Page 66 of 3 Shifters to Break a Curse

I sighed as a sinking feeling came over me. This was going to be a while.

* * *

For the past several hours,I paced the boundary of our property in my black bear form, searching for the slightest thing that didn’t belong. I was becoming antsy and impatient. With each minute that passed, and with no sign of Jared, my nerves were becoming more and more frayed. Though I wanted to see this through for Toni, I wasn’t looking forward to her leaving. But this was the only way she could move on in her life. So long as Jared was around, she was stuck as a prisoner. Trapped beneath his presence. Suffocated from the freedom she deserved.

My breaths came out in a fog. Though the morning air was colder than normal, it was mostly comfortable. The chill in the air helped to ease the ache within my nerves.

So far, things were quiet. And each time I checked, Rin and Luke were doing the same thing I was. Toni sat in the grass in front of the cabin, preparing for the ritual with a pinch in the center of her forehead.

I hoped she wasn’t having any doubts. The last thing we needed was another spell turned curse because she allowed her doubts to creep in and ruin everything. It wasn’t like I could go and encourage her. I had to stay put. Because the time we waited for was approaching. Any minute, Jared would make his unfortunate appearance… starting with his overwhelming awful odor.

His scent was light for now. As it had been for days.

I sucked in a breath and shook my head as I continued to pace the ground around the trees surrounding my home. It was the moment of truth. It was time for Toni to show us what she can do. Show us that she was strong enough to defeat this thing.

Rin, Luke, and I were standing behind her.

We had been waiting for well over an hour for Jared. Ever since Toni got the hit that he was close. I could smell him too. From somewhere too far off still. Not close enough yet for me to rip his head from his shoulders.

Not that I would do that. Not after making a promise to Toni. But the temptation was there.

We had to promise her we wouldn’t kill Jared when he finally showed himself. Else the ritual she had been preparing for would have been for nothing. She needed him alive. And none of us wanted her to put so much effort into becoming free of him only to have it blow up in her face. Not that I was entirely positive any one of us could get close enough to the thing without throwing up.

Still, what the hell was the guy waiting for? He had ample opportunity to get the jump on us and never took the chance. So, what was his deal?

I shook out the chill that crept through my thick fur and groaned.

Rin and Luke responded with a noise of their own.

We were all growing antsy. We were all getting tired of waiting.

A few minutes longer and I was ready to give up and return to my human form. If, and when, Jared finally decided to show his ugly face, I would be able to easily shift back to my animal. But right when I was about to shift back, I caught a brief glimpse of a shadow dashing behind a tree, hiding in the low brush. I snapped my attention in the same direction, finding nothing out of the ordinary. But shadows didn’t normally move on their own like that. Something was up.

I sniffed the air, wondering if Jared was somehow able to mask his scent. Though him having the ability to do so was highly doubtful, I had to consider the possibility. Everything smelled normal, with the exception of his ever-present, unfortunately familiar, albeit still faint, scent. It was nowhere near strong enough for him to be as close as the moving shadow just was.

Something wasn’t right. There was a detail or two that must have escaped Toni’s intuition because things were suddenly much more dangerous than what we had planned for.

Another shadow moved out of my periphery, and I knew for sure something was up. It wasn’t until I saw more shadows moving that I started to run out of the woods to give the signal to Toni. The only problem was Jared didn’t come alone.

Just as I let Toni know, a startled, painful sound came from Luke.

I turned my attention to him. He was ambushed by half a dozen of Jared’s friends. The air turned foul, and the fumes from the overwhelming scent burned my eyes. I sneezed and tried to force the particles from my snout. Despite the horrible, vomit-inducing odor, I tried to run to Luke’s aid.

Another painful sound came from Rin. I turned to find the same had happened to him. I couldn’t save them both. Somehow Jared was able to isolate the three of us. I stared into the shadows and waited, searching for another handful of shadows to come after me.

After several moments, nothing happened, and I started to run to Luke’s aid again. I didn’t make it but ten feet toward him when I was ambushed myself. Now I had my own set of friends. I was tackled to the ground and struggled to get the things off of me by slashing at them with my claws.

I groaned as something pierced my side. Fire burned through my veins. My vision blurred. The world started to tilt and bend.

Another sound came from Rin.

Things weren’t going great.

“Fuck,” I thought to myself.

We were screwed before we even got started. Our last hope was with Toni and the spell she had. So long as she stayed uninterrupted, we had a chance.

I managed to climb to my paws and face a few of the backup Jared brought with him. I counted them, short a few. My attention shifted to Toni, already in the middle of the spell. The ones missing from my group were inching their way toward her. Strutting across the grass, reaching for her as though they were intent on stopping Toni’s spell.

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