Bound by the Moon (The Ancients Series Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

even think to ask?”
    “What?” Evan’s shock couldn’t be hidden, neither could Natalia’s.
    “Did you bother to ask Jess why she snatched her hand away?”
    “There’s no need. It’s obvious why she did it. She’s afraid of what she doesn’t understand.” He sneered at me then, in disdain. “The one person I thought would understand when strange things started happening to another person.”
    “It tingled,” I whispered. Everyone grew quiet, except Evan who was still railing about the injustice of me being afraid of the unknown. I hadn’t even realized I had been rubbing my hands together for warmth since I pulled away from Natalia’s hold.
    “Evan, listen to her.” Natalia offered, and he shut his mouth and listened, finally.
    “When she touched me, the skin on skin contact held a tingling sensation.” I stopped rubbing my hands together, and dropped them to my sides, not wanting to call any more attention to the weirdness.
    “What?” Evan looked as puzzled as I felt.
    “I was not jerking back in fear as you suggested. I just didn’t know if that tingling was a good or bad thing. Not that it matters that I had a weird reaction to your mate’s touch, because we will get to the bottom of that and figure out why. Now, I am simply concerned about your nature, and the manner in which you feel justified to speak to me. I won’t be talked down to for erring on the side of caution, Evan. Clearly, something is going on with Natalia, and it affected me physically, which means it probably did with my daughter as well, only she can’t tell us about it yet.” This snapped him back to full attention.
    In fact, I now had everyone’s attention with that statement, and Mikael finally started to look worried. “I don’t know what it means, or if it’s even anything to get all worked up over yet. The fact remains that none of us know what is going on, and until we do, it’s best that she stays with my mom. I am sending you to her, because she can calm people without having to touch them. You have no clue if Natalia’s gifts might also cause harm, as they seemingly did magic on the plants you described. If it looks or feels like something is off, my mom may be the only person here who can help control that. At least, until we can get a witch in here who might have seen this kind of thing before.”
    “Okay, fine.” Evan relented, as he took one last look at Willow. I get it.”
    “Now, I just needed to warn my parents that you’re coming, so give me a moment to contact them, please.”
     

INFLUX OF MAGIC
     
    “Serena, I know you’re busy over there, but we could really use your input on this one.”
    “It’s fine,” Serena’s voice came through warmly on the phone. “I believe Avery was already planning a trip to visit your pack and trade information on the disappearances and murders. I suppose it will be as good a time as any for him to do that, and for me to check into what’s going on with Natalia.” Serena paused for a moment before continuing. “You say you felt a tingling sensation when she touched you?”
    “Yes, I did, but only where our skin came into direct contact.”
    “And the glowing light coming from her, was it somewhat like what you saw when you mated with Mikael? Or was it something else altogether?”
    “Hmm,” I thought for a moment. “Now that you mention it, I suppose it was a lot like that light.” When Serena said nothing I continued on, “does that mean something to you? She wasn’t doing some weird bonding thing with my daughter was she?”
    “I don’t think her light has anything to do with bonding, Jess. No need to worry just yet, we’ll see what it all means when I get back there.”
    ~*~
    A few hours after I spoke with Serena she was knocking on my front door with Avery Daniels in tow. I opened the door, looking from one to the other. I noticed how close they stood to one another before I moved out of the way and invited them inside. “Avery, I