Page 4 of Ensnared By the Werewolf

“You need to remove the glamour before you can enter my domain,” I say.

Distress flickers over the man’s face and he looks like he’s going to turn tail and run.

“I’d rather keep the glamour on,” he finally responds.

I wince in sympathy.“This is a sensitive area.I can’t have foreign magics working here.”

“It’s not pretty,” he says.“I don’t want to scare you.”

I fold my arms.“I’ve seen a lot of ugly curses in my time.”

Boils, rashes, speaking in tongues, hair loss, etc.The variety of curses never ceases to surprise me since the spells used for good are not nearly as diverse.

“The other curse breakers you’ve visited didn’t require you to remove the glamour?”I ask.

“They were all able to work around it,” he says before his eyes widen.“Not that there’s anything wrong with you not being able to do that.”

I wave a hand as if to brush away the comment.Everyone works in different ways.He looks around.

“Can you maybe turn around?”he asks.“Or turn off the lights?”

I take in the room, sympathetic to his discomfort.If I were to pull the curtains and click on the reading lamp, it would give him a semblance of privacy and allow me to still work.

Turn off the lights and sit in the partial darkness with a stranger.It’s a terrible idea, but the feeling in the air is still there, tickling over my senses that it’s important that this man is here.That he won’t hurt me.But still...

“My name is Belinda,” I say.“I’d rather not be complete strangers if I’m going to be alone in the dark with you.”

And I just told him we’re alone.Oh, well.

The man’s smile is small.“I’m Jack.”

With introductions handled, I move to darken the room.While I pull the curtains, the sensation of the atmosphere finally clicks.The knowing.I can count on one hand how many times fate has communicated to me via the instinct that all witches have, and it’s never whispered quite like this.

I click on the reading lamp and aim it away before I lift a chin to the light switch next to Jack.He smiles at me gratefully before clicking the switch off.I try not to look at the silhouette of Jack in the light from the doorway while he moves, probably removing whatever object his glamour is embedded in.The shadow on the floor grows in size.The sound of stretching fabric and popping stitches is quiet but echoes in my brain.I only have time to blink before Jack closes the door and plunges the room into partial darkness.

I gesture to the chair across from me.“Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

The chair creaks.“I don’t know exactly where to start.It’s not a story or anything.”

I smile at the dark and try to keep from focusing on any details.“Whichever way you want to tell me.Why do you think you’re cursed?”

“I’m stuck.”

“Stuck?”

“Between forms, or something like it.I’m a wolf shifter and a year ago, I was shifting back into a human, and something strange happened.It was like it stopped.I couldn’t shift at all.I can’t go back to being all wolf, and my wolf form won’t release me to be human.”

I frown.That doesn’t sound like a usual curse.No being forced to speak in riddles or being turned into a frog, just the halting of a natural process.I ponder that as Jack continues.

“The alpha of the pack I was associated with didn’t know what to do with me, so I moved around, visiting different magic users until I ended up here.”

“Your pack kicked you out?”I ask.That sounds very unlike the packs I’d come in contact with.Family is always first and foremost for every wolf shifter I’ve met.

“They didn’t kick me out.I didn’t fit in with that pack before this happened and after...”There’s a rustle of movement as if the creature in the shadows is shrugging.

“Were there specific people you didn’t get along with?”I ask.

“No,” Jack says slowly.He sighs.“I wasn’t raised in a pack.My mom is human and didn’t know my father wasn’t until I started sprouting fur and a tail.”

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