A Curse Unbroken - Chapter One
Chapter 1
Aric’s hand skimmed over the small of my back as we strolled along the
shore of Lake Tahoe. “We missed Thanksgiving together last year. We never
celebrated your birthday and Christmas downright sucked without you.”
The September
sun warmed my face as I leaned closer against him. “We’ll make up for it this
year, wolf,” I promised.
Aric bent to
meet my lips with a smoldering kiss. I moaned softly as I curled my free arm
around his neck. We’d spent so much time in bed since moving back in together.
This kiss reminded me why.
He pulled back, his light brown eyes smoky as he spoke.
“Celia, I think it’s time we start.”
I thought my werewolf lover would guide us back in the
direction of the house. Instead
he led me around the bend and removed a
folded quilt tucked between two boulders. “What’s this?” I asked when he spread
it along the sand.
Instead of
answering, Aric pulled out a picnic basket from behind another large rock and
placed it on the edge of the quilt. His dark Irish skin brightened to red and
perspiration built along his crown. He hauled me to the quilt, causing me to
trip over my feet. He barely caught me before I fell and lowered me to the
center. “Sorry—sorry,” he said, stumbling over his words. “There’s some . . .
stuff in there.” He pointed to the basket. “Help yourself—I’ll be right back.”
I didn’t
understand what was happening and blinked back at him as he darted away. I
tucked my knees against myself and waited, then waited and waited some more.
The breeze from the lake pushed back my hair and stirred Tahoe’s magic around
me, enlivening my inner tigress and inviting her to frolic.
I paused from
trying to lull her back to sleep and collect my long curls when I realized
where Aric had brought me. This was the section of beach where I first saw him
. . . and where his wolf side had recognized me as his mate. I let my hair slip
through my fingers.
Oh my God.
I rose slowly,
realizing what might be happening and wondering where Aric could be, when the
sound of clanging metal had me whirling in the direction he’d disappeared.
Shrill screams
followed swearing. Lots and lots of swearing. My claws shot out when I
recognized my sisters’ distressed voices . . . only to withdraw when a
snow-white wolf bolted past me wearing a dress.
That’s right, a
wolf in a dress. Welcome to my eff’d up reality. Have a seat, I’ll pour you a
cup of crazy.
The wolf tore
down the beach, kicking back sand with her large paws in her haste to escape .
. . my sisters? I watched Taran,
Shayna, and Emme race after her, the skirts of their medieval dresses hiked up
to their waists and the rose petals from their baskets fluttering in the wind.
“Son of a bitch!” Taran ditched the floral wreath
on her head and her basket of petals.
“Run, Celia, goddamnit, run!” she screamed.
She jetted past
me in full foulmouthed glory with Shayna and Emme at her heels. The banging
sound grew louder. Danny stumbled after them, the knight’s armor he wore making
it hard for him to maneuver his limbs. “Get back to the road!” he urged.
Four more
knights charged behind him on horses . . . wild, bucking horses. I only
recognized Koda because his midnight hair hung from his helmet.
Horses clearly
weren’t taken by werewolf charm. And it seemed my wolves would never become
accomplished equestrians. One by one, the horses flung them from their backs
like sock monkeys. They landed against the sand in a loud clash of noise, half
groaning, half laughing . . . and failing to see the one horse thundering
toward Emme. I dashed toward her as the large animal continued to kick.
The speed and
agility that made me so formidable were hindered by spasms of pain that
continued to claim me. While I ducked away from the horse’s legs, and managed
to yank Emme from its reach, I couldn’t avoid the smack of its tail.
The horse’s
essence hit me like a thunderbolt and I fell into a violent seizure. The world
spiraled around me, and what felt like slivers of glass raked against my skin.
I clenched my jaw, trying to hold back my cries and work through the misery of
my unplanned change.
The banging of
tin signaled my knight’s approach. “Celia, it’s okay,” Aric said. “I’m here.
Just breathe, sweetness. Breathe.”
It took
several long minutes for my convulsions to recede and my torment to end. I rose
on four very long and wobbly legs to stare down at my mate. Aric tugged off his
helmet and threw it aside, reaching to stroke my face. Fear darkened his
features. “Are you all right?” he asked.
I whinnied to assure him I was fine and
nudged him with my nose. He swiped at his face. “This is a disaster.”
Gemini took a step forward. “Aric, just ask her,” he said
quietly.
My sisters and
friends gathered around us. Aric let his hand fall to his side and slowly fell
to his knee. For a moment, he simply stared. But when he spoke, I could sense
his devotion in every word. “Celia, you have been my princess since the first
time I saw you. Now, I’d like you to be my queen for the rest of our lives.
Will you marry me?”
My vision blurred as giant tears leaked from my eyes and
rolled down my long fuzzy face.
“Scratch once for yes, twice for no!” Bren yelled.
I thought I’d always be ready to hear those words. And there I
was, a damn horse. So instead
of allowing this moment to be robbed from me, I closed my eyes and took in
everything that was Aric—his scent, warmth, love, and all that had brought us
together. Someone threw the quilt around me as I felt my body shrink and my
bare feet slide along the sandy beach.
For the first
time, I managed to reclaim my human form following an accidental change, and I welcomed it for everything
it allowed. Aric tucked the quilt around my naked skin and drew me to him,
waiting patiently for me to answer. The lump in my throat tightened. After all
the times I’d thought I’d lost him, was this really happening?
It took the
soft graze of his knuckles against my cheek to assure me this was more than a
dream. My body trembled and so did my voice. “Yes,” I managed.
Everyone
assembled cheered when Aric kissed me, including Heidi who changed from her white wolf form to stand beside her mate, Danny.
Unlike me and being were, Heidi
didn’t mind being unclothed. In fact she preferred it.
Three white
doves landed a few feet to our left, their loud fluttering wings demanding
attention and stirring my inner beast. I broke our kiss, smiling as the little
birds closed in. Aric had gone all out!
The one in the center scurried forward, leaving a small trail
behind him in the sand.
“Celia Wird,” it screeched.
My eyes widened
as the shape-shifter posing as a dove lunged at me. Aric hauled me behind him,
but the form the shifter took as it lunged was large and strong enough to
tackle us to the ground.
I was crushed
beneath the weight of Aric and the shifter. My lungs burned as the air was
forced out. Aric yelped in pain before snarling and taking out a chunk of
whatever was on top of us. A horrible crunching sound filled my ears as I
fought to take a breath, but before I could panic from the lack of oxygen, the
weight was abruptly lifted.
I scrambled into
a crouch, my tigress eyes replacing my own as the rest of my beast demanded out. Aric guarded me with his massive
gray wolf form. Blood dripped from his jowls, coating the dead tiger at his
feet.
Aric had torn
the tiger’s throat out, killing the shifter almost instantly. My fingers
gripped his fur. I was stunned. It had taken me, my three unique sisters, and a
swarm of vampires to kill the last shape-shifter we’d encountered. Either Aric
got lucky or his strength as a pureblood werewolf continued to grow.
Aric curled
his body around mine and howled, calling all
nearby weres to his aid as chaos
erupted around us.
Two horses lay
dead, victims of the remaining two shifters. One shifter had transformed into a
giant eagle and was circling above us, a screaming horse writhing in its grip.
The other shifter had turned into a black panther the size of a minivan. All
the werewolves, including Heidi, attacked as beasts, leaping onto the panther’s
back and trying to force it down.
My sister
Shayna wasn’t a were, but had
inherited a touch of werewolf essence from her mate, Koda. His magic gave her a
burst of speed. Not as fast as the weres’,
but enough to join the fight. She lifted a knight’s discarded sword,
manipulating and sharpening the metal until it elongated into a deadly blade.
She swung as she spun, slicing off a chunk of the panther’s paw when it tried
to slash her.
My remaining
sisters hid behind the cluster of boulders. Emme stayed perfectly still,
waiting for the right moment to use her telekinetic power. Taran wasn’t as
patient and attempted to stir flame from her hands. But her newly regenerated
limb affected her command. The funnel of fire she built dwindled to flecks of
embers within moments of summoning her power.
Her waning
strength and control scared me, but now wasn’t the time to show fear. I caught
my breath and changed into a golden
tigress, only to have Aric block my launch forward and growl. He didn’t want me
to fight. He wanted me safe. I couldn’t blame him. He knew I hadn’t fully
recovered from my last fight and had permanent scars to prove it.
He growled
once more before leaving me and ramming the panther at full velocity. The panther’s
ribs cracked when Aric connected, the force dragging him across the sand. But
as tough as Aric was, the shifters still reigned as the deadliest
preternaturals on earth. Injured or not, I wouldn’t allow my chosen pack to
fight without me.
I charged, my
large form grinding to a halt as I sensed something descending toward me like a
bomb. The eagle shifter had released the horse. Good grief, Pegasus he wasn’t.
The horse crashed down, narrowly missing me and splattering into a million
pieces. Something, possibly his stomach, smacked me between the eyes and temporarily
blinded me with its fluid.
Emme screamed, “Celia!”
I bounded toward
the sound of her voice. I still couldn’t see and hoped I was going in the right
direction. While I moved fast, it wasn’t enough. The eagle’s talons punctured
my hide. Despite the jolt of pain, I stretched out my claws to the earth and shifted him into the ground with me.
My body and his
broke apart into tiny molecules that passed through the sand. My intent was to
bury him and leave him to suffocate. He must have been familiar with my unique
gift because he released me before I could take him far.
When I surfaced
several yards away, he was already breaking his partially buried body free and
propelling toward me. Damn, he was fast. His powerful wings tilted, easily
dodging the boulder Emme flung at him. I shot in the direction of the forest; if
he wanted me, he’d have to work for it.
I raced across
the road, luring the shape-shifter away from my group. If I could buy them
enough time to kill the other shifter, the one chasing me would be easier to
take on.
My ideas were
always better in theory. I’d barely felt the forest floor beneath my paws when
razor-sharp talons dug into my back legs and I was wrenched into the air.
Shit.
The damn shifter screeched, loud enough to stab at my
sensitive eardrums. But that pain didn’t compare with the pain I felt when his
talons cut into my muscles and scraped at my bones. Agony claimed
my entire being, each pull to my muscles growing
worse and more torturous as I swung upside down.
Beneath me the earth spun. I made out brief images: a river,
the thickening stretch of forest, and the tops of its swiftly
approaching trees.
Trees! Shit,
shit, shit.
The momentum I
used to avoid the pines added to my torment. I roared as the shifter jerked and
dipped in awkward motions. This evil bastard wanted me to suffer before he
sacrificed me to his deity. So despite the mounting pain, I swung my body hard,
grabbing onto my back legs and curling into a
ball.
He screeched again, soaring with erratic flaps of his wings.
The treetops
smacked at my underside. It hurt, but it beat decapitation. I tried to use my
free claws as weapons. It wasn’t until I pulled myself into a better position
that I realized why the shifter kept screeching and why we were flying so unsteadily.
Aric, my
beloved wolf, must have managed to fasten his jaws to one of the shifter’s wings before he took flight.
His presence gave
me the strength I needed to act fast. I dug my claws into the underbelly and
took a massive bite. The shape-shifter screeched again, but still wouldn’t
release me. So I snapped my fangs repeatedly until his blood poured into my
mouth.
In a rather
daring move Aric changed back to
human and used his hands to scale up the shifter’s back. Chunks of feathers
rained down as Aric ripped the shifter’s wing apart with his hands. I clawed
and bit harder, knowing the shifter would use his powerful beak against Aric if
I didn’t distract him.
The shifter’s
screeches grew more pained when Aric snapped the bones of his wing like rotting
bark. But instead of diving toward the earth, the shifter soared higher.
That’s when I
panicked. If he thought he would die, he’d take us with him. He tucked his
broken wing and dove, sending us spiraling out of control.
Aric couldn’t
hold on like this. We were diving too fast. So I shifted my weight and bit
through the bones of the shifter’s feet.
It worked. Finally, I was free!
And crashing at high velocity toward the earth.
“Celia!” Aric yelled above my roars.
I pushed my
terror aside and reached for my inner eagle. Unlike shape-shifters who could
command any form at will, my power was limited to creatures I’d touched and
unpredictable in the best of times. Instead of transforming into the majestic
and powerful bird of prey, all I managed was a set of wings for arms and a very
human body.
Good. Lord. I thought my nipples would snap
off from the frigid breeze slapping at my body as I fought to halt my descent.
While I
didn’t exactly fly, my wingspan was wide enough to slow my fall. I would have
fluttered down gently had Aric not howled above me. My head snapped up. The
shape-shifter was corkscrewing ahead of me, his erratic motions breaking Aric’s
hold and flinging him off.
Like a baby
wren leaving the nest, I flapped my wings pathetically toward him. In no way
was I graceful, but my need to save Aric made me fast. I batted my half-assed
wings and naked self to him, snatching him from the air with my legs.
His face
smashed against my bare and trembling body. Had my thighs not been shredded to
bits, this move might have been kind of hot. But they were, and aw, hell, did it hurt.
I grunted
from the pain and exertion it took to hold him and keep us airborne. “It’s all
right, sweetness,” Aric said over my agonized whimpers. “You got this. Stay
strong.”
Aric slipped
further down my bloody and sweat-soaked body. I gasped, frightened he’d fall
through my legs. He tightened his arms around my waist. “I’m fine,” he
insisted. “Don’t be scared.”
His warm
breath against my stomach brought me a sense of comfort, and gave me a boost of
determination. But when I saw how far we remained from the ground, I worried
his faith in me wouldn’t be enough.
I forced my
wings to keep flapping, and tried to ignore the horrible burn in my legs. But I
could barely focus. It felt like someone was slicing at my thighs with a
machete and peeling the muscle away.
We were about
twenty feet from the ground when my body surrendered to the pain. Spots danced
in my vision before I lost my wings and we fell. I vaguely remembered Aric
twisting our bodies just before we crashed into the shallow muddy river.
Although it
was only September, the water felt like frozen icicles piercing my skin. The
sting jolted me awake, but did nothing to ease the throbbing of my shredded
skin.
Aric jerked
violently beneath me and slowly loosened his tight hold around my head. I
pushed myself up on my arms in anticipation of another attack. But it never
came. Instead, I watched the shifter disappear into the distance, his damaged
wing barely allowing him to fly.
Better luck next time, asshole.
My eyes quickly
fell back to Aric. I gasped when I saw him. He lay with his back arched against
the base of the embankment. Blood trailed into the water from where his skull
had hit a large rock. His breath was ragged, but his eyes blinked open. “Are
you all right?” he asked.
“Yes,” I
answered, reaching for him.
He shook his
head, grimacing as his skull snapped back into place, but surprising me with a
smile. He pushed my long hair over my shoulders. His stare wandered down my
body until it locked onto my legs.
Aric’s eyes
widened when he caught my blood mixing with the river water. “You’re not all
right!” He cradled me in his arms. “Your thighs look like hamburger!”
I smiled
weakly when he lifted me from the river and placed me along the edge of the
bank, keeping his body close against mine. I stroked his cheek carefully. “I
meant yes, I’ll marry you,” I told him quietly.
Aric stilled.
Drops of muddy water trickled from his hair to stream along his temples. “Even
after all that?” he asked, motioning with a jerk of his chin to where the
shifter had disappeared.
My fingers trailed over his rough five o’clock shadow. I knew
what he meant. Our union wouldn’t make our lives any easier. “For better or for
worse, right?”
His light brown irises flickered and that grin I fell in love
with spread across his face. “Yes, sweetness. For better or worse.”
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