Page 118 of Cursed to Be Mine
“Go! And after you shut the door, call Khalid.”
Hating that the only way I can be of help is to get out of her way so she doesn’t have to protect meandfight, I spin on my heels and rush through blurry tears.
My hand slipping into my pocket, I hurry down the stairs leading to the basement. The door is already open, and I barrel inside before turning quickly to lock it.
My heart hammering as the house shakes, werewolves howl, and that maniac laughs, I tap the screen and dial Khalid.
Ring!…
Ring!…
Ring!…
The call goes to voicemail.
Thirty-Six
HIM
Aleric sits across his desk, leaning back in his chair as he reads the terms of the alliance we just spent the last few hours finalizing. Varius does the same, both of them taking their sweet time to make sure they’ve thought everything through, closed every loophole concerning the division of Antonio’s network and territory.
My skin itches with the desire to get back home, and my magic hums beneath it in an equal need. This time, it isn’t just Talon who is with us. Aleric wants us all to sign the contract so if Varius dies in the coming war, the terms will still be upheld.
Although our house and the surrounding acres are protected against unwanted entry, Micha is away, having gone up north to deal with an issue Varius created to get her out of the house while we’re here, and Leno’s plants have been spelled to be another terrifying defense, I don’t like being away from her this long.My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out, but when I check the screen, there’s no notification. Must be a phantom desire for her to call me. A want for her to be as twisted up about my absence as I am over hers.
Slipping my phone back into my pocket, I wait for this damn meeting to be over.
The urge to throw my phone when Khalid doesn’t answer makes my fingers tighten around the rubber case. My body needs to do something, to lash out, to help Sau fight the wolves and Micha upstairs.
But I’m just a fucking human. An overweight human who can’t even climb the stairs without getting out of breath.
What did I tell you, Gen? You shouldn’t be so fat.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I shake my head, ridding it of that awful woman’s voice. Ma is dead, and I’m not going to end up like her.
There has to be something down here that’ll help me defend myself. This is a witch’s basement, and the kitchen was stocked with magical items to go into cooking and potions.
Opening my eyes, I look around frantically as the howl of the wolves increase. A shelf of glass vials lures me over to them, and I pick two up gingerly.
Out of the six I helped Sau make today, three of them needed to be handled carefully.
I hold them both up to my face to read the labels, but they’re in a language I don’t understand.
Wanting to scream, I put them back down and take a deep breath. I stare at them, trying to figure out how I can decipher which ones will help me and Sau. Deciding to just go by color and hope for the best, Igrab a handful of the red ones.
Sau didn’t get the chance to tell me how to use them, but I figure launching them into the face of a wolf will work well enough.
As heavy footsteps pound down the stairs, I jerk towards the door, my heart matching every beat that vibrates through the wood.
Clutching the vials of potions, praying they’re ifrit or something similar, I wait for the wolf to tear through the door.
A loud thud shakes it, but the wood holds, and I slowly inch forward, my hands shaking.
The sound of claws rake across its surface, followed by snarls and growls.
By the time the door finally splinters, I’m standing right in front of it. A hand comes through, then pulls back as a wolf’s yellow eyes fill the hole. Popping open one of the vials, I toss the contents at the werewolf’s face.
It jerks back on a high-pitched howl, its fur smoldering as the liquid burns deep into its skin. Dropping to the ground, it howls in so much twisted pain, tears burn my eyes.
