Page 52 of Cursed Beasts

Maybe she wasn’t talking about Zev, Aeon, and Lucien earlier. Who was this Thane and why did he feel important?

I worked on the next couple of sentences, but nothing made sense. It was a bunch of gibberish that didn't even look like a spell or something concealed. What didn’t make sense was why someone would go to these concealment extremes for what sounded like everyday journal entries?

Another few sentences made little sense when I felt my eyes closing every so often. My body felt like it was starting to shut down. The lack of sleep was catching up to me. I would finish these last few sentences and then head to my room.

The sound of growling made the hairs on my neck stand up, making me perk right up. I stayed quiet, hoping my mind was playing tricks on me, I heard it again, but closer.

Fear paralyzed me while I tried to figure out where the hell I could hide. There was no way I would outrun them to my room. Trying to get my breathing under control, I saw the wolf coming in from the side door.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic.

We locked eyes, and he bared his teeth.

I didn’t care about my stuff, all I cared about was staying alive. I bolted from the chair about to head to the hallway, when another wolf appeared in the doorway. Stopping suddenly, the only place I had to go was further into the library. I ran down the main hallway, remembering there was a spiral staircase that would take me up to the second story.

The growls and snapping were getting closer every second. I reached the staircase when one of them launched themselves at me narrowly missing me as I made it up the first curve of the stairs. The steps were small, making it hard to rush up the steps in my damn sandals.

I kicked off my sandals, as the wolves tried to make themselves fit onto the staircase. Since they were so big, I thought I might be safe, that is, until one of them jumped, using the banister as a launch point to the second story.

The second floor was unfamiliar to me, and I just ran, hoping I didn’t get myself stuck in a corner. A yelp echoed through the library, and I hoped one of them had fallen and hurt themselves.

I turned two corners until I heard running coming towards me. Seeing another spiral staircase, I made my way to that one hoping they were just going to give up. But it seemed like luck wasn’t on my side today. He had easily gotten up to the third story as I ran down a hallway with a huge window at the end.

My heart was hammering when I realized I had corned myself. There were only bookshelves on either side of me with nowhere to go. I weaved in and out of the bookshelves hoping to confuse the wolf, so I could go back to the staircase.

I didn’t think he would follow me down the last shelf when we ran into each other, and I grabbed his fur to keep myself from falling. When I righted myself, we were staring at each other in bewilderment.

Why did he look at me like that and why did I feel like this wasn’t just a wolf anymore? His wolfy expression wasn’t ferocious, he looked calm and intelligent. Looking down at their feet, I realized it was Aeon. The sound of a vicious growl stole our attention. A blonde wolf stood by the staircase before he took off towards us.

Aeon pushed me with his head to stand behind him. He launched himself at Lucien and when they collided, I swore I heard bones breaking.

24

AEON

It felt like I was thrown back into the mind of my wolf, with no warning. When I was in my wolf form, it always felt like I was just sleeping. I had no sense of time; I didn’t dream. It was almost as if I didn’t exist.

I was confused when I saw the Belladonna pressed up against me. Her fear and the sound of her heart hammering loudly. I had no idea how we ended up here, both of us staring at each other in disbelief. It had been too long since I had been conscious in the body of my wolf. Usually the only time I ever did was when I changed during my hour but I was too selfish because I missed being human.

I’ve missed this. I've missed my wolf.

Before the curse, my wolf and I were in tune with each other. He anticipated everyone’s needs; we craved knowledge, and we made the hard decisions that Zev always had a hard time with.

Now with Katarina pressed up against me, it was everything I had ever wanted but never knew I needed. I had never felt this—.

A growl disturbed my thoughts when I looked over to see Lucien by the stairs growling at us. It seems he was still lost to the beast, to his hunger and anger. Instinctively, I pushed her behind me. She needed to be protected; we needed to protect her.

Lucien bolted towards me. A sliver of fear entered my mind. Lucien was strong, and this was going to hurt. I jumped to his side, hoping to distract him enough for Katarina to run away.

When we collided, the sound of bone crushing bone hit my ears before I felt my right arm light up with excruciating pain. I grabbed a mouthful of fur, pulling him to the side when we landed on the floor with him on top of me.

His weight pushed the air out of my lungs, he quickly recovered, lunging at Katarina. She screamed when I grabbed his leg with my mouth, yanking him back. I tried to jump in between them. To use my body as a barrier, pulling her into me before Lucien hit me from behind, making us jolt forward.

Katarina screamed as we fell forward, our combined weight broke the window and we all fell out.

“Fuuuuck!” she screamed, as we free fell.

I didn’t have much time; I bit her shoulder, bringing her closer to me, wrapping my body around her as much as I could to protect her. She burrowed herself into me, grabbing a handful of my fur when we landed.

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