Page 68 of 3 Shifters to Break a Curse

Another tug. This time, it was stronger. And instead of it pulling free, it pulled on something inside me, refusing to let go. It was as though the invisible strings that formed the bind between me and Jared had grown roots and had become tethered to my organs. It had to be the source that blocked my magic as well.

That wasn’t going to do. But I had suspected the hardest part had yet to come, and since I was faced with it, I knew exactly what I had to do.

I dug deep into myself and used all the energy I could muster to force Jared’s attachment to break. He needed to let me go. He needed to return to the nether, or wherever it was he came from. And he needed to stay there so he could never have the chance to harm another person again.

I might not have been the first, but I was going to make damn sure I was the last. And doing so was going to take everything I had to remove every thread of his mark from me.

I took a deep breath in. On the exhale, I said, “Release the heart.”

The string started to budge, but not by much. I felt it deeper than before, letting me know just how far his poison had made it through me. But I wasn’t about to give up. I wasn’t going to stop until I was fully free of him.

With my eyes closed, I envisioned the string and where the threads were rooted.

I put all my strength into the spell. So much so that I was starting to feel drained. The block prevented me from accessing my full power, but I wasn’t about to let that or the draining sensation worry me. I knew what it was going to take going into this. I knew this was a possibility. I refused to give up. Not when the men needed me the most. Not when I was so close to being free of Jared.

The sounds of things happening around me seemed like they were getting worse. I had to pull this off soon. I had to pull through. Because the alternative wasn’t an option.

Digging deeper into everything I could tap into, I kept in mind the places where all the threads were rooted and imagined my hand wrapping around them as I said, “Release the heart.”

I tugged. The string came free. My magic was also unclogged and burst from me in a powerful shock wave that shot through the forest around me. I opened my eyes and stood from the ground. Dizziness wrapped around me, and I sucked in a breath to keep myself from fainting. As I settled my eyes over the area, I found the men and the things they were fighting. They appeared to have been frozen in place. Within seconds, the black figures dissolved into nothing.

The men looked around with different levels of confused expressions on their faces. I nodded at them and then walked through the grass and the trees to where a clay doll laid on the ground.

Jared’s original form. I frowned at it for several seconds.

“Are you okay?” Ezra asked, coming to my side.

“I’m fine,” I said, though my voice sounded distant to my ears. “Just one last thing to do.”

I bent over and wrapped my fingers around the figure I had created. It had blackened in spots. Almost as if it was rotting from the inside out. Little blue veins stretched from the black spots, covering the entire length of the figure that used to be Jared.

“We’re still by you,” Luke said.

“None of us are going anywhere,” Rin said and then grunted.

I still couldn’t allow for the distractions, so I kept myself focused on the last thing left to do and carried the figure into the cabin. I took a stand in front of the fireplace and watched as the flames turned almost white.

My eyes fell to the figure once more and I frowned.

“Goodbye forever,” I said, and tossed the doll into the fire.

As the clay dissolved into an unrecognizable mass, a strong wind started to blow around the cabin. The three men joined my side as the winds increased. I settled my gaze on the window and noticed that the trees had started to bend and break with the force of the wind.

A nearly deafening roar ripped through the air, vibrating the frame of the cabin. Once it ended, it took the winds with it, and the last of my strength faded. I fell to the floor in front of the fireplace.

The men all hovered above me as I closed my eyes. I let my body fall into unconsciousness. Because I was free. I was finally free from Jared.

30

RIN

“What happened?” Luke asked as we all knelt around Toni, staring at her, trying to figure out what happened to make her pass out. Was it magic? Was it exhaustion? Was it something that had gone wrong in the spell?

I shrugged. “I wish I knew.”

“I think she’s drained,” Ezra said. His voice was too calm. “She’s still breathing, so that’s a good sign.”

“We should get her off the floor,” Luke said. “And away from the fire. She’s too close to it and we don’t want her accidentally burned.”

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