Page 39 of Isabel and the Werewolf Beast

“Silas said you might be under some sort of vampire spell,” Asher said. “I’ll fix this too.”

He stepped toward me, and that’s when I focused on him. Asher picked up Isabel’s head by her hair and ran across the grounds. I roared and chased after him, but Asher had a head start and he was faster than me. He’d always been the more athletic of us. I didn’t stop though. What if I could save Isabel? I didn’t want to believe she was dead. Gone from my life after I’d had her in it for such a short time.

Asher burst through the gate but I slammed into the barrier and bounced back across the grass skidding along my back and leaving an indent in the soil. I shook my head and staggered to my feet.

“Undo the curse now,” Asher said. “I have her head like you wanted.”

Silas stood at the edge of the trees to the forest beyond. A dark shadow. An evil stain like Isabel said.

“He looks rather mad,” Silas said.

“You were right, she turned him into her blood slave with a spell. How do I fix him?”

“Give me her head.”

“You haven’t removed the curse yet.”

“With a crazed werewolf waiting to kill me, what do you expect?”

“I expect you to hold up your end of the deal,” Asher said. “Do as you said and give me my brother back.”

Silas drew in a long breath and eyed me warily. He should be worried. I’d get Isabel’s head back, and I’d kill him for everything he’d done to her.

He held up a vial that swirled with a luminous green liquid. “Throw me the head and I’ll throw this at the curse.”

“Curse first.” Asher held his ground. “I’ll stop Dante from reaching you.”

I’d say one thing for my brother and that was he wouldn’t let this evil scum get away with his part of the deal unfulfilled.

“If he lays one ugly claw on me, then I’ll curse you both.” Silas glowered, raised his hands, and murmured a few words.

The air in the castle grounds changed. The moon disappeared and then returned as a sliver in a different phase. My body quivered and contorted as my shape shifted no longer under the effects of a full moon. I ran toward the gate even though I was no longer in my deadliest form. If I concentrated hard enough, perhaps I’d shift at will like Isabel said I could. I burst through the gateway, but Asher tackled me to the ground. We rolled over and over until we hit the trees at the edge of the forest. I shook out of his hold and stood. Silas had disappeared.

“No. He’s gone.”

“It’s good to have you back,” Asher said, standing and dusting himself off. “Let’s go home.”

I rounded on my brother. “You don’t understand what you’ve done.”

“I freed you from a curse that you had no reason to be a part of. And I stopped a vampire from using you like its own person blood slave.”

I grabbed my brother by the collar. “She. Isabel is a she. And I wasn’t her blood slave. I asked her to bite me.”

“Why would you ever do that?”

“I like her.” I let him go, never wanting to hurt my brother. He didn’t understand. Asher hadn’t been inside the curse with me. He hadn’t seen Isabel care for me time after time and help me on a path to accepting the werewolf side of myself. “Liked. Shit. She can’t be dead.”

“Wait, you liked a vampire as in like as a friend or more?”

“Both.” I grimaced at the look on his face.

As forbidden as it was, we’d developed feelings for each other. Feelings I longed to explore. To talk to her again. Care for her. Have her bite me.

“And I just killed her?” Asher asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

The remorse rang through his voice, but I’d had enough of Asher doing things first without asking me what I wanted.

“I don’t know if she’s truly dead. I have to go back and see her body.”

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