Page 1 of 3 Shifters to Break a Curse

PROLOGUE: TONI

Toni stood in her room, staring at the items she had just finished gathering and setting up on her altar for her ritual. Each item rested in their appropriate spots. She even had memorized the steps of the ritual she was about to perform. The only thing left to do was pull her long, dark brown hair back, and secure it with an elastic band before starting the ritual. Once her hair was pulled back, she sighed. Doubts started to creep in.

“Maybe this is a bad idea,” she said as she took in the layout of small crystals, herbs, minerals, and clay that sat on her altar.

Savannah, her best friend wrapped her arms around Toni and squeezed her close. “What are you talking about. It’s a ritual. Nothing more. You got this. Besides, if anyone in this world deserved a solid shot at love, it’s you.”

Toni smiled. “Yeah?”

Savannah released her friend. “Absolutely.”

She had already come this far. And she wanted love so badly she could almost taste it. The kind of love that was long-lasting, toe-curling, and was filled warm cuddles all night long. A love where she would feel valued and desired. Besides, she had talked to Savannah about it, and she also thought it was a good idea.

Clearly, as her words had just proved.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Don’t mention it. And I want to know how it went in the morning,” she said.

“Of course,” Toni said.

“Okay. I’ll leave you to it,” she said and gave Toni another hug.

Savannah had left the room, leaving Toni to her ritual, and her thoughts. And while she stared at the work she had already done for her love ritual, the doubts started to circle through her mind. Her second thoughts that mirrored her fears.

Thoughts that were similar to maybe she should hold off and give things a little more time to develop on their own. Her reasoning was because love spells always go wrong, and though this wasn’t a love spell per-se, it was a ritual to speed up the process of finding love. To have the Universe open the doors needed for her to find whoever he was.

She thought of it as a sort of compass. Really, that’s what it was. A means to guide her on the right path. Still, regardless of the careful precautions and following each step to a T, she knew magic was never an exact science. There was still a lot of room for something to go wrong, and the effort she put into the ritual would all be for nothing.

But Savannah had encouraged her to go forward. She figured she probably should.

When she first felt the urge to cast a spell to force love into her life, she chided herself. Love spells always went wrong. She didn’t want to bring any more trouble into her life than she already had, and she realized a dose of patience was needed when it came to that sort of thing, but she wasn’t getting any younger, and as more time passed, she was losing hope.

Instead, she got to work doing some research for anything but a spell. For something that could help point her in the right direction. After some time, and a little bit of help from her friend, she had found the perfect ritual. She was ready for the kind of love her best friend, Savannah, had.

And the last of her final thoughts had pushed her to do the ritual.

“Suppose I should move forward,” she said to herself. She figured if she had come this far, there was no point in turning back now. “I just hope this works.”

She took in a deep breath. On the exhale, she pushed all of her doubts to the side. They weren’t gone completely, but she could ignore them. Mostly. After clearing her thoughts, she focused on the intention of the ritual. As she started, she folded and molded the clay into a figure resembling the shape of a man.

She then used the herbs and minerals as incense, lighting them in her mortar. As they popped and cracked, filling the room with a pleasant, soft scent, she then picked up a small pink candle and etched the word “love” into the side of it. She lit the candle, setting it into a small holder before sitting the clay figure onto a piece of paper with a straight path drawn onto the surface. The clay figure and the paper sat on in the center of her alter.

With the hard part finished, she sat back and concentrated on her image walking the path to her intended love. She allowed herself to get excited, even though in the back of her mind, her doubts screamed at her. Still, she continued until she imagined reaching him.

The ritual was complete.

She sat back and gazed at the path to her love and sent a small prayer to the Goddess while envisioning walking hand and hand with her future love.

At the end of it all, she sat on her bed and continued to stare at the whole setup. She had done everything she could. Now all she needed to do was watch for the signs and signals from the universe that would guide her to her long-lasting love.

She still couldn’t keep the doubts from her mind. The endless questions of whether or not she was truly destined for a magnificent soul-filling love. And after kissing men who only turned out to be frogs, she was losing faith and hope that she would ever know what it would be like to love someone and be loved in return.

But her work was done, and exhaustion from a long day had settled on her shoulders and tugged on her eyelids. She had to trust the ritual would do its job. All she had to do was wait just a little longer.

Toni crawled into bed right before the stroke of midnight. Sliding into her soft sheets and settled in for a long sleep. That night, she dreamed of love. Of the things that laid ahead for her. Of true happiness and feeling complete.

In the morning, when she woke, the candle had burned into a flattened glob of melted wax, the incense had become nothing but ash, and the clay figure was gone. Toni had forgotten all about the ritual and never thought to look for the now missing man made of clay. Instead, she stared at the setup and shrugged. After taking the time to wake up for a few moments, she vaguely remembered a ritual, but not the details. She figured that was all part of the design.

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