No one knew what to make of that. They shifted into their human forms and walked toward the stones. Cullen was too worked up to be capable of shifting into human. They others looked around. Her trail ended at the stones. Cullen was right. She just vanished.
“Cul, there has to be some explanation. People don’t just disappear. She’s here. We’ll find her,” Keith said.
Others were starting to gather about. They were curious as to what was happening. With all the fuss Terrick had made it was looking bad that Cullen would be so worked up that he couldn’t shift back into his human form and was pacing about the stones ready to kill. When it hit everyone that she was gone again, there were some annoyed comments about what Cullen might do this time.
***
“As much as I don’t want to send you back, you need to go now,” Brinah said softly. She kissed Aislinn’s cheek.
Aislinn could feel that cool sensation on her face as Brinah pulled away from her. “How do I go back?”
“Leave the circle,” Brinah said.
“Will this happen every time I come here?” Aislinn asked.
“Only when you need it to.”
Aislinn could feel Cullen’s need to have her with him. She knew that he was near hurting someone. She walked through the stones and watched as her grandmother’s ghostly figure vanished from sight and suddenly the clearing blinked into normal time again. All around her people seemed to appear out of nowhere.
When Cullen felt the fog lift from his mind it was like being slammed with a sledge hammer of hurt and despair all of a sudden. Then Aislinn walked into the circle as if she had never left.
Before Aislinn could get her wits about her she felt a large furry beast barrel into her and knock her to the ground. She was just cognoscente enough to know that it was Cullen and he was trying to see that she was alright. A cold wet nose was examining her closely, nuzzling into her neck and along her shoulders and back. Aislinn let him do as he liked. She was still trying to understand what had happened.
Everyone else stood around watching. Aislinn was obviously out of it. She looked drunk or drugged or something. Her face was more pale than usual and there were tears streaming down her cheeks. Everyone watching could almost feel the hurt radiating from her and mates drew closer together as they watched Cullen examine her to try and figure out what had happened.
As Aislinn realized where she was and what was happening she reached out and wrapped her arms around the large black wolf that was fussing about her. He let her grab onto him and sat down as she rubbed her face into his fur and started crying again. He could smell Brinah all over her.
Sarah, Keith, am I losing my mind or does she smell like Brinah? Cullen projected not caring who over heard the conversation. His friends moved in and didn’t even have to get close to catch the scent. They all looked at each other in confusion.
Sarah sat down next to them and stroked Aislinn’s hair gently. “What happened?”
Aislinn took a deep breath and got a hold of herself. When she finally let Cullen go he managed to take his human form again. Everyone in the clearing was moving in closer to try and hear what was happening. “I saw my grandmother,” she said and Cullen could feel the pain surge through her again. “She’s dead,” Aislinn said answering the confusion on their faces before anyone could say it. “I know. But her spirit is here.”
They all looked around as if Brinah was going to magically appear out of nowhere. “Okay,” Sarah said. “What did she want?”
“To tell me that Jenna has the books Rafe stole and is doing something dangerous with them.”
Cullen growled, “We kind of already know that.”
Sarah gave him a hard look when Aislinn’s head fell with his tone. “Is there anything more than what you already knew though?”
“If I don’t get the books away from Jenna before someone else gets them something terrible will happen,” Aislinn said, knowing that it didn’t sound very convincing or powerful.
Cullen growled again and shook his head. “We already discussed this. It doesn’t have to do with this pack. We’re not starting another fight so soon after the last one.” There was an approving murmur through the crowd surrounding them that caught Cullen’s attention and brought him into reality now that he wasn’t distraught about Aislinn being in some kind of danger.
He reached out and lifted her chin to make her look at him. “Are you alright?”
She nodded.
“Then that’s it for now. We can discuss it more after the funeral.”
Aislinn nodded again, then leaned into him and he wrapped his arms around her. The crowd watched. Terrick was losing more ground. This didn’t look like Aislinn was running anyone. She looked more like a scared child than anything else as she huddled in Cullen’s arms. Terrick watched from the shadows. It didn’t take a genius to see that he was going to need to try a different tactic.