Chapter Forty-nine

Serena refused to give up. She’d been up and down the dreamscape she’d explored with Glenna, hunting for her for hours. She just wasn’t there. The woman had to sleep at some point, and Serena would be there when she did.

And then she spotted something: a bold flash of red fur, but the aura shouted Glenna. The change had happened and Glenna was a wolf here on the dreamscape. The question was—dreamwalker or actual physical shifter?

“Glenna!”

The red wolf turned, and stopped. Her upper lip curled and her head dropped low.

“Glenna, it’s me.”

The wolf’s cold blue eyes kept Serena pinned. Could Glenna even shift back to human, or was the wolf one-hundred percent in control? A sinking feeling told Serena she might be too late. Glenna hadn’t had years of conditioning and teaching about what to expect. She’d had a few days of adjusting. That’s all. And it wasn’t enough.

Serena lifted her hand out, and the wolf growled, her muscles bunching. Fear rolled over her and she braced for the attack.

She couldn’t be hurt in the dreamscape. She had enough control to wake up if things got too bad. But while she was in it, the dreamscape was just as real as the waking world and facing an attacking wolf here was frightening.

“Glenna, can you shift? Can you become human?”

The wolf’s expression grew puzzled and it tilted its head to the side. “Try, Glenna. Try picturing yourself human. Let the shift flow through you.”

The wolf sat back on its haunches and shook its head, as if trying to rid itself of a buzz inside.

“Glenna, this is important. You have to try!”

The wolf shuddered, and the shift began. At the end, Glenna lay nude and panting on the forest floor.

Serena approached her with caution. Glenna’s fierce blue eyes were open, but still hazy. “Good job, Glenna. You shifted once. You’ll be able to shift again.”

“Don’t patronize me.” Glenna rolled to a sitting position, her expression cold. “You aren’t my friend. You never have been.”

“I never wanted to hurt you.”

“You want Sam.”

“I’m married, to Sam’s brother.”

“That’s even worse. You expect me to trust you when you nearly killed Sam?”

“I didn’t mean to hurt him. I wish I hadn’t. But that was a long time ago.”

“Prove it.”

“What do you mean?” She wanted to slap Glenna and get her to move off the Sam thing so they could do what they needed to do—tear down Glenna’s wall and find the monster who threatened the pack. But as a counselor she knew Glenna would never move on until she trusted her again. “You can trust me.”

“I don’t think so.” Glenna turned and began to walk away on a path that led deep into the forest.

Serena nearly screamed with frustration. She’d left it too late and now Glenna not only didn’t trust her, but she was in the middle of the worst part of the change—the balancing of the two entities within the body. Who would come up in control? Glenna or her wolf?

Serena steeled her resolve. If Serena didn’t force Glenna to face the monsters, the pack would be exposed, and all their lives would change forever. It was wrong for Glenna, wrong for Serena, but it was right for the pack. Windy Gap was her home now, and it was under threat from the fire, from this mad man. And Glenna was a wolf now, she was pack too. If they didn’t find this man, he might come back for her too. This wasn’t what she wanted to do. It was what she had to do.

Serena followed Glenna into the woods and with her dreamwalker abilities manipulated the dreamscape until they were next to Glenna’s wall. “Glenna, do you see what’s there?” Glenna shivered, crossing her arms under her breasts and hunching her shoulders. “You know what’s behind it, don’t you?” Serena prodded.

“No, I don’t.” Glenna backed up, keeping her gaze on the wall. “But I remember now, you said I didn’t ever have to find out.”

“I’m sorry. I really am. But I need to know, who’s behind the wall?”

All the birds and small creatures that were the natural background to Glenna’s dream were suddenly silent. An oppressive darkness crept over the dreamscape and a chill wind rose, tugging at Glenna’s wild red hair.

“I can’t deal with this!” Glenna turned, as if to run. “I have too much to deal with right now.”

“I understand you’re coping with your wolf and the change. I think you’re also coping with something to do with Sam.”

“Sam!” Glenna grabbed Serena’s arm, her fingers digging in like claws. “I almost forgot Sam.” The wind picked up, leaves and twigs hurtling through the air, pelting Serena’s face. She ducked, trying to protect her eyes. The wind blew faster and now pieces of the landscape swirled around them, chunks of land and trees ripped up by the roots sailed by.

“Glenna!” Serena desperately tried to wrestle control from Glenna, but the other woman’s subconscious was too strong. The change had made her unstable. “Glenna, you have to stop this.” Serena couldn’t believe what was happening, she was trapped in Glenna’s nightmare as the newly shifted woman hurtled them through time and space.

Fear paralyzed her. For the first time ever, she didn’t know what to do. “Wake up. Wake up, damn you!” she shouted at Glenna. But Glenna didn’t listen. Mad with the new change and fearful of her memories, she had seized control of the dream.

The world around them slowed down, the swirling land settled, stabilizing into an old barn with concrete floors. The corners were dark and shadowy, Glenn’s subconscious hadn’t filled in the details, but in a pool of light was Sam, chained to a ring in the floor.

Serena ran to him. She shook him hard, but he didn’t wake up. He was a dream construct and would do what Glenna wanted him to do, now that she was in charge of the dream.

“Glenna, what is this?”

“It’s where we are.”

“What did you do, Glenna?” Fear made her voice rise high.

Glenna shook her head. “I didn’t do this. He did.” She pointed behind Serena. There, framed in the barn door was one of the monsters. Gleaming fangs and heavy wolf pelt mixed with fragments of skin and bone to form a nightmare of a man.

Here was the monster that had attacked Glenna weeks ago. She was facing her fear—all on her own, without Serena’s pushing her to go behind the wall. But he still didn’t have a recognizable face.

This was Serena’s chance, maybe her only one, to find out who had attacked Glenna. “Who are you?” she demanded.

Sam’s pool of light vanished, leaving them alone in the dark. The monster’s large, echoing laugh grew louder even as the light fled.