Page 76 of Scarred Resolve

“I figured he was following your orders not to talk to me,” I said, shrugging. “But I get that this is probably making one of his old scars itch.”

“There’s some of that, too, but yes, it is making him think of a particularly bad time for him. He’ll have to avoid Kushim for a little while. I should send everyone to Zuri's territory or Mozambique when he arrives in my territory.” She shook her head slowly, and sadness rose in her scent, but it was gone quickly. “Let’s go upstairs and see if those werewolves have been brought back.”

“Okay.” I waited for her to get on the stairs before I asked one more question, something I hoped wouldn’t be out of bounds at all. “Is our curse really unbreakable?”

“The only possible way would be to get rid of the moon,” she answered.

“So, it’s not unbreakable, but it is unfeasible.” Nodding, I accepted that and followed her up the stairs.

“And it might not work,” she said, chuckling softly. “Because magic is like that. We could end up not being able to Change anyone else or not being forced to Change on the full moon since there would be no more moon.” She stopped at the top of the stairs, turning toward me. “And therein lies the greatest problem with the greatest of magics.”

“What?”

“You never know what the consequences of them will be,” she answered softly. “Because the witch who created the moon cursed only cast it on her brothers. It was only supposed to be them. My aunt was powerful, but in her dying breath, she didn’tconsider what the consequences were going to be by not making sure it could only be them. None of the most powerful witches at that time ever did…” With a heavy sigh, she turned away. “Myself included.”

Then she opened the door and walked out, leaving me with that bombshell.

33

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Ilet it sink in before I followed her out of the basement, where she waited just outside the door. The moment I closed it, the smell of magic filled the air, then disappeared entirely.

“I don’t want to hold that longer than I have to,” she said, smiling a little as she started walking away.

I had forgotten that she had cast something that would make sure no one could hear us down there. I stayed with her, acting as a dutiful daughter as we looked for the others.

“Where’s the werecat’s body?” she asked.

“That way, through that door, out in the grass,” I answered, pointing to the door I had fought so hard to open during the fighting.

“Ah, then Hasan is already there with it,” she said, smiling, and practically skipped to the door. It swung open without anyone touching it, and I followed her outside to see that the werewolves had moved quickly, already laying out the bodies of their own kind as well.

Hasan turned to us, but something immediately seemed off. His expression was familiar, but there was something off about it as well. Something in his eyes said he was haunted and horrifiedby something. I assumed it was the spells that had done this, how these witches controlled the moon cursed, but Subira started walking faster, losing the slightly joyful way she had been moving.

“What is it?” she asked so gently, I knew she recognized something was terribly wrong, better than I did.

“Look at him,” Hasan said. I had never seen Hasan with so much emotion in front of Callahan and Corissa. He would kick himself later for seeming weak, but the two werewolves, when I looked their way, seemed to feel similarly. There was no hiding anything here right now, as sadness and horror filled the scents of everyone there.

Subira went straight for the body, and I realized Niko and Davor weren’t around. Their scents were recent, though.

“Jacky, please step away and go to your brothers on the other side of the building,” Hasan said, moving to block me from the body.

“I—”

“Do her brothers know?” Subira asked, her tone sharp.

“Yes. They were here when I… I let it slip, and I shouldn’t have,” Hasan said, shaking his head and admitting to a mistake in front of people he hated.

“Then she should know. They need to be able to talk to each other,” she said softly. “Jacky, this werecat… Come here.”

I stepped around Hasan, but for once, I wished I was able to listen to him. The sick sense of dread in my stomach, the way they all looked at me, the way they all smelled.

Something was terribly wrong.

Once I was beside her, she stood up and reached over to pat my cheek.

“This isn’t your fault,” she whispered.

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