Page 26 of WitchCurse
“Can you hear me, wolf?” I asked quietly, squeezing the single paw I could reach. “Do you wish to live or die? Death finds us all eventually, but it may not be your time yet.”
He didn’t answer. The battle continued to rage in his gaze, as if two souls fought within. One seeking death, the other life? I knew that battle all too well, but I waited, knowing I could force my will over his, save him. But how did he want to be saved? Death as an end to his suffering, or another chance at life?
Centuries of abuse and torture, and I had always refused to become the monster inside. Not until the change forced madness from me. Every fae I’d devoured outside of a battle had been a willing sacrifice. Nick bonded to save himself as much as me. Decisions without really having choices. Fate was a nasty mistress.
“Life or death? The Stag said we have a choice.” Neither of us would have a pleasant end, his shift to a zombie beast would force a rise of the dredges of my change. He’d not last long beneath my fangs, even weakened as I was. That peculiar wrap of weighted magic in him would eventually be mine, more chaos of this world. Enough to tip the balance to my final change? A blaze of glory with my jaws snapping Zephyr in half was all I could hope for, the ultimate dream.
We lay there a while, the chill spreading from his paw to me, no worse than the returning cold as the fae bits of magic I’d taken from Zephyr and the Stag faded. The wolf huffed and the paw began to change beneath my grasp. For a moment I feared it was the final shift toHunt, but it turned human, fingers weaving through mine. A partial shift, his face became a mix of human and wolf, oddly alluring and frightening all at once. The wolves of this world rarely had the sort of power to do this between state. Liam could do it, but none other of his pack.
“What?” Toby slurred, his gaze half wolfen, half the young man my scion had grown fond of. “Choice?”
“A bond between us. The same as that I share with Nick. My magic with yours, my life and yours. It’s a bond until death,” I added in case Nick hadn’t shared that.
“What about Nick?” Toby slurred.
“I can bond more than one. I’ve known of fae who bonded hundreds.” And ate them all down one by one when Underhill began to go wild. Like gnawing off a limb, I suspected each time they ate one of their own they grew weaker. I’d watched them all mutate into Underhill monsters when their food supply ran out.
The silence stretched between us for a time, his face contorting as if he were fighting his wolf. The wolf wanted to survive, the human might not.
“I understand. I’ve been waiting for the end for a long time.” I suspected it was not the choice the Stag would have preferred, but my decisions were my own.
Toby let out a long sigh. “Don’t want to die. Just…tired.” If he was constantly fighting for control with his wolf, would the transition to theHuntsever the mortal coil that bound his spirit to this world?
The sound of ice cracking made him whimper. The spread of the bite crawling upward like growing frost over his body. It would begin to take his organs soon. The werewolf curse of regeneration wouldn’t be fast enough to heal the damage, a slow and brutal way to die.
“Bond…will stop…change?” he whispered.
“I don’t know.” I wouldn’t lie. Bonding with Nick hadn’t stopped my change. But it might give Toby strength to fight it longer. “The Stag gave us a choice. But he wasn’t precisely clear as to which was the best choice. Death or the bond?” How did I explain the cryptic words of a seer? Choices were never really choices. All options lead to the same path, an illusion of free will.
“Promise to kill me if I change.” Toby’s breathing hitched as the fingers of ice spread across his chest. “Don’t let me hurt Sebastian or Liam…or Nick.”
“That was never in doubt,” I said. Nick might hate me, the fox and his alpha might kill me, but I’d not let the wolf suffer the fate of becoming a mindless zombie beast.
He let out a long sigh. “Do it. Bond, or whatever. Just know the wolf wants a battle, blood, and to rage.”
“Your wolf and I may be kindred souls,” I said. It had been ages since I’d been allowed to rage and devour. But stuck in the middle of a fae court, imprisoned by a man who had been an abuser and a jailor, I was ready to free it all.
I shoved the strength of the bond into Toby. Not the pretty lines and slow burning power the little fox had wrapped around his alpha, but a searing energy and intricate chain of magic. The wolf screamed, the sound coming out part human and part wolf howl. His body contorted and writhed, though I forced the bond through him fast. A few seconds of agony, rather than minutes of burning pain.
Each tie snapping into place like an anchor, my soul draping over his until we were layered. It was a startling orgasm of sensation for a few seconds, his body cooling the heat with his werewolf healing, but the memory of pain burned deep. He would feel the bonds as if they were chains, and me as though my heartbeat was his. Lines etched into my skin near the ones that bound Nick, looking like faded archaic words linked together to form the bond, tying us tightly together.
I let my mind sink inside his for a time, seeking that strange chaotic place he often lingered. How many times had I chased away the darkness or the whipping wind only to find it returned? Now I sat with him and his wolf as we watched the ice crackle on the opposite shore. It had nearly overtaken the wolf’s side of the divide.
Toby sucked in air. I waited until he lay quiet, small trembles shaking his hips or his fingers in mine, then I began to draw out the fae magic infection, melting the ice which added to the depth of the water in the divide. Would it make my change that much faster? Or shove away some of the blight?
Stupid Stag. He could have at least given us a clue as to what would happen.
It was an unusual shift of power. Like the chaos magic of this world suddenly had shape, form, and weight rather than untouchable energy. I sifted through it for a moment, drawing the bite infection into myself, as what was more blight when I was already mostly dead?
The burn of ice hurt. Too much cold to the already dying fire inside, but I continued to yank at it like some sticky mass I could devour. With the bond firmly in place, I could see the dual souls layered over his physical form, as though his original change had sundered him from one astral being to two. No wonder he warred. The two pieces wanted to blend, but couldn’t. The shaped boulders of memories still sat in the divide, a crossing of sorts, and though the edges were wearing away, the shores were also increasing, the stones set in place even when the water churned. The watery divide inside actually acting as a barrier rather than a bridge. Crossing would take energy, power, and a will to face the worst of their memories. Interesting.
The ice melted, the heat of the kitsune fire warming it.
It was easier, with the bond, to soothe that rippling current and stretch grass and flowers beneath our feet. Using the water to create life and sunshine to add warmth, easy as crafting the sanctuary had been, at least until the worst of my strength was stolen. Providing warmth to others had always been a strength of mine, meanwhile it added to the chill in my bones as I suctioned up the last of the fae infection.
His human form curled up against me, and the wolf rubbed along my side, feeling strangely separate and yet moving in unison. The blue skies overhead made a sigh leave his lips, as he raised his face to the sky. Had he been lost in the dark? I knew the feeling, could see the memories that wriggled to be free from the boulders I’d created, and how much pain lingered there.
When the wolf crossed them, it bounced, moving fast as to touch them little. Was it the same when the human crossed, or was the climb too steep? The water smoothed around them, but I knew in the center it was bottomless. Self-doubt had created a chasm of endless depths. The fact that the human side remained at all was a testament to his strength. But the loss of one half would mean the death of the whole. Was that why he still fought, and they took turns crossing? Did they know?