Something’s changed,she replied. I feel it, too. Maybe not all the bonds were broken before—the ones your aunt and father created. Maybe when you cast your unbinding spell this time around, the old bonds shattered as well as the new.
Was that true?
It had certainly taken all my strength to break her free, and I’d felt like we were fighting against so much more than my own spell. And something about our union was definitely different.
Maybe it was my perspective. In retrospect, something had felt restrained about our relationship. I’d always assumed that something was just wrong about Wolfie and me, and that somehow, over time, I’d become one with my wolf, like Jaxson and his were.
But that wasn’t my fate—I understood that now. I shared a body with another soul. We would never be one, but we’d never be separate.
I didn’t need to learn to control my wolf. I needed to learn when to let go and how to listen, how to lead and follow, how to become one in the dance, because we would always be two souls together.
We didn’t have to be like everybody else. We could be something more.
Wolfie glanced at Jaxson running beside us, perfectly in sync. There was an unspoken question in her look that I thought I understood.
What about him?
The fates had paired us together, just as they’d paired Wolfie and me. Could Jaxson and I learn the dance as well?
I knew for certain now that I needed him just as much as I needed her. I’d railed against our mate bond at first, but I didn’t want to fight anymore. I loved that bond, cherished it.
I knew that just as I had embraced my wolf, it was time to embrace what we were: fated mates.
What would happen if I truly gave into the emotions we shared? To let my fear of our bond go? To embrace it, to nourish it, to let myself sink deeper in love with him?
As we ran, wolves I didn’t recognize filtered in from the trees around us. The alpha’s sentries?
Something was strange about them. For a while, I couldn’t figure out what it was, but as we emerged from the land of mist and gray skies I finally understood: light was shining through their bodies.
They weren’t translucent like the ghosts I’d seen before, but they weren’t quite solid. I glanced at Stephanie. She was the same.
Ghost wolves.
Their numbers grew as we ran. They gave us no heed, and the alpha didn’t slow, so we just kept running.
I couldn’t keep my eyes off Jaxson. The way he moved was so powerful and graceful that it left me mesmerized. And I could feel his joy at running with Stephanie again. Elation. A connection lost, restored—if even for a moment.
Would I be able to run like this with my mother? What about my father? What had happened to him? Could they be together?
A glance from Stephanie drove the fears from my mind. While normally placid, her eyes were overflowing with joy. Run,she said. Savor this moment.
So I ran, treasuring the beauty and flow of it.
Soon, we joined with more wolves, maybe thirty or forty. One of the ghost packs. My chest tightened as if something was pulling on it.
The shard of my soul.
She’s here, I can feel it,I said to my wolf.
Me, too. Wolfie broke away from Jaxson and Stephanie and began desperately searching among the runners. I had to weave and dodge, but it was much calmer than our race through Magic Side had been.
I’m not going to jump into any water,Wolfie said. Hope you’re not disappointed.
Yeah, yeah, smartass. Lesson learned.
The wolves paid us no attention, just kept their eyes forward, lost in the rhythm of their pace.
At first, there were too many unfamiliar faces, but then I spotted her. I could feel the tug of our souls guiding me forward, but I knew her in an instant. She was a mirror, our twin—yet also far more translucent than the other wolves.
She’s only a shard of our soul,Wolfie noted.
My shard looked over her shoulder, and then, with a start, she veered off into the crush of wolves. We pursued, but she was just as fast.
Finally, she broke off from the pack and dashed up a small tree-covered slope, where she stopped and looked back.
I followed but halted ten paces away. My shard was wary and started pacing back and forth with her hackles raised. Who are you?
Wolfie piped up in my head: Okay, you have to explain this one.