Page 30 of Wandering Witch

“The demon is right, you know,” he murmured in my ear. “Nothing will get to you without getting through us first.”

My back stiffened and I started to shake in his arms. No, please don’t die for me.

“I understand that you’re worried. Hell, I’m a little worried about what’s going to happen, to be honest.” My head whipped around to meet his gaze, and I knew surprise was written plainly on my face. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s not the most encouraging thing I could tell you. But I don’t want to lie. I don’t want to give you any false sense of hope. All our fates are in your hands, and on the small possibility that you should fail, just know that none of us will blame you.”

“No pressure.” I laughed harshly.

“Sorry, not sorry. It’s just not in my nature to blow out hot air.” I felt him shrug under me.

“So, do you really think I’m going to fail at breaking the curse?” dread filled me as I asked the one question that had haunted my thoughts since we’d discussed coming here.

“I think the results of standing up to the curse are completely in your hands and depend solely on you. I think that to break the curse, it’s something that you really, deeply, truly need to want,” Locke intoned solemnly.

“Think about in terms of how Big Bear here has been working with me to manipulate the world around me. I had to not just want something but had to push my will into the act to make it happen,” Roan added as he sat beside us.

“Enough heavy talk before breakfast!” Benny called from the fire. “You’ll both give her indigestion if you keep this up.”

We laughed as the boys helped me stand and carefully moved back from the cliff’s edge.

Despite the guys’ attempts to lighten the mood during breakfast, I was too focused on what could go wrong. I had never heard of a curse as powerful as mine ever being broken so I had no idea what the possible backlash could be.

What if I succeeded but the blowback was so powerful that it blasted us out of existence? What if I failed and we all died? Or worst of all, what if I succeed and lost one or more of my guys as the price?

“Remember, my mate, we are strongest when we stand together.” Locke wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek.

“Would you feel better if you rode into that village like a goddess upon her war bear?” Roan asked.

I flushed but nodded. Locke spun me and kissed me deeply enough to make my toes tingle before he stepped away. Unlike every other time he shifted for me, he was slow and deliberate in his movements. It was like he was putting on a show as everything expanded and sprouted hair. When he was fully shifted, he towered over us as he released an earth-shaking roar and fell onto his forepaws.

Benny turned and grinned mischievously at me as he set small fires on Locke’s coat with a casual wave of his hand. As the flames burned away, they left behind a set of gleaming obsidian armor. Benny approached me and held my cheeks in his hands as his lips locked on mine and I felt sparks race through my body. When he finally released me, I looked down and saw that my dusty, worn, torn traveling clothes had been changed into a shining ancient Greek-style golden gown.

Roan gave a wolf whistle as Benny helped me onto Locke’s back and my bear started a proud and steady trot along the cliff’s edge towards the village that held all our fates.

Benny

Roan and I stood back and watched as our mate was carried away to her destiny until they were almost out of sight. We both knew she would need us at her side to bolster her through the spell she’d have to cast, but at the same time, she needed the power that a little outfit change gave her.

“Was it me, or did she seem very reluctant to go through with this?” I asked as we slowly followed the pair.

“No, it’s not just you. Ever since I met her, I have felt that Fare lacks overall confidence. It plummeted even more when she found out that everything she knew about the source of her curse was a lie,” he answered, and I nodded. “What do you think are the odds that we’ll actually find something ready and waiting for her to do battle with when we get there?”

“Slim to none. And Slim is almost out the door.” I laughed. “It may have been a few decades since I last looked at this place, but the dark aura really felt like just that. An aura. More than likely it will be just like the last time I was there and filled with nothing but some ruins and a bad feeling. If we’re lucky we’ll be able to get some answers and ideas about how to break the curse though. I think there were a couple of buildings in the town center that were more or less intact.”

“So then, why did we let her and Locke get all dressed up and ride off like they were going to war?” Roan asked, and I laughed.

“Because she really needed the confidence boost that gave her. You said it yourself. The bulk of this is all in her head. If she’s too focused on what could go wrong, everything could fall apart, but let her believe that she’s able to do anything and she’ll move mountains.”

Locke

The armor that Benny gave me looked cool, I’d admit that. I’d even give him that it made me feel unstoppable. But I was not ready for how loud it would be. The plates of metal shifted and clanked against each other with each step I took and I wondered if it was really necessary.

Though, if that was the price I had to pay to see my mate dressed like a golden goddess, who was I to complain? I mused as I came to a stop on the edge of a river that was one of our last obstacles on the way to the village.

Even that close, I felt the beginning of the darkness Benny had spoken about. There was something in the air that pulled at my psyche, demanding I turn around and never return. But my mate’s past and future were at stake and there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her.

When the others caught up to us, I leaped across the river and enjoyed watching as Benny struggled his way across while Roan just floated above the surface. It wasn’t too much farther for us to enter the small town and I heard Fare make a noise of distress at the unsightly state of the place.

To call it ruins would have been an understatement, I thought to myself as we passed through destroyed buildings that reeked with death and abandonment. But once we reached the town square I was stunned at how well preserved it was compared to the lay around it.

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