Lycan Legacy - Paladin: Tales of Luna White - Werewolf by Veronica Singer (funny books to read TXT) 📕

meditation. My wolf side gladly accepted the responsibility of guarding us.

I focused on breathing and tried to work on the technique Mason had shown me. “Sleeping between the ticks of the clock,” he called it. A way for a trained person to accelerate rest and recovery.

The sigh of the wind, the tiny gurgle of the water fountain, the scents of the desert—it all faded away as I turned inward.

Exactly one hour later, my eyes blinked open. I took a deep breath and stretched.

Mike was kneeling on one knee, scanning the empty horizon. He jerked when I spoke. “Okay, Mike. It’s your turn to rest.”

“Are you sure? I don’t really need to. I can stay up a lot longer. It didn’t look like you got any rest, sitting up like that.”

“I’m sure. I had a great rest and meditation.” I jumped to my feet. “With the twins, all I get are short snatches of sleep. I’ve learned to make the most of them.”

I shouldn’t have mentioned the twins. A sharp pang went through my heart at the thought of them.

Mike noticed my expression and said, “You’ll be back there before they know it. They’re in suspended animation, right?”

“No. It’s a Fae slow-time bubble. We put them down for a nap two weeks ago, and they should wake up in about two weeks.”

“Something every mother would love to have.”

“And I would love to keep chatting, but you need at least an hour of sleep before we head out.”

“Yes, mommy,” he said as he leaned back on the sand. He put a handkerchief over his face and said nothing more.

I waited five minutes to be sure, then said, “Mike, I know you’re awake. I can tell from your breathing.”

He jerked the handkerchief off and glared, angry at being caught out. Then his expression softened. “Luna, I can’t sleep or rest while I’m taking care of you.”

“I can take care of myself,” I said. “At least for one hour. If you don’t get to sleep, I’ll knock you out with magic.”

“That wasn’t on the list of things you can do.”

“A girl has to keep some secrets.”

I began to sing a lullaby in Fae, one my sister-in-law had taught me to calm the twins when they were fussy.

“What is that?” asked Mike. Then he yawned and his eyes drooped closed. I continued to sing as I placed the handkerchief over his face.

Under the lengthening shadows of a desert afternoon, with a gurgling fountain and the sigh of the wind as background music, I sang my warrior to sleep with words he couldn’t understand.

9

“Wake up, Mike,” I said from a safe distance. The sun was low on the western horizon. It would be dark soon.

The silver dagger appeared in his fist as he sat up suddenly. The handkerchief fluttered to the ground as he rose and scanned the area.

“It’s okay, Mike. We’re safe. Nap time’s over. We need to get moving.”

Mike nodded, put the dagger away, and started disassembling the awning.

We filled up our canteens at the fountain and drank our fill. Mike grabbed his pack and strapped it on.

I grabbed my pack, hefted it, and gave Mike a glare. “Mike, you repacked our packs. Don’t insult me by giving me the lighter load. I can pull my weight.”

“But I’m—”

“Don’t you dare say you’re stronger than me. We both know that’s not true.”

Instead of arguing, he dropped his pack and handed over items until our weights were evenly matched.

Leaving the bubble of cool air was like stepping into an oven.

Mike grunted and said, “I’m going to miss our air-conditioned oasis. That was the best nap I’ve ever had.”

He stuck his hand back through the invisible border. “Hey, it’s still cool inside. Don’t you have to turn it off?”

I started walking toward the distant horizon. “No, the spell should fade away on its own.”

Mike caught up with me in a few steps. “Too bad.”

“But the oasis might not,” I said.

“Why not?”

“The changes we made—the water, the apple tree, and the extra humidity—will cause other plants to flower there. There’s a good chance the changes will become self-sustaining.”

“That tiny trickle of water makes that much difference?”

“It will make this side of the boulder just a bit cooler. That’ll change the pattern of the wind that swirls around the area, which will leave a high-pressure area here. This zone will stay cooler.”

“If you say so,” said Mike.

“It’s not guaranteed, but it should work out that way.”

We reached the first of the steep-sided dunes. Trying to cross the dune by climbing straight up would have been nearly impossible. Instead, we went up in a zig-zag path that gave us better footing.

At the top of the first dune, Mike started his descent, sliding down the sand. I joined him at the bottom. “One down, nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine to go,” he said with a laugh.

A few dunes later, the sun finally disappeared under the horizon, covering the dunes in darkness.

“On the teams, we would be using our night-vision goggles at this point,” said Mike. “Good thing neither of us needs them.”

My inner wolf showed an image of Ariel pulling the batteries out of a set of goggles.

“They probably would’ve been sabotaged too,” I said.

“I don’t think our equipment was sabotaged.”

“Seriously? Nothing worked, from our parachutes to our weapons. Somebody screwed them up.”

“The equipment passed our pre-flight inspection,” insisted Mike. “It doesn’t make sense to sabotage our equipment. If they wanted to get rid of us, they could have just shot us and shoved our bodies out of the rear of the aircraft.”

“So you think Ariel was innocent?”

“Hell, no. She was gunning for you from the start. But I don’t think she would have risked the mission to get rid of you.”

I admitted his logic was sound. “Yeah, they were salivating over the prospect of getting one of our latest fighter jets in exchange for help on this mission.”

We slogged on for a bit, then Mike asked, “Could it have been a curse from the genie?”

I automatically dismissed the