Black Wolf Read Online Free Page B

Gisela, not close enough to
interfere, and Kevin let the light fade away, in case he needed
that power for something more urgent. In the mostly-dark, his
heat-vision came back into play, and unless the stranger was a
dryad, his body temperature was definitely cooler than normal.
     
    Gisela cried
out, wordlessly; it sounded like denial.
     
    Without a
thought, Kevin scrambled closer to her, laid one hand on her
shoulder to feed her whatever power he still had from his day in
the sun, grabbed the stranger's hand in his other one and reached inside, tracking the mind/spirit/self that was
preparing to leave. Jesse , that was the stranger's name.
Rebecca should never have done this to Jesse, should never have
used him like this, and Kevin knew far too much about Rebecca's
charm and ruthlessness. That was something Kevin and Jesse had in
common, even if there was never anything else, and it was something
he could use to connect to that fading sense of self and call Jesse
back, keeping him there while Gisela threw everything she had into
healing the damage at least as far as non-lethal levels. He didn't
have enough left to do this, and he knew it, but there was no time
for anything else, and he was not going to let Rebecca kill
someone who should never have been involved in their problems.
     
    "Got it,"
Gisela whispered finally. "He won't die now. He's not going to feel
so great when he wakes up, which isn't going to be for a while, but
he'll survive it." She sounded exhausted. Kevin could relate; he
felt cold and vaguely dizzy.
     
    "All right,"
Deanna said briskly. That was Deanna all over, Kevin thought:
worried about her little sister and her best friend, her response
was to go all practical. "Moving our camping gear here is probably
pointless, there's no reason to think this spot was chosen for
things like access to water. There's no way we're going to get a
worn-out healer, a worn-out mage, and one unconscious body all back
to the usual spot under their own power. I suggest we go get
emergency supplies for overnight and stay here until sunrise. If
Kev isn't recovered enough to gate yet, Bane can go get Bryan to
anchor for Lori and she can gate here and get us all back to our
own camp."
     
    "I agree,"
Flynn said. "I don't get any sense of this being a particularly
good spot to camp, and I think it's going to be a few days before
going back to the house is a good idea. And I think it's probably
going to be Lori doing any gates for a day or two. I'll give you a
hand. Bane? Nothing's going to happen in the next little while.
Come help us? You can run something back here for these two to eat
before they go into shock, while Dia and I pack up some blankets
and things."
     
    Kevin let
himself more or less collapse where he was, wishing for moonrise,
which would at least give him back a little; Gisela curled herself
beside him, kitten-like, and he slid an arm over her.
     
    "Gotta tell
you something," she said quietly.
     
    "Hm?
What?"
     
    "He's a latent
wolf. Well, he used to be latent. Now it all depends on how
completely he heals from this."
     
    2
    Jesse opened
his eyes, and saw only green. After a moment of confusion, he
identified it as the curve of a green nylon tent over him, which
was followed by recognition of blankets under him and ground below
that, and a lightweight blanket over him. He was dressed, though he
wasn't wearing his shoes or his jacket.
     
    What had
happened, and why did he feel so awful—tired and achy and
disoriented? Had he been in a fight? But he couldn't remember
one.
     
    Cautiously, he
rolled onto his side to look around, pushing himself up with one
arm, surprised at how difficult that simple task was.
     
    On another set
of blankets nearby, he had company: probably not much older than
him, probably taller, with vividly golden-blonde hair falling loose
to jaw-length and amazingly white skin. Hadn't he seen someone who
looked something like that, with those high slanted cheekbones and
slightly