Page 24 of Scales and Seduction

Slowly, I make my way to the bedroom door, taking one last look at my sleeping mate holding tightly to a pillow between herlegs. Lightning illuminates the room briefly as I pull the door closed. “What did you find?” I whisper as I head down the hall.

Loran exhales a heavy breath. “The app. The curse, really. It’s tied to your stepbrother Atticus’s lineage. I think his disappearance is related to all of this, though in what way, I’m not sure.” He pauses, and I hear something shift and plunk down on the other end of the receiver. “Have you heard of Lord Morvyn?”

My mind blurs with hours upon hours of useless history lessons. “He was an old advisor to the first King Kithrall during the separation of realms.”

“He’s dead, but his ideals clearly aren’t,” Loran says, and I hear him turning pages of a book roughly. “He was the architect of the curse that severed the realms. Kithrall helped him, likely to protect us from the humans, but Morvyn’s motivations were much darker.”

“Darker how?”

Loran’s voice takes on a subtle hint of concern. “I believe he wanted control, absolute control over both realms. From this book I found, Morvyn hated humans and constantly complained that their bloodlines merging with ours would weaken us. He put the idea in Kithrall’s head after his wife’s and child’s deaths.”

My stomach churns as I piece what he’s saying together. What would Atticus have to do with any of it? “If he hates humans, why would he create an app that would join the two realms?”

“It’s all connected somehow. The app didn’t appear out of nowhere. Someone with magic created it, and they had to have the same power that Morvyn had to wield it.” Loran growls as the book slams closed. “Atticus disappeared last year, and I hate to say it, but right around that time, Avalon’s family zeroed in on a political marriage. They said it was because they needed tosecure trade for the Underdark, but why would they need that? The council decided it was the perfect way to solidify another town like the Vale further west. But—what if that was just the beginning?”

“Loran, Avalon had nothing to do with Atticus’s disappearance.”

He sighs heavily, and I hear him whisper something to himself. “Maybe not, but her family might, and I hate to say this, but I think your mother might know more than she’s let on.”

An icy wave of dread and bitter anger wells inside my stomach, causing acid to burn my throat. “You think my mother is involved in this massive plot?” Rage simmers under the surface as my voice booms around the room. “She has nothing to do with this. She might be self-serving at times, but she wouldn’t hurt anyone, especially not my brother. She loved him?—”

Sighing, I take a deep breath to temper the rage threatening to bubble up. “None of this even remotely explains the app or why someone would want a human here,” I say angrily through my teeth.

“I’m doing more research into Morvyn and Kithrall, but I have a feeling the history we’ve been told isn’t true. I think Morvyn used Kithrall’s wife and child as a reason to separate the realms.”

Before I can respond, a deafening crack of thunder shakes the cabin, and a sharp, bloodcurdling cry cuts through the thunder. Noodles. Fuck.

“Loran, I have to go.” I stumble toward the front door, toward the sound. We’d forgotten Noodles outside. Pressing the end button, I toss my phone onto the couch cushion as I swing open the door.

Rain plasters sideways, the wind biting against my skin as I scan the yard from the porch. A shadow moves behind one treewith large branches swaying violently side to side. Then I see it. A skeletal figure with bright ice-blue glowing eyes advances toward the house.

“Noodles!” I call. Panic rises in my chest as I hear a low growl. Without thinking, I’m out of the safety of the porch, down into the yard, advancing toward the small tabby’s voice.

My eyes widen as I see the source. Noodles’ small, familiar body has taken a widened stance between the last tree on the property and the bridge. I can hear him scream something in the blaring winds, and as he does, his body begins to twist and grow. His fur ripples, and his claws extend until he’s grown triple his modest house-cat size. He turns his head backwards, gleaming as if he’s telling me to come help. As his head twists back, the draugr swipes at him, and with a snarl, he launches himself at the skeleton, tearing into his half-rotting skin.

I draw on my magic, focusing on that well of protection I know simmers deep within me. The warmth crawls from my chest, up my arms until my fingers glow a faint golden color. “Stay back!” I scream as I allow the barrier of light to push back at the draugr nearest the house. It hits him square in the chest, and his bones crack as he splinters into bones.

Lightning cracks again, illuminating the chaos before me. There are three skeletons coming from the bridge, with two on the ground. Noodles has rotting skin dripping from his maw, but he doesn’t stop his pursuit. He lunges for the next one, who’s raised a rusted broadsword over his head in a clumsy strike.

“Gideon!” Ruby’s scream is muffled by the storm as she stands, eyes wide, pale and naked in the doorframe.

“Go inside!” I yell, but she doesn’t move. Ruby’s frozen in place in horror as Noodles grabs hold of the arm with the sword, shaking it until the sword and arm fall to the ground. The draugr is surprised by its arm falling away, its eye holeswidening in confusion as Noodles swipes his head from his shoulders.

If I retreat to the house, Noodles will be forced to face these hideously defiled creatures alone. Instead, I force myself to turn away from my mate, even when the beast inside me violently screams to throw her inside away from the violence.

The werecat sprints toward the final two skeletons advancing on the bridge. Their mouths are open as they groan, as if they have no soul at all left inside them. I pull on that same vein of magic, unleashing a blast of radiant light toward them both before Noodles has time to strike. The surge of magic is like a brilliant wave of light that envelops them both, and as the magic dissipates, the draugr dissolves into nothing but dust on the wooden bridge.

For a moment, there is nothing but silence, save for the pounding of the rain and my uneven breathing. The storm overhead begins to fade, and the rain becomes a light drizzle instead of the violent deluge it had been.

“What the hell is going on?” I demand as Noodles’ massive form pads over to me, showing his black gums in a twisted smile.

His green eyes, now a deep maroon, stare into mine as I hear his voice in my head once again. “I do not know, but we need an answer. These draugr were ordered to come after my owner, and you did a terrible job keeping her safe.”

“Cat is out of the bag now,” I say, placing my hand on the large werecat’s head. “You have some explaining to do, my friend.”

Noodles nods, and slowly his massive form begins to shift and change, shrinking back to the familiar domestic cat we know. He purrs, rubbing against my leg as if it’s his way of apologizing, but it’s too late.

Once the two of us are back at the front door, Ruby greets us both right away with nothing but a blanket thrown around her body. “You are both going to tell me everything right now.”

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