Page 12 of Ensnared By the Werewolf

I shake my head and raise my hands in front of me.“Let’s get this show on the road.”

Jack’s hands take mine and bring my palms to his face.Nerves threaten to push up my heart rate and I let my fingers run over the shapes of his features to center myself for this task.

“Okay,” I say and close my eyes.“Don’t interrupt me.”

“Yes, my mate,” he chuffs before stiffening.

I shut down the flip of my stomach at those words and push forward.Now is not the time to be distracted by his telling slip.He knows,my mind crows.That doesn’t matter right now,I reason back.Right now, I need to focus on breaking my mate’s curse.

The world in my mind comes alight with magic and tangles of threads.I’m quicker to find the threads of the curse now that I know what I’m looking for.Sure enough, the silvery woven thread of Jack’s wolf is bright and pulses under my touch as if his beast wants to loop around me to keep me close.

My mouth curves at that and I focus harder to see the dark-green thread choking around the silver.The curse.

Slowly, as if I have tweezers, I use my own magic to tug on the green thread.As before, the fae magic is resistant but eventually yields.I keep my breathing measured, cautious as I start to pull the magic from the silver of Jack.

The wolf shifter under my hands shivers at the sensation, but I block it out and focus on the first knot of the curse.The knot is around several silver threads, and I wind the magic I’ve already collected around my finger so it doesn’t slip away before snipping it.

“The crystal, please.”My voice is hoarse.My energy is already starting to wane.There’s movement, and the layered texture of the rock slides against my palm.I fist my hand around the crystal, feeding the threads into the storage device before easing my grip.“Take it back.”

Jack does as I say, and I focus on the knot in front of me, untangling it slowly until the silver threads spring apart, and I pinch the end of the green thread with all my might, continuing to spool the magic as I follow the thread until I meet another knot.I repeat the process a few times.

Sweat runs down my spine and I gasp in exertion.Every so often, Jack makes a pained sound that he cuts off.

The pull of the magic I’m working with is costing me an uncommon amount of energy, as if what I’m doing is against the grain, wrong.

Everything blurs before me.

“No, no, no,” I whisper, waiting for the vision of the threads to come back into focus.It looks like there’s one more knot.One more knot, and I can give Jack exactly what he wants.The thread bites deeper into my magic, resisting.

Exhaustion pulls me down.I’ve truly overextended myself, but if I stop now, I’ll never find these specific threads again.With the way I’ve been yanking at it, it could very well snap and be absorbed into Jack’s threads, becoming a part of his very essence.

I sway on my feet, and Jack’s hands grip me, keeping me upright.My vision of the threads come into focus, and I quickly untangle the last knot.

I’m about to take a relieved breath when the thread I grip is yanked away out of my hand, and I lose track of it.

“No!”I scramble for it, but it’s gone.The world of threads blurs and blinks out.

I’ve failed.I fall and the world goes dark.

I wake in the arms of my mate.The room is still dark, but I know the sensation of his presence and the scent of fresh-cut cedar.

“Jack—” I croak.

“Shh, drink.”

A glass is pressed to my lips, and the cold water soothes my throat.

“Are you okay?”he asks.

I try and think back to how I got here.Trying to break the curse...and failing.

No, I’m not okay.The aches in my body and soul tell me that I used up every bit of energy trying to lift the curse, and it wasn’t enough.

“H-how long was I out?”I rasp.

“A few minutes.You were working on it for hours.”

Tears well in my eyes, and I try to keep from sobbing.

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