Page 46 of WitchCurse

It seemed cruel, as eventually I’d change, destroy everything. It was the way of the kitsune. I said nothing, unsure how to react that wouldn’t eventually get me in trouble. Reminding them all that I was death and chaos in one being had never gone well for me.

He sighed and tugged me up. “To my room. And I’d rather hear you speak than try to listen in when you hide in silence. Even snark and cynicism are better than constant silence. We all know you have that in spades.”

“Yet you seek my presence. A glutton for pain?”

He smiled. “Sure. Let’s go with that.”

I let him lead me to the door of his space. The outside door was shut firmly, and warmth had returned. When he opened the door to his room, there was now a fireplace inside, roaring with a fire that instantly began to heat me to the core. “What…” how was it possible?

“Using the extra fae magic that I stored in the sanctuary. It’s why Toby is hunting. Once he returns, we’ll need to ground him and separate the magic. I thought that would be better than simply tugging all of it through the three of us at once. When we have our own pack, whatever that might be, we won’t have to hunt at all.”

“Hunting? I thought he went to the alpha for food?”

Nick tugged me into the room and led me to the bed, pulling back the giant stack of blankets to shove me beneath them. “There areHuntstill stalking Liam’s territory. Loose from Zephyr’s court, or sent by your mother, we aren’t certain. Some are wolf-like, others must have been taken from Underhill before it collapsed.”

My heart flipped over in my chest, and I tried to get up. “Toby should not be stalking theHunt.”

Nick pressed me into the bed, his body blanketing mine, his bulk overshadowing what was left of me. I sucked in air as he heated every part of me and wished I could feel more. Maybe even explore him with caresses like Landon had once touched me.

“I’d like that,” Nick said. He dragged the stack of blankets over us. “Once we remove more of the curses. I suspect there will be a better balance of power when we clear them. And Toby is fine, hunting with Liam and Sebastian at his side. A camaraderie rather than a dominance fight. It soothes his wolf.”

“I don’t understand any of this.”

“That’s okay,” Nick said. “We’ve got you. Once you’re back to full strength we’ll work on the details.” He adjusted a pillow beneath my head, but didn’t loosen his hold over me. “If you’re worried, follow the bond, you’ll see the wolf. He’s unafraid, a little cocky really, but has reason to be.”

I thought about that for a moment, but closed my eyes and sought the bond. The tie to Toby blazed bright gold. Like his strength glowed brighter than ours, but he hadn’t spent a couple centuries being drained by the sidhe. Normally I tried to stay out of the heads of my scions, but I slid into Toby’s, surprised by his calm. He stalked beside Liam’s wolf and Sebastian in kitsune form. The kitsune didn’t stir my own as his was nestled in the warmth and proximity of his alpha. I knew that Liam could become a kitsune as well, borrowing power from Sebastian, but he hunted as wolf, slightly larger in size to Toby’s.

They followed the scent of death and ice. Strange that the waning cold of the season could easily be sorted from the smell of theHunt. Toby tugged on my presence, like he wanted the sensation closer instead of shoving it away. Nick’s touch at the back of my mind whispered of his thoughts too; there, but not forcing his will over ours. I let Toby guide me until I nestled inside a warm pocket of his thoughts, looking out through his eyes, not at all in control, but riding with him. The wolf at the forefront, they weren’t as sundered. Not whole, but the two overlapped, Toby and his wolf. That giant internal divide he had when I’d first met him had narrowed to little more than a river.

The wolf told me he was Toby as well, and seemed to be annoyed that I thought of them as separate beings. Wasn’t that how the wolves of this world worked? I’d never been inside the alpha’s thoughts, and had no real way to ask in that moment.

The trio hunted outside the barriers of the new realm. Normal humans and creatures of this world would not see the tiny ripple of magic. A space that created a magical ‘do not enter’ sign to other supernatural beings. The feeling of their barrier was close, several meters into the distance, and Toby kept away, not wanting to expose me to the aggression of their realm. It wasn’t an actual wall, more a sensation that would repel any not of their pack.

Little fox is still learning,Toby told me.Alpha defines what the fox expels. They need more wolves.

I had never had my own realm either. Only the tiny space of the sanctuary. A bubble of protection in the ever-chaotic mess of Underhill’s end. Was it similar?

Toby turned toward the east, nose to the ground, following the trail of something. Seb and Liam trailed close behind, both on alert. The fire of Sebastian’s kitsune burned bright, warming Toby’s side. He liked the fire, even if it got too hot for him sometimes.

There was aHuntbeast close. Maybe more than one. I could taste the flavor of magic, fae and some from this mortal realm. Some of the Underhill beasts and some former wolves, their pulsing waves varied but filled with power? I felt Toby’s wolf grab on to the strength of that scent, like magic had an odor, and we leapt into the distance, hot on the trail.

We raced for a short time, and for a few moments I was reminded of the old days and many battles. Basking in the heat of the kitsune on one side, and surety of the wolf, I felt invincible again. That had always been a lie. Easily shattered each time they cursed me and chained me in the dark.

Toby landed without hesitation on the firstHuntbeast we encountered. Not one from this world, something insect-like with lots of segments and stinging limbs. I expected Toby’s mortal wolf form to bounce right off, as I knew the shell of that thing to be impenetrable even to the oldgodkillersword I’d once carried. But when he landed, he was aHuntbeast himself, thorned in layers of ice with jaws four times the size he had before. He snapped off the first lashing tentacle, seeming to savor the sound of the creature’s pain with joy. He tore into it, breaking off pieces and filling us with the mix of chaotic magic with little worry where it went.

That first beast’s death brought more to attack. Sebastian and Liam landing on them with fangs and claws. I winced at the thought of all that food going to Sebastian, but neither of them made a kill, rather they held the beasts at bay until Toby had finished the first and slammed into the next. Magic raged through our bond, which was open wide and pulsing. I trembled at the strength of it, could feel bits of it being siphoned away.

Sorry, I heard Nick’s voice faintly in the back of my mind,this is going to hurt.

I had no idea what he meant until pain shot through me. The now familiar searing of those curses being torn away. It was a bit like being the center of two colliding explosions. Toby sending me power, and Nick ripping away the symbols that had been sucking away all my strength. It was too much and not enough. I tried to circle the magic through the bonds, soothing over the cracks and fissures of Toby and his wolf first, finding it strengthened him and the bond between us, and then Nick who stirred with a dark edge of something, but didn’t allow it to rise. There was nowhere else to send it. We didn’t have enough, much like Liam’s pack was slowly beginning to realize they didn’t have enough to dilute the energy.

Kitsune is a battery,Nick reminded me.You’re supposed to be able to hold energy, absorb it, and reuse it. Life, not destruction. Not really.

But there were only the three of us.

Toby’s wolf took a grasp of the strength and shoved it forward, like a lasso. Instead of tearing into the remainingHunt, he seemed to leash them. I blinked, trying to sort out the sensation, their icy spread of magic oozing over the bond as though they meant to devour it. But I was tired of being cold, the chill on my skin ever reminding me of that first cage, and my mother’s rage that I’d never be useful to her in any other way.

I turned that pool of writhing magic back on the leashedHunt, binding and filling them with a mix of magics. The ice shattered, even Toby’s ice, his paws blazing briefly as his wolf form returned. And we stared at the creatures, a mix of fae and wolfen beasts, no longer puppets, but creatures with a glowing golden gaze. Some looked like regular wolves again. Some like fae. All stared at us, Toby and me, the bond thrumming with energy, as if waiting for orders.