be addictive.”
Well, that was good to know. “That’s why you let me break the plate.”
“Two plates. Yes. I don’t want to turn into my mother. It’s one of my fears. So, I don’t want to even be tempted with…” She glanced down at Tessa. “She learned French for you.”
I looked down at my mate. “She did.”
“How did that make you feel?”
“What are you? My therapist.” I was teasing her, and she’d changed the subject. Abruptly. But I got that she didn’t want to talk about her mother. At least not right now.
“No. Just curious.”
“I guess I was shocked at first, and then a little sad for a fraction of a second. I wanted to be the one to teach her and that someone could steal that from me…” I sighed, letting that anger go again. “And then I heard her explanation, and I was happy. Because it meant that she was still thinking of me even when the best tried to fight against us.”
Her heartbeat was still steady, but something was off about this. I couldn’t stop thinking that we should be doing something. “She never sleeps like this. She moves a lot in her sleep, and she would never be able to sleep with us talking.”
“It’s a healing sleep. At least, I think that’s what it is. I think she’s taking power from you. I’m not sure, but…”
If that’s all this was, then I’d be happy about that. “She can take whatever she needs from me. I don’t mind.”
“I didn’t think you would.”
The door opened, and Chris walked in, followed by a tip-toeing Samantha.
“Hey,” she whispered. She glanced down at Tessa, and her eyes went wide. “Whoa.”
“What do you see? Is our bond there? Can you see if the—”
Samantha held up a hand. “Shut up. Just give me a second.”
Cosette scooted over as Samantha knelt in the small space between the pouf and the couch. Samantha held her hands a couple of inches above Tessa’s body. She ran them from her head to her toes and back up. After a minute, she sat back on her heels, dropping her hands into her lap.
“What? Just tell me.”
Samantha was slowly shaking her head as if she didn’t like what she was going to say. “I didn’t see it when I bumped into her on the street. It was so quick, and she was freaking out and—”
“She’s dying.” The words were out of my mouth before I even knew I was going to say them.
“What?” Cosette’s question was half-screamed. “What do you mean? I thought it was a healing—”
“No. This isn’t a healing sleep.” Samantha kept her gaze on mine. “This is so much worse.”
I shoved down the fear and the anger and everything else until all I felt was a calm, cool well of power. “What do I do?”
“Break t
he spell.”
Great. I’d be happy to. But that was the question that we’d been struggling with ever since she’d been taken. “How?”
“I don’t know.” Samantha tapped her fingers on her leg for a second and then whistled. The sound was so loud that it felt like it went through my soul. She shook her head as if whatever she’d been trying hadn’t worked. “Have you tried kissing her?”