Page 106 of Fated to the Lone Shifter
Bode smirks, tongue running along his teeth. “Police were sniffing too close. Besides, I thought the little pup had burned with his parents. If I’d known he’d lived…” He shrugs. “Maybe I’d have come back. Raised him right.”
We all know this is a lie. Bode would have eaten his young rather than allow me to live.
Sera bristles. “Then he wouldn’t have become the brave hero he is today. His only crime …falling in love with the woman fate chose for him.”
My heart thunders in my chest. Her words lift me like a punch I didn’t see coming.
Bode laughs. It’s not human. It’s unhinged.
“That’s the problem. Every man in his lineage falls for the wrong woman. And they pay for it. I thought I’d ended that curse. But no—fate is a stubborn mistress.”
I’ve heard enough.
Rage tears through me like wildfire.
I lunge.
But before I reach him, a circle of flame ignites—gasoline-fed and deliberate. It engulfs the pyre, crackling beneath my parents.
Sera runs toward the pyre, establishing a backfire.
Bode stands firm, doesn’t move. I wonder at an ego that would allow him to leave himself so vulnerable. What am I missing. I am almost at his feet. And then—
Snap.
Pain explodes in my leg. I roar as my foot catches in a steel trap hidden in the ground. My body slams sideways into the dirt.
I’m down.
Trapped. By a weapon of my own making. Re-positioned…by Bode.
And now
That’s when I feel it.
The ground beneath me trembles. The air thickens with magic. Dark, ancient, pulsing magic.
Thecursehas begun.
I wriggle against the track, heart hammering.
And just yards away, rising from the smoke—
Bode’s true form.
Larger. Darker. Crowned in flame.
Eyes burning straight into mine.
Then he’s airborne—teeth bared—leaping not for me--for Sera.
I shout her name, clawing at the trap, yanking with everything I have, but it’s too deep. Too tight.
She casts a blast of magic that sends Bode flying, but I can feel it—her strength is waning. She’s been holding a fire barrier around my parents, hurling spells, and dodging an alpha on a blood rampage. It’s too much for one witch.
I can’t get to her.
Not fast enough.
