“How are you doing?” Dastien said as he looked down at me.
“Fine.”
“Your wolf. She’s restless. Any chance you’ll let her out?” He nudged me.
Was he nuts? “Now? You want to talk about this now?”
“Did you read the spell?”
“Yes.”
“It says the person performing it has to be at one with themself.”
“Yeah, I saw that.”
“You’re not at one with yourself, cherie.” He pulled me toward him. “Why are you still so afraid of it?”
“I don’t fucking know!” I snapped at him and instantly felt bad about it. My temper was out of control today, but Dastien didn’t seem bothered by it.
“You’re a beautiful chocolate brown wolf. I’d like to see that again sometime, but you’ve been putting it off for weeks.”
When I was going through the transition from human to Were, I’d been a wolf. At one point, I kept going back and forth between forms so much that they were worried whether I’d survive. I didn’t remember, but apparently the only thing keeping me together had been Dastien staying by my side.
I rocked from foot to foot. “It’s weird.”
Adrian and Chris laughed, but Dastien shot them a look. They shut up immediately.
“I’m going to do it. I really am…not today, though.” I gave him the best smile I could. “I’ve gotta take care of Meredith first.”
He pressed his lips in a firm line before speaking. “You’re going to have to deal with this before the full moon. Three days, Tessa. It’ll give us the edge we need to fight during the Tribunal.”
“I know.” I got it, but I couldn’t deal with it now.
“It’ll be really fun. Going on a run. Feeling the wind against your face. You’re going to love it. Trust me.”
I trusted him, but still, letting go of my humanity was harder than expected. Doing it a little bit at a time was easier. I’d gotten much more comfortable with the pack and being Dastien’s mate, and those powers were pretty cool. Being on four legs was what freaked me out.
“Meredith first, then wolfy stuff.”
“Promise?”
I hated to promise if I wasn’t going to follow through. Still, I kind of had to with this one so I might as well give him my word. “I promise.”
“Good.” He placed a quick peck against my lips. “Now, let’s raid the supply closet.”
Chapter Ten
The meta lab storage room was across the hall. It was tiny, three feet by six feet at most. The door bumped precariously into the shelves that lined every inch of wall as we opened it. Every item in the room was perfectly labeled with white tape in two-inch round glass jars and alphabetically organized. The space was perfectly used. I may have been slightly jealous of the skills it took to organize at this level.
Dastien opened the door and then his cell phone rang. He pulled it from the back pocket of his jeans and glanced at the screen. “Excuse me for a sec.” He stepped into the classroom next-door.
For a moment I wondered what the phone call could be about, but soon I forgot all about it. Taking one final look around the room, I turned to Adrian and Chris. “Let’s get what we need from here, and figure out what we don’t have. After that, I’ll call my mom and see if she might know where to get the rest.”
Adrian handed me the book. “Sounds like a plan. If you read, we’ll pull.”
“Cool.” I grabbed the book. The paper was yellow and the edges were worn, but the handwriting was still readable. In the margins, someone had written, “Shortcuts result in ineffective potions.” Great. So, no shortcuts. “Cinnamon.”
Adrian searched, and handed the bottle to Chris.