Shades of the Wolf. Karen Whiddon

idea. “He’ll likely be furious. You won’t be able to hold him off forever.”

      Again Anabel and Tyler exchanged a glance. Again, her heart turned over in response. Tearing her gaze away, she focused on Juliet. “Then you’d better do your best to teach me as much as you can. It’s not like I even have a choice.”

      * * *

      Tyler didn’t know what it was about Anabel—other than her beauty—but every time their eyes met, he found himself entranced. His fascination deepened the more time he spent with her, which was not only impossible, but an unnecessary distraction. He’d come back to the earthly plane with one objective—to save his sister—and he couldn’t let this compelling attraction detour him.

      So he decided to leave the two women alone. There wasn’t much he could do anyway, other than be a disruption. Anabel had asked Juliet for twelve hours—an eternity for his sister, trapped and tortured. But this was only the second day since he’d appeared and begged Anabel for help. She needed to learn how to tap into her power if she wanted to have a prayer of finding Dena. He had to allow himself to trust and to hope.

      He left the human plane and went to the gray area he privately thought of as the in-between place. Not earth, but not the afterlife either. Once there, he made himself still and then sent himself out. Seeking, searching, for the spark of life force that belonged to his sister.

      There. Faint, but still burning. He zoomed to it, passing through nothing and everything, clouds and earth and night sky. When he reached her, in that damp, dank place where she was being held, he once again tried to communicate with her and comfort her.

      But Dena had no power and couldn’t sense his presence. In fact, he realized she’d sunk into a state of consciousness where she couldn’t sense much of anything at all.

      Horrified, he took stock of her condition. Her once slender body had become emaciated, and even though she lay curled in a corner in the fetal position, he could see the sharpness of her bones. Her labored breathing attested to her general state of unhealthiness, as did her lank and tangled hair. Even her aura had changed, becoming speckled with brown and black, as if a rotting poison festered inside her system.