Page 21

NICHOLAS

N icholas stumbled down the stairs from Sylvie's apartment, the relic burning like a coal in his palm. Outside, the evening air did nothing to cool the flush of shame heating his face. He'd screwed up massively and the tiger inside him was yowling with loss.

His boots scuffed against the cobblestones as he made his way through town. Main Street's quaint storefronts, normally charming, seemed to mock him with their warm, inviting windows. Couples walked hand in hand, laughing, sharing ice cream cones from Frosty's. Nicholas averted his gaze.

The relic pulsed against his skin, almost gleefully.

"Shut up," he muttered, shoving it deeper into his pocket.

When he reached his truck, he slammed the door hard enough to rattle the windows. The engine roared to life, a pathetic substitute for the tiger's frustrated growl building in his chest.

"She looked at me like I was poison," he told his reflection in the rearview mirror. His eyes flashed amber, his tiger closer to the surface than usual. "Like I was something to scrape off her shoe."

He thought that had been what he wanted before, but when it happened, the way it had happened… well, it made him more miserable than he thought possible.

He finally had decided to tell her, face facts, and the one damn secret he'd kept had ruined it all. Of course Sylvie had known what the relic was. He should have shown her first, before anyone else.

The drive to Echo Woods took barely fifteen minutes, but each second stretched painfully. The relic grew warmer in his pocket, as if anticipating its return home. Nicholas cranked up the radio, but even Blake Shelton couldn't drown out the memory of Sylvie's voice— Get out. Just get out.

Echo Woods loomed ahead, ancient trees reaching toward a darkening sky.

Nicholas parked at the ranger station, empty this time of night, and grabbed a shovel from the back of his truck.

The setting sun cast long shadows through the trees as he hiked toward the old mating circle where he'd found the cursed thing.

"Should've just left you in the ground," he growled, marching down the trail. "Should've told her the moment I found you."

The path grew narrower, wilder. Echo Woods had been a sacred space for shifters since before the town was founded. Ancestors had performed mating ceremonies here, binding themselves to their chosen partners beneath the full moon. Nicholas's parents had mated here. Look how that turned out.

The clearing appeared ahead, a perfect circle of stone markers surrounding a central fire pit, now long cold. Moonlight filtered through the canopy above, illuminating the ancient space with silvery light.

Nicholas pulled the relic from his pocket. It looked innocuous enough—a small stone tablet etched with symbols of binding and connection. Yet darkness seemed to seep from its surface, tendrils of shadow that writhed against his skin.

"Back to hell with you." He dropped to his knees and began digging, the shovel cutting into soft earth. The physical exertion felt good, channeling the frustration coursing through him.

The hole grew deeper. Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cool night air. When it seemed deep enough, Nicholas held the relic over the pit.

"Good riddance."

But his fingers wouldn't release it. The stone had grown scorching hot, yet he couldn't drop it. The relic's surface began to glow with an eerie black light, pulsating in rhythm with his heartbeat.

"What the?—"

The world around him shifted. The clearing transformed, edges blurring until Nicholas found himself standing in Sylvie's shop.

But not as it was—as it could be. Flames licked up the walls, consuming shelves of herbs and bottles.

And in the center, Sylvie herself, surrounded by fire, eyes wide with terror as she reached for him.

"Nicholas!" Her voice echoed, distorted and distant. "Help me!"

Nicholas lunged forward, but the vision shifted. Now he stood in a hospital room. Sylvie lay pale and still on a bed, machines beeping ominously beside her. A nurse shook her head sadly.

"Too late," the nurse said, her face morphing into his mother's. "Just like all the others. The Whitmore curse claims another."

"No!" Nicholas shouted, the sound tearing from his throat. The visions melted away, leaving him on his knees in the clearing, the relic still clutched in his trembling hand.

"I won't let it happen," he gasped, staring at the hateful object. "I won't let you take her too."

The relic pulsed again, shadows swirling across its surface. Nicholas raised his arm to throw it into the pit, but pain shot through him, doubling him over. His tiger clawed beneath his skin, demanding release, fighting for control.

"Not happening," he growled through clenched teeth.

A voice—not quite sound, not quite thought—whispered from the stone. You cannot escape what is written in blood. The bond will complete, or it will destroy.

Nicholas forced himself to his feet, fighting against the pain. "Then I'll break the curse. I'll find a way."

Laughter echoed in his head. Many have tried. All have failed.

"Yeah, well." Nicholas steadied himself against a tree, drawing deep breaths. "They weren't in love with Sylvie Sage."

The admission shocked him even as it left his lips.

But there it was—the truth he'd been dancing around since the moment he'd walked into her shop and his tiger had recognized her.

He loved her. He had known it even a few years ago when she had started working at the sanctuary and seeing her more in the shop.

He had been pulled to her and thought it was just for fun, but now he knew.

It was more. And he'd royally screwed it up.

The relic's grip on him seemed to loosen slightly, surprised by his declaration. Nicholas tried to use the moment to throw it in the hole, but to no avail. It was like it was glued into his hand. The harder he tried, the more pain he was in.

The night air was suddenly still, the forest quiet except for the distant call of an owl. Nicholas leaned on his shovel, processing what had just happened—and what he'd admitted to himself.

He loved Sylvie Sage. And he had to find a way to break this curse before it destroyed them both.

And to start, he had to get rid of this cursed thing. Now.