Pack of Lies (Shadow Guild Pack of Lies (Shadow Guild Wolf Queen #3) - Linsey Hall Page 0,3
completely stopped working?”
“How do you think I got the eyes?” My feelings for Eve had overcome the potion that repressed them, igniting the Dark Moon curse.
I was lucky to have made it as long as I had. If she hadn’t been wearing the charm that repressed her shifter side, I’d have lost control much sooner.
“Good point.” She looked me up and down. “Do you love her?”
The question hit me like a freight train.
Did I?
No. Not yet. But there was enough between us that I couldn’t fight it.
It felt inevitable that I would.
“My wolf senses its mate,” I said, knowing that was the bulk of it. “It was enough to ignite the curse.”
“Lie.”
My brow creased. “It is not.”
“Lie by omission, then. I believe that your wolf senses her. But I also think you care for her. And that is why my potion has stopped working for you.”
She was right. There was no point in fighting it. “Which means you can’t increase the strength of it.”
“Correct. I can give you something to hold off the madness from the curse. Probably the same thing Eve would make, a little extra powerful due to my blood. But you’re going to keep feeling those pesky feelings of yours.”
Pesky feelings. An understatement in the extreme. I nodded to her. “Thank you. I’ll take whatever you can give me.”
“And pay nicely for it as well.”
“Of course.” I leaned against the shelf behind me and watched her work, my mind spinning over the problem of Eve.
We’d avoided each other since the fight in the Clerkenwell tunnels, but I’d had guards on her every second of the day. Well-hidden guards, but she’d likely seen them at some point. Their reports had been both a torture and a pleasure to hear.
Though I knew it was bad for me, I was ravenous for details of her. I couldn’t help myself.
I tilted my head back against the shelf, memories of our last kiss flashing through my mind.
No matter what I did, it was imperative that I resist more of that.
But how?
I shook my head, driving away the thoughts. If there was one thing I couldn’t afford to think of, it was the sweetness of her lips.
“All done.” Mordaca held up several small vials. “Use them whenever you feel the need, but use them wisely. If you can space them out, you’ll have longer.”
I nodded, walking over to take the vials and hand her the substantial payment.
She stared hard into my eyes, searching. “Be careful, Lachlan.”
“Always.”
She huffed out a small breath. “Somehow, I don’t believe you.”
Without another word, I turned and departed her workshop, striding down the dark hall to the exit. As I stepped out onto the quiet street that ran through the center of Darklane, I searched the pavement all around me, looking for Garreth.
He wouldn’t be here, of course, but I’d found it impossible not to look for him everywhere I went.
My brother was out there somewhere, cursed by the same thing that was about to take me.
I’d failed him.
I tucked the vials of potion into my pocket. I could spare a few more hours before I was forced to take one, and I should.
As I stepped onto the pavement, the air around me vibrated with magic. I stiffened, my senses going alert. The wolf inside readied for battle.
In front of me, the air shimmered, and a figure appeared.
The seer. Her white hair was pulled back in a long braid, and her floral dress swept the grimy street.
I blinked, shocked. I’d never seen her outside of her cottage before. Hadn’t even been sure she could leave it, in fact.
“Don’t look so surprised,” she said.
I felt my eyebrows rise. “Really? You’ve never left your cottage once—we need to make a blood sacrifice to even try to see you—and I shouldn’t be surprised when you appear on the other side of the world?”
“It was important. Vitally so.”
“Is Eve all right?”
She frowned. “Define all right.”
Fear chilled my skin. “Just tell me, damn it.”
“She’s alive. Mobile. Mostly healthy—physically, at least. Though she feels like hell, I imagine.”
I hated the idea of it. “What’s wrong with her?”
“That, you’ll have to ask her. I am not here to discuss Eve, but rather your brother.”
“What about Garreth? Is he safe?”
“As safe as you are.”
“Not good, then.”
She shrugged. “That is for time to determine. But I am here to tell you that you must pursue Garreth. The vision was very clear. What he seeks—what they seek—is still bound to Eve.”