Page 24 of Master Wolf

“Do you still have your wolf senses?” Drew croaked.

Lindsay shook his head. “Not really. All my energy is being expended fighting the Wolfsbane and keeping me alive.” He smiled as though that was a good thing, and Drew flinched.

Marguerite gave a strangled sob and immediately, Lindsay was contrite. He turned to her, taking her hand between his own.

“I’m sorry, darling. I was being facetious. Listen to this though—this is the good part, the reason I am doing this.” Touching her chin, he urged her to look at him and said softly, “I don’t feel my connection to Duncan anymore either. And here’s something even better:I’m not afraid anymore.” He smiled brilliantly. “I feel as though I’ll never be afraid again.”

Marguerite didn’t say anything to that but her expression remained tormented, eyes glinting with unshed tears.

Lindsay let her go and turned his attention to Drew. “As for our bond—yours and mine—the Wolfsbane has worked there there too. You must have noticed when you came in.”

“Noticed what?” Drew said stupidly.

“Why, that it’s gone!” Lindsay exclaimed. “Or near enough.” He actually seemed amused and all Drew could do was stare at him, paralysed.

“Gone?” he said blankly. He felt odd, as though he’d been struck by something very heavy and the pain hadn’t registered yet. A stunned, numb feeling. Closing his eyes, he reached out with his senses, desperately searching for the bond he’d been resisting for the last thirty years.

He couldn’t feel it.

Lindsay was right.

“I didn’tnotice,” he muttered through numb lips. A moment later the truth dawned on him and he opened his eyes, meeting Lindsay’s dark eyes. “That’s because it’s been fading for a while, isn’t it? Over the last two years, my sense of you has been… diminishing. Recently there have only been brief moments when I felt it. I thought that was because I was getting better at controlling my wolf, not because you—you—” He stuttered to a stop, staring at Lindsay, his stomach twisting.

All these months he’d thought he’d been getting stronger, more in control of himself. Congratulating himself on it.

And all the while, it was only because the bond had been deteriorating. Because Lindsay had been steadily eradicating it.

How had he not known? Its absence felt so suddenly obvious.

His bond to Lindsay wasn’t there anymore and he felt as though he was missing a limb.

“Ithought it was fading,” Lindsay said excitedly, “but I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening—it’s difficult to tell only from one side. But you felt it too, yes?”

Dumbly, Drew nodded, his heart twisting painfully when Lindsay’s smile grew. Christ, what was wrong with him? He’dwantedthis! For years.

“Good,” Lindsay said, smiling. He canted his head, studying Drew “Thatisgood, isn’t it? You’ve wanted to be free for such a long time. I thought I could never give you that back but look at us now! I can’t feel the bond between us at all, can you? And when my bond to my wolf finally severs—which will be any day now—you will be entirely free.” He gave a laugh, bright with incredulity, his dark eyes shining as they invited Drew to share his astonished joy.

And God, but Drew couldn’t do it. He sat in the dainty chair, staring at Lindsay, his mind teeming as he tried to find some acceptable words, while inside him his wolf pawed and scrabbled around, searching for the long-hated bond that now seemed to be gone.

Gone forever.

Like Lindsay’s scent.

His wolf began to rise. He felt it—rising uncontrollably, demanding to be let out, as it used to in the early years before he mastered it.

“Drew?” Lindsay said, his smile faltering. “Aren’t you pleased? It’s what you’ve always wanted and—”

Drew stood abruptly. “Of course I’m pleased,” he said in a rush. “It’s the best news I could have had. I just need to—it’s a lot to take in. I need to go. I’m sorry.”

He didn’t wait to hear what Lindsay said to that, or what anyone else said for that matter. Striding across the parlour, he yanked open the door and rushed out of the room.

“Drew, wait!” Marguerite called after him, but he ignored her. Ignored too the swift footsteps that followed him, though he let them catch him up just before he reached the front door, turning to confront Wynne Wildsmith.

“Are you all right?” Wynne asked urgently. “I saw—was your wolf rising?”

“Yes,” Drew whispered.

Wynne laid a firm hand on his arm. “Can you control it till you’re safe to shift?”