Wolf Dream (2 page)

“Yeah go ahead and go…
She’d need all the help she could get hurting me.”

Ugh.
I was not in the mood to put up with his crap. Without blinking, I sent a fireball soaring toward him faster than a lightning bolt.

“Ouch!
What the heck?” I almost laughed watching him pat out the small flame on his blue shirt.

“Es, why don’t you come up and keep me company?”
Ian pressed his hand at the small of my back, pushing me toward the stairs. “Just ignore him.” He pushed me faster up the stairs and into the loft.

I flopped myself down on the bed.

“I’m jumping in the shower. Stay here, and we’ll go down together and talk to him about today’s training. Unless you prefer to join me.” He wiggled his eyebrows before turning to the bathroom.

I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him as he walked into the bathroom, only to have it hit the closing door. I wasn’t mad at
Ian, but I sure as heck didn’t want to talk to Jarak again today either. Training was out of the question. Yesterday he almost killed me when he had Maztic attack me without Luna’s knowledge. I knew that pissed Ian off too. He yelled and threatened Jarak within an inch of his life. I loved that part, but that was the only thing I liked.

I shuddered at the
memory. I was never so grateful to be able to communicate with Luna as I was at that moment. Within seconds, she appeared out of the air and saved me from Maztic’s vicious bite. I knew he would never hurt me, but at that moment I had my doubts. I honestly couldn’t remember what it was I used to see in Jarak.

I heard the shower turn on and almost laughed when I heard
Ian singing. Laying back down, I watched tiny particles float in the air as the sun’s rays streaked through the windows.

I needed a plan.

Chapter Two

Training

Esmerelda

The sun glared into my eyes. Without a coat, my skin glistened as sweat dripped in an unladylike pattern down my front and back despite the cold March temperatures, making me shiver. The tall pine trees swayed overhead. Not too far away I could hear the babble of the stream that ran behind Jarak’s cabin.

Narrowing my eyes, I stared at Ian.
Standing about an arm’s length away, I could smell his cologne. How he wasn’t sweating was beyond me. Dregan growled and bared his fangs at me, standing dutifully beside him.
Great.
I let out an exhausted sigh and braced myself against the upcoming attack. Ian didn’t trust Jarak and Maztic after yesterday, and after the big fit I pitched earlier, he decided to be the one to go against me and have Jarak on the side as a coach.

I
felt Luna whimper in my soul from the thought of fighting Dregan. I pushed her feelings aside, needing to calm my own nerves. I had to defend myself without magic and rely solely on Luna. Psh. Well, that’s what Ian and Jarak wanted, but they didn’t always get what they wanted. I proved that to them almost daily.

“Feel for Luna,
” Jarak said, standing behind me. “Listen to her thoughts and feel her movements.”

“Just shut u
p,” I spit out to him.

I didn’t need him
confusing me with instructions. I knew what to do. Luna and I had a plan. I felt her in spirit and smiled. This would work.

I inched back, needing to place more space between
myself and Ian. Luna and I practiced this for over a week, and as soon as I moved, she would appear where I just stood.

Ian lunged for me
. At the same moment, Luna materialized catching him off-guard. She jumped onto his chest, taking them both to the ground. She stood with her front paws on his neck, her teeth looking viscous as she snarled. I couldn’t help the smug smile that crossed my face.

“Ni
ce, but you forgot about Dregan,” Jarak said quickly.

I
dropped my smile and let out an exasperated sigh. Dregan disappeared. Great. I let the warmth from my core flow and feel around the forest, searching for his presence. It was harder since he was, in all reality, a spirit, but I could still feel him when he took form.              

I looked over at Luna
, who still held Ian to the ground. Time was running out; I could feel the tension build in the air around me. A twig snapped behind me. On reaction, I turned and shot a stream of power at whatever or whoever was trying to sneak up on me.

I held on
to my energy as I looked around. I felt something struggle and pull away from my inner core. I trapped whatever, or whoever, it was with magic. I tugged back, hoping to reign in an invisible cord of power. If this was Dregan, then I was seriously in for trouble. He fought me with every pull. It reminded me of a fish being reeled in on a hook.

“Jarak!” I yelled as I felt whatever it was slipping from my mental grasp.
Heat flooded me, mind and soul. I knew whatever it was, was close. “What is it? I don’t think it’s Dregan anymore.”

“
Keep pulling it.” He was behind me, letting me feed off his energy and strength.

“It’s too hard. It’s fighting me.” I winced. As the fight got harder it b
ecame painful. My head throbbed, and it felt like someone stabbed me in the stomach.

A loud cackle filled
my mind, and I fought to not lose concentration. I had heard the same laugh in my dreams. “I can’t do this.” I tried talking, but it came out as more of a weak whisper.

“
Luna, I need help,”
I reached out to her mentally, hoping she heard.

Instantly
, she was by my side. I could feel her energy.

“
Princess, stop. It was only a test,” Ian mumbled somewhere behind me.

My mind
didn’t register what he said. Test? How could this be a test? I still felt the pulling, but it died down a lot from when it first started.

“I said stop!
You’ll kill Dregan.” This time I looked back at Ian. He was getting himself up off the ground, bending over and brushing the dirt and snow from his jeans. His breathing was hard, like I had him wrapped in my magic as well.

Another tug from my insides sent me
on the ground to my knees. My head hurt too badly to hold on any longer, so I let go of the magic.

Dregan came bounding out from the trees
, causing my heart to skip a beat. I couldn’t feel him when I held him with my power. How was that possible? He’d have to have been in spirit form. I gulped. I was definitely going to need more training.

As scared as I was, I was
also pissed. I stood up and spun around. “You told me to keep pulling.” I marched over to Jarak and swung my fist as hard as I could, hitting him squarely in the jaw. “You jerk! I could’ve killed him.”

He rubbed his j
aw. “You needed to try.” He turned and walked back toward the house.

“To kill him?” I squeaked.

He shook his head and yelled over his shoulder, “No, of course not. You just needed to try and pull him in, that’s all. I didn’t want to see you give up.”

I hated that man.
I could feel my anger build inside until every inch of me burned to react upon that emotion. I wanted him to hurt the way I hurt, to feel all the pain my heart felt over losing him as a friend. I felt hands on my shoulders. I leaned back soaking in the comfort. “If it’s any consolation, you did amazing. You did just what you needed to do.” Ian kissed the top of my head. “I’m proud of you, even if it was painful for me.”

I let out a frustrated cry before replying
through grit teeth, “Thanks.”

Ian glared at Jarak. “As for you, just leave. If I see you much longer there might be another dead body I have
to dispose of on this mountain. You knew damn well that was Dregan and what was happening.”

Jarak gave another smug grin and shrugged. “Whatever.” He whistled for Maztic and they both walked away.

A thought entered my mind.
“Luna, did you know it was him?”

“
No. I knew that we can stay as spirits to help the guardians, but I didn’t know that he could use it against you, so you couldn’t feel him.”

Ugh
.

“Come on
. Let’s go inside for a bit and warm up.” Ian rubbed my shoulders, and I let him lead me toward the house, but stopped just outside.

I caught
sight of Jarak and Julie walking hand in hand along the river, the same place where he tried to tell me about her for the first time. I cringed inwardly. I wasn’t upset about him not loving me. Heck, we both realized we weren’t meant to be. Besides, I loved Ian and Jarak loved Julie, but it hurt that he no longer acted like my friend.

“You know I would never hurt you, right?” Ian grabbed me around the middle, pulled me close to his chest
, and leaned his head down on my shoulder.

I let my shoulders fall even more. “I know. I just don’t understand why we can’t be friends
, ya know? Hell, I brought his girlfriend back from the dead. You’d think he’d be at least grateful.”

Ian chuckled.
“Come on. Let’s go inside and warm up.”             

He held the door open for me.
I stepped inside the house and the scent of hot cocoa filled the room.

Ailaina
came around the kitchen corner holding two steaming cups. Her long blonde hair was pulled up in a high ponytail. She was totally rockin’ the image with a black and pink track jacket and black yoga pants. She walked over to us and held out a cup for me to take.

I squealed and wrapped my arms around her. “Oh my gosh, when did you get back? I missed you so much!”

She carefully held the cups out from our bodies. “Careful, Es, I’m gonna spill our drinks.”

I released my hold on her and took my cup. “So?” I gave her a cheesy smile. I missed her so much.
She had to go back to Nevada for a bit to see her parents before they freaked out completely. At least they ended up being pretty cool about everything once she told them she knew everything about their family—and mine. Coming from a long line of Seers, they accepted her task and understood why she wanted to come back and stay with me.

“Jeesh, I just get home and already you’re demanding.”
Her sing-song voice rose higher as she spoke.

“Sorry, but you’ve been gone for almost three months.”

She took my hand and we walked to the couches. Ian plopped down on the opposite one and flipped on the TV.

“Mom and Dad say hi. They miss you too.”

I took a sip of the hot chocolate, savoring the taste of liquid gold. Mmmmm. “I miss them too.” I let out a long sigh. “Did they have any advice?”

She laughed a little. “Yeah, they said ‘don’t die
.’ Can you believe that?”

I laughed with her.

“So… Did you do good today?”

I shrugged. “I guess, if you can say almost killing Ian and Dregan
is good.”

She nearly choked on her drink. I thumped her back a couple times to help her breath
ing. “You tried to kill your boy toy?”

Ian snorted
and leaned over to rub the top of my head, messing up my hair and sending it to fall in my eyes. “You think she’d kill me? Psh, then who would she have to buy her chocolate?” He gave me a Cheshire grin that made the blue in his eyes sparkle, sending waves of excitement through me. Then, he leaned back in his seat, flipping through the channels.

I tried to play it off, rolling my eyes at him
. Sometimes that man drove me nuts. Ailaina leaned forward, setting her hot cocoa down, waving him off with an exasperated sigh.

“Um, hello
, before I was so rudely interrupted… How did you almost kill him?” I could tell she wasn’t going to budge until I gave her answers. I shuddered as I told her about Dregan hiding in spirit form. Nothing happened, but I still felt guilty.

“Oh
em gee.” She really spoke in text talk, and I just shook my head at her. “I can’t believe you didn’t feel him and then, oh my gosh,” she gasped. “What would you have done if you didn’t let go?”

“Well, you’re my Seer, why don’t you tell me?” I didn’t want to think about that. Not now, not ever.