Page 49 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part One

“So, you and your pack decided to mess with her sons?”

I paused, frowning at that logic. That didn’t seem right. “No, that’s not how it happened.” My mind was still trying to process exactly what did go down. I closed my eyes, letting the memory trail lead me. There were still plenty of gaps—deep abysses I just couldn’t navigate. However, the path was clearer than it had ever been before. “It’s the curse. That’s what this is all about.”

“I know that probably makes sense to you, but I’m not really following.”

Bless Ven and her endless patience. “The seven sons were enslaving shifters across several states. It started off as a rumor, then a boogeyman tale, before they did it to one of our pack.” I paused, letting more scenes and images wash over me in rapid succession. “Her name was Amy. She was barely sixteen. When she first went missing, we feared the worst.

“But Ricky, Charity, Lawlit, and I all put our noses to the grindstone and chased down every single lead we had. We were sure our search would end up in recovering a body for her family to bury, but eventually, we figured out she been bewitched and where the warlock was keeping her.”

I could see it all playing out in my head, the faceless images of my pack suddenly solidifying in my mind. It made me want to sob, it made me want to dance, as the people I had loved slowly returned to my mind.

What a cruel thing, to steal away my family in the most violating way possible, not even leaving them in the vestiges of my mind. How could those warlocks be so insidious? It went far beyond anything anyone deserved.

“What happened?” Ven asked breathlessly.

“Every capable fighter in our pack stormed his fortress. It was an enchanted place underneath the lake, so it definitely wasn’t easy, but we did it and caught him off guard.

“He was powerful. But even a powerful fire magic user couldn’t take on that many wolves at once while he was in his stupid silk pajamas.” I paused yet again as more information flooded my brain and I had to sort through it. “Finneus Dis Pater; that was his name.”

I could practically feel the confusion coming from Ven. “But I thought he was Chadwicke’s brother?”

“Half-brother. Different fathers.” I couldn’t believe I remembered that. “We didn’t know that when we hunted him down. In fact, we would have killed him and left it at that, but he told us his brother had helped him bespell Amy.” Anger bubbled up inside me as I recalled more. “I remember now. We found an entire harem of young shifters all enchanted to worship him. Some of them fought like mad and had to be subdued, and others held a knife to their own throats, threatening to kill themselves if we hurt their master. They were the hardest to subdue, and we’d had to knock them out in order to defeat Finneus.”

Ven let out a shocked little gasp, and I couldn’t blame her. As my mind rapidly played through every memory, I couldn’t help but be horrified. So many vulnerable shifters, scantily clad and kneeling at the man’s feet only to lose their minds and attack us when they realized he was in danger. I could still remember the wild look in Amy’s eyes when she’d tried to tear out her mother’s throat. It had been awful, truly awful in a way I couldn’t verbalize.

“I was ready to rip him limb from limb, but then he told us it wouldn’t work, that he and his brother had concocted the spell so it would take the both of them to end it. I’ll never forget the look on that little weasel’s face when he betrayed his sibling. A wolf would never do that, but these warlocks, they’re consumed only by greed and power and having more. Always more.

“We told him we would let him live if he took us to his brother and convinced him to break the spell. We knew he’d try to double-cross us, and he most likely saw the journey as extra time to devise an escape or way to defeat us, but he underestimated us. It was clear he thought shifters were dumb brutes, little more than the animals we can transform into.”

I cleared my throat to ease some of the tightness. “He led us right to his brother, Kirklin Plutus. Kirklin has a knack for necromancy, as we found out. An unpleasant surprise for sure, since we expected him to use fire or another element like his brother.”

“I’m guessing Finneus didn’t try to convince his brother to break the spell once you were there?”

“Nope, not at all. We’d sent three of our fastest runners out to nearby shifter communities that had also been targeted. See, the warlocks were so bigoted that they couldn’t imagine wolves would want to help anyone but wolves. But most of us shifters know we need to stick together, especially when it comes to the encroachment of humanity and our enemies. So, once our runners were there, they delivered some burner phones. Ricky hung back and communicated with them.”

It was hard not to relish the thrill of victory that went through my mind as the entire scene played out. The look of shock on those smug assholes’ faces when they realized their magic couldn’t conquer an ambush from a massive family of wildcat shifters and a den of bear shifters.

“It was a hard fight, but we killed both of them. Thankfully, that ended their bewitchment of their harems, and everyone took their lost young ones home.

“Before, my pack was small and struggling. We didn’t have many diplomatic connections to any other groups. But that fight changed everything. Suddenly, we were known across several states and had representatives from multiple families visiting us. Even some lone wolf showed up, asking for clemency within our pack.”

“So, you think the remaining five brothers cursed your pack as revenge?” Ven asked, her voice nearly reverent.

“I know that’s what happened,” I answered resolutely. “I don’t know how they were able to pull it off—I still can’t remember so much—but I know it was them. I know they were the ones who locked my entire pack in their animal forms. They stripped away all our humanity and our memories.”

“Did they all take different prisoners like Chadwicke did with Ricky? And was Ricky the only one he took?”

Those were important questions. Trust Ven to keep her head on straight even after hearing such horrible revelations. I wonder if she knew how much her calm and comforting demeanor helped me when it felt like my brain was going to consume itself.

“I don’t know.” After so many sudden epiphanies, one right after the other, I couldn’t help but feel a bit like a failure. I had come so far so quickly, unraveling the mystery of everything that happened, only to stop short right before the end.

“Hey, that’s okay. Why don’t you take a seat, and I’ll get you some water. If you want, you can read the articles I pulled up, but it’s okay if you don’t. Take a moment to breathe.”

Breathe. Yeah, I could do that. Breathing was the basic function of life. Sitting in the computer chair, I rested my head in my hands and tried to come to terms with the floodgates that had opened.

I wasn’t seeing full scenes anymore; those had stopped. But I still caught snippets and flashes. Nothing about the brothers, but important things, nonetheless. I saw Ricky trying to blow out the candles on his ninth birthday cake, but his asthma stopped him from doing it. That’s when I’d stood behind him and subtly blown along with him. Of course, he had lost that particular affliction once he got his wolf form. It pissed me off that that precious memory had been stolen.

Charity losing her first tooth.

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