Page 57 of The Curse of Indy Moore (The Cursed Duology #1)

But I was; I had to be. My family, Rooke, Otis, Professor Kumir, Beamy—they all believed in me, worked with me, and prepared me for this moment.

Unknowingly, Carline’s curse forced me to face what I had hid from for so long.

I stood before her stronger than ever, and she would learn that soon enough.

“You were right that night, about the dresses and the jewels. I did want them,” I said with my hand on the pendant.

The brief widening of her eyes gave me confidence.

“I want nice things. I want to wear a beautiful gown and jewelry to match. I always felt I was undeserving of it for so many reasons: being born poor, having to make up for my aunt taking me in, being seen as boring and frugal and lesser by my partners, but most of all myself. I told myself I didn’t want any of that because I didn’t want to be greedy and cruel as I had seen others being, but deep down, I knew I wanted a little luxury, too, and I hated myself for it, but not anymore. ”

The dying sunlight cast the cottage in a purple haze.

For the first time, I was unbelievably aware of the change and felt it for what it truly was: desire.

An uncontrollable, festering want that caused a literal change, that made me into the beast Carline wanted to control, but she wouldn’t, and that frightened her as I dared to storm toward her.

Carline retreated as I came upon her, screaming with all my heart, “I’m not scared to admit what I want anymore, and I’m not scared of you.

Tonight, I am defeating you and this curse, and come morning, I think I’ll have Rooke take me into town for another shopping spree, this time without you to bother us. ”

The pendant warmed, and the change didn’t hurt as it once did. My body contorted into a new shape, fur sprouting from my skin that tickled more than anything. In that moment, I felt free and in utter control. I was the wolf, and she was the prey.

Carline’s shock had her hesitating, so I took advantage of that.

Leaping, my fangs tore into the sleeve of her robes, narrowly missing her after she sprinted to her side.

She kicked me with such strength, I cracked against the window.

A power had grown within me. I understood what I could do, that I was fast and strong and wild, as she said I would be.

But it wasn’t power I would keep, that I didn’t need, because I had power of my own all long.

Carline backed away from me when I stood.

She held out a steady hand. “Foolish child, do you genuinely believe after this that you may return to that artificer of yours? How will that change anything? You didn’t find a home among your aunt and the daughters she already has, and you won’t find a home among artificers, a world of magic you can never truly be a part of. ”

When I wavered, her smile grew.

“He’s a charmer—I will give him that. He would have charmed anyone, but don’t let him fool you, Indy.

You could never live at his side, only in his shadow, to become another trinket in his Ivory House.

The first year or so will be grand. You’ll be so smitten, but then he’ll grow tired and bored, same as Baxter, and you will become another lost treasure collecting dust.”

There was a voice that agreed with her. A voice that had been louder than any other for most of my life.

But not anymore because I knew that was all it was: a voice.

Neither truth nor lie. I didn’t know what the future had in store for me, but I wouldn’t let Carline take whatever that future was, and I would find all the places that I belonged, because it didn’t have to be one place or person, and that was what made home great.

I leapt at her. She shoved the couch, creating a barrier between us. As predicted, her wolves reacted. One crashed against the window, causing it to splinter. The front door rattled from their clawing. My time was dwindling.

“You belong here with us. Join my wolves. Can’t you feel their love for you?”

The wolves howled, their scents strong and feelings even stronger.

Somehow, I understood them without words.

Their forms morphed as if to show their souls, dazzling colors, laughter and joy, the human faces of them.

Their voices became one, calling my name over and over.

They saw themselves as a family, Carline’s pack, and I did not doubt she cared for them in her twisted way.

She truly believed their lives were better under her protection, and that made her all the more sad, all the more lonely.

“You mustn’t fight this. We were meant to meet.

I came here to escape, but I found you. Is that not fate?

” she said sweetly, keeping a hand outstretched, as if to welcome me or defend herself.

“I will care for you, Indy. You will have a home here. Even after all this, I will give your aunt and cousins what they deserve. Come to me, please. We cannot be fighting, not here, not like this. It’s dangerous! ”

I leapt the couch as the window shattered behind me. Carline lurched into the kitchen, where she stumbled around the island. She wasn’t using much power against me. She would never hurt one of her beloved wolves, even if I wasn’t entirely hers.

Behind me, a wolf snapped and snarled. Carline sped into the dining room with me nipping at her heels. There, too, the window splintered from another wolf trying to break in. Carline made it to the stairs as another wolf came in through the broken window. It lunged just as I went for Carline.

“Indy, stop, you don’t understand what you’re doing!”

Before the beast rammed me, my jaws locked around Carline’s ankle.

Her scream made the world shake. Trees shuddered.

The cottage groaned and cracked. The wolves howled, the sound of their master’s scream sending them into a panic.

I clenched harder, tasting blood, feeling Carline’s power tremble like a poisoned animal.

I let go and fell against the floor. The change tore through me in a far more painful way, a living entity wiggling free of a too small carcass.

A strange sound erupted from me, a mixture of a howl and a scream.

Carline withered on the stairs, whimpering and curling in on herself.

Darkness seeped from my mouth, an onslaught of smoke that evaporated above our heads.

My bones cracked and snapped into place.

The fur fell away, disappearing upon the floor.

I laid there, human once more, curled up naked and cold on the floorboards.

My hand slipped into my hair. The wolf ears were gone. I traced the round lining of my ear, releasing a strangled laugh. It worked. It truly worked.

I held Rooke’s pendant so tightly, my hand ached while biting back a cry. I would see the sun as myself. Tonight, I would greet the moon as myself. I would return home, and all the things I ever wanted could be mine.

Whimpering, the wolves caroled around Carline, comforting her. She now sat on the steps, a hand laid against her ankle, where my bite festered like an old untreated wound. Snarling, she glared at me, and I crawled toward the couch, where a blanket lay.

“You absolute imbecile! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” she hissed, frantic, eyes wild and whipping from side to side.

I half expected her to call the wolves on me, but they wouldn’t leave their master’s side.

I wrapped myself in the blanket and sighed from the heat radiating from the fire.

The warmth spread into my aching limbs, already shaking from the cold.

All I had to do was wait for Rooke. This should have weakened her enough to destroy her defenses.

He would be here in a moment, and we’d leave this accursed place for good.

“You will ruin everything!” Carline groaned when she tried standing. She fumbled down a few steps, using one of the wolves as a support.

“We must leave.” Her eyes darted about the cottage, checking every darkened corner. “There may still be time to run. We can escape. ”

“I am not going anywhere with you,” I said while she threw open the door.

Outside, the wolves that were pounding on the door waited. They acted as a shield between her and the rest of the world. They, too, searched the perimeter. Sticking their noses in the air, they sniffed and growled.

“Yes, you will, you foolish, foolish child.” She glared at me with tears in her eyes. “You may have doomed us all. My wolves don’t deserve what might come, and I don’t have the power to protect them or you now.”

I clutched the blanket tighter to my chest, fingers shaking from more than the cold hissing through the threshold. “What are you talking about? I broke the curse you laid on me. That’s all.”

“You’ve weakened me. You created an opening for it. I ran, but it may have followed me here. No, I know that it has, that it’s been searching for a weakness, and now—” Carline gasped from where she stood on the porch. Her wolves growled, rushing outside.

Keeping the blanket close to my chest, I moved to get a better look, only to find Rooke standing in the snow with a red dress folded in his arms. His smile had an edge to it, something between elation and guilt.

The wolves growling in warning when he inched closer.

They didn’t phase him, didn’t so much as warrant his attention. Those eyes were on me alone.

“You’ve done it, little wolf. Congratulations, truly. You are incredible,” he said.

Slate perched on his shoulder, his green eyes focused on Carline. The wolves crowded in front of her, granting me a chance to escape the cottage, but as I went for the stairs, Carline grabbed me.

“Let go,” I said, though quickly realized she held me so tightly not to hurt me. There was fear in her eyes directed at Rooke. She put herself in front of me like a shield.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

“It’s you,” Carline said, awestruck, a finger pointing accusingly. “You used this child to get to me. ”

“Your defenses were formidable. I hadn’t expected Indy to be the key, but she was.” Rooke hadn’t taken his eyes off me, the color of them suddenly igniting like a flame. “Thanks to her, I will finally get what I came for.”

“What are you talking—” My question fell silent when Slate flew above Rooke’s head to reveal exactly what I imagined demons to be.