Panther Curse: Shifters Bewitched #3

by Tasha Black

  But who else could it be? These criminals needed magic blood, and shifter guardians had it.

  For two years, I had longed to see my brothers again.

  But now I was praying not to.

  I called on the tiny tinge of magic left in me, begging them to sense it.

  Stay away.

  But they hadn’t heard my cries for help when my panther was strong. How would they hear this weakened plea?

  The guards marched away, leaving me alone with my thoughts as the sun rose, forming a pink rectangle on the floor of my cell through the tiny window above.

  As I watched the light inch its way across my cell, the second part of the realization set in.

  The warlocks were bringing in another prisoner.

  Which meant they were finally done with me.

  9

  Kendall

  Professor Eve winced as she watched me try to fight.

  If that wasn’t a kick in the chest, I didn’t know what would be. Professor Eve was a never-give-up, female-power-to-the-extreme type of person.

  If she didn’t believe in me today, then what was the point?

  Combat class was normally a place where I shone. All the sports I played back in my old life gave me the cool head and confidence I needed in a sparring match.

  But today I was totally choking. And I was up against Bella, who was still basically brand new to school, and to the very concept of using magic to fight. I should have been wiping the floor with her.

  She was never going to respect me at this rate.

  What did I even have to offer to the group if I couldn’t fight? It wasn’t like we were going to be up against the Order of the Broken Blade on the open ocean, where my water magic might actually come in handy.

  Bella wound up, and I could see the balls of blue magic spinning in her hands like miniature globes. She was telegraphing her moves like the amateur she was, but I was still a step behind somehow.

  I ducked out of the way just in time, but when the globes hit the lawn, the grass began to grow, tangling around my ankles.

  Bella was lucky, her power over plant life was useful in almost any outdoor situation.

  I sidestepped the grasping tendrils and called on my magic. Cori was watching on the sidelines, holding an open water bottle. I swirled a sphere of water out of it and dashed it in Bella’s face, temporarily blinding her.

  It wasn’t as good as making the grass of the commons attack, but I needed to work with what I had. And there were only so many sources of water.

  Unless…

  If you can control the water in plants, can you control the fluids in people?

  Esme’s words from back in Plants class were really getting in my head.

  Bella growled and shook her head, scattering droplets of water as she recovered from my momentary distraction.

  Palms up, feet planted, she had two more gigantic balls of blue magic humming instantly.

  I tried to summon some attacking magic of my own, but it sputtered in my palms.

  Bella lifted her hands to hurl her attack. I was flat-footed. Nowhere to go.

  Instinct took over and I threw my hands up to defend myself. I wasn’t thinking about counter spells, or proper defensive technique. There was only time for one simple thought.

  Stop.

  The air seemed to be sucked out of me. I could feel contact with some water source, like when I’d stolen water from Cori’s bottle. Only this was different.

  Bigger. Warmer.

  And it was mine to command.

  The power of it pulsed against my hands, surging rhythmically, as if to a drumbeat.

  Before me, Bella had gone still as a statue, her hands held aloft, her spell fizzled before it could even be cast. A horrified look was frozen on her face.

  Her blood. I’m connected to her blood.

  The power was unlike anything I’d ever felt. All that life, coursing through miles of branching highway, from the tiniest capillary to the largest vein, all pulsing to the rhythm of the driving drumbeat of her heart.

  But there was something unexpected there as well. Another, quicker drumbeat.

  Not one heart, but two.

  Bella was… pregnant?

  Instantly, I dropped my hands and called my magic back to myself.

  The force of my desperation pulled it back so hard that I staggered to the ground.

  “Bella?” Eve called out worriedly to the woman I was hoping would be my friend.

  What had I done?

  I scrambled to my feet and ran for the forest without looking back.

  I didn’t even know where I was going, all I knew was that I couldn’t stay where I was for one more second.

  10

  Kendall

  When I was finally no longer able to draw a full breath, I stopped running to lean on a granite boulder deep in the woods.

  A stitch cut through my side, and I leaned into the pain. I deserved it. What I had done was beyond awful.

  I sucked in the cold, damp air and tried to get my head together.

  I’d just done something I didn’t even know was possible.

  And I had just learned something very important about Bella.

  It was none of my business. I wondered if she even knew about it herself.

  Was I supposed to tell her? Would she ever forgive me for how I found out?

  I didn’t know if she would be happy or sad about the news. But it was bound to be pretty awkward coming from someone who called her a breeder when she first got chosen.

  “Kendall, you’re a fucking idiot,” I whispered to myself

  “Kendall,” Eve’s voice carried through the trees.

  I didn’t bother to answer. I honestly couldn’t believe she had followed me.

  Hopefully, that meant that Bella was okay.

  “Kendall, there you are,” Eve said as she strode up to me, her boots crunching in the leaves.

  The woman was in seriously great shape. She wasn’t even breathing hard.

  “Are you okay?” she asked gently.

  I had expected her to yell and berate me. The compassion in her voice brought unexpected tears close to the surface.

  I swallowed them back.

  “How’s Bella?” I asked instead of answering.

  “She’s fine,” Eve said. “That’s one tough kid.”

  “Yeah, for sure,” I agreed.

  “Have you ever done that before?” Eve asked.

  I shook my head.

  She sighed and put an arm around my shoulder.

  “Let’s sit, Kendall,” she said. “Then you can explain what you were thinking.”

  I scrambled up on the boulder and she sat beside me.

  “Esme said something to me in Plants class,” I explained. “It kind of got into my head.”

  Eve frowned and nodded.

  “I made my aloe leaves twirl into spirals, using my water magic,” I explained. “Esme asked if I could do that to people.”

  Eve went still beside me.

  “I told her that was a gross idea,” I said. “But when Bella was kicking my ass, her words kind of surfaced in my head. And then suddenly…”

  I trailed off, but Eve didn’t speak.

  “I could feel Bella’s blood,” I said softly.

  I chose not to tell her what else I felt. That wasn’t my news to share.

  “What you did is called sanguinambulance,” Eve said after a moment. “More commonly called blood walking. It means you are controlling a person’s physical movements by controlling their blood. And it’s even more powerful when you already have an emotional connection with someone, like you do with Bella.”

  I shuddered, feeling horrified.

  Did Esme already know about this? Did she put it in my head just to mess with me?

  “It is a magic we do not use, Kendall,” Eve said firmly. “It’s extremely painful to the victim. And it’s risky. If you redirect the blood, if you stop it from pumping, if you introduced even the tiniest air bubb
le, the victim could die instantly.”

  Victim.

  I bit my lip, my heart shattering as I thought of the damage I could have done to my friend, to her baby…

  “It’s also a huge personal violation,” she went on. “Can you imagine another person controlling your body? Your blood?”

  I shook my head, my face red with shame.

  “No witch should ever attempt this practice,” Eve said. “And we certainly don’t want it to happen at Primrose. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” I managed. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I know you are,” she said warmly, wrapping her arm around me again. “You’re a fighter, Kendall. And there’s a lot of loyalty, and a heart of gold in there. Only the strongest witches can even attempt something like that. In a way, you should be proud of your power. You just need to find a better channel for it. If you come see me next week, I can help you design an extra credit project that will take better advantage of your skills. You clearly need to be challenged more.”

  She thumped my back in an encouraging way.

  I didn’t know what to say. I was pretty sure there weren’t even words for all the feelings racing around in me.

  “I’ve got to head back in and fill out some paperwork,” Eve said, sounding bummed about it. “I’ll be sure to get it on record that you didn’t know what you were doing and had never done it before.”

  “Thanks,” I said, wondering if I would be kicked out of school anyway. My parents were sure to be thrilled when their third-generation witch had to go to community college instead of Primrose.

  “You can take another minute out here to get your head around it, if you want,” Eve said quietly. “When you come in, you can go to the counselor instead of class if you need to.”

  “Thank you,” I told her, ripping my eyes away from my hands to meet hers. She deserved that.

  She nodded and slid off the rock.

  “Don’t let it happen again, Kendall,” she said. “But don’t beat yourself up too much. You’re here to learn. And you learned something important today.”

  I had actually learned two important things today.

  I was glad to have time to myself. I needed to think about how I was going to talk to Bella.

  11

  Kendall

  By the time I slid off that rock, the sun was already fiery in the western sky.

  I’d been sitting and thinking forever, and I still wasn’t sure what I was going to say to Bella.

  I landed on the loamy soil, pins and needles in my legs from sitting so long. My hand went automatically to my wrist to worry the bangle Declan gave me.

  But my wrist was bare.

  Shit.

  I must have left the bracelet in Bella’s room when we were all changing for Combat class. And I had forgotten that I’d agreed to meet Declan again tonight at the park in town.

  I paused, torn.

  I owed Bella an apology and an explanation of what I had learned. But I was no closer than before to figuring out what to say.

  But I couldn’t just ghost Declan. He was the only solid thing in my life right now.

  Maybe he could even help me figure out what to do. I couldn’t exactly tell him what was going on, but I could find a way to get his advice using some other example.

  I wasn’t ready to face Bella, or any of the others yet, so I headed for the stables to grab the old bike.

  An hour later, the last of the sunlight was fading. I had managed to make it down the mountain a few minutes early, by some miracle.

  The park was quiet tonight. The after-school crowd had long since left, the families of little ones were home making dinner by now.

  I walked past the main playground to the footpath that led around the little fountain.

  Declan and I had met by the swings the last time. The simple swing set was the last landmark before the darkness of the trees met the far side of the park. There was a good spot for a picnic blanket between the fountain and the swings, with a great view of the stars on a clear night like tonight.

  If I wasn’t so freaked out, it might have actually seemed romantic.

  Declan was nowhere to be seen yet. I was completely alone in the last rays of pink twilight.

  I headed over to the swings, peeling off my gloves and shoving them in my pockets. I grabbed the chains and leaned back on the swing without taking my feet off the ground.

  When I was a kid, I always loved the swings. It was hard to remember that life of light-hearted ease.

  Breathe, Kendall, I told myself. Calm down. Take in your surroundings.

  A squirrel darted across the path to the fountain, his tail straight up. The birds sang with desperation, as if they knew it was almost bedtime, but didn’t want to sleep.

  The air was sweet, even down here in the village. The forest was always near, licking the edges of civilization as if it was ready to take over again.

  Suddenly, the birdsong stopped.

  “Declan,” I called out hopefully.

  Hands wrapped around my wrists from behind. I almost screamed in surprise.

  “Hey,” I snapped through my clenched jaw. “That’s not funny.”

  But the hands only tightened and began to pull.

  I looked over my shoulder to see two men in dark hooded robes. Their faces were hidden in shadow like something out of a horror movie.

  I knew that look all too well.

  The Order of the Broken Blade.

  I screamed as loudly as I could.

  But who would hear me back here, in the most private part of a deserted park, on the edge of the woods?

  The men moved in front of me, wrenching me, trying to keep control of my hands to keep me from using my magic.

  I lunged forward and kneed one as hard as I could in the general area of his robed crotch.

  He moaned in agony and let go of my left wrist.

  Before the other could grab it, I swept my hand in the air and called to the water in the fountain.

  I wasn’t honestly sure if there even was water in the fountain. I hadn’t seen it operating since last year. But I could feel the cool flow of magic through my veins, and then a wave of muddy water smashed my other assailant to the ground.

  I started to run, but the guy I kneed grabbed my ankle and I hit the dirt, hard.

  His friend staggered over, dripping wet, and grabbed me.

  I felt cold metal go around my neck and heard a horrible clank as some kind of heavy collar closed on me.

  I lifted my free hand once more, trying to grab another surge of water from the fountain.

  But there was nothing. It was like my magic had run out.

  It wasn’t completely gone. I could still feel it inside me, but anytime I tried to connect it with anything outside myself, it was like running headfirst into a brick wall.

  We’d never learned about anything like this at Primrose Academy, that was for sure.

  “Come on,” the dripping wet guy growled, dragging me to my feet.

  The other guy stood too, wrenching my right arm behind me.

  I tried to plant my feet, but it was no use, they were huge. They half-dragged, half-carried me toward the trees without any issue.

  I screamed again, but no one was there.

  As a last-ditch effort, I slid my left hand into my pocket and slipped one glove out.

  I screamed again, and flung myself wildly against the men as a distraction while I dropped the glove on the grass.

  “Shut up, you dumb bitch,” the muddy one roared, giving me a rough shove toward his partner, who nearly fell over.

  But he recovered and kept hauling me forward. A moment later, we were under the cover of the trees.

  When Declan came and didn’t find me, maybe he would see my glove and know something was wrong. If he knew I’d been there, he would look for me. And if he didn’t find me, he might go to my friends.

  Once any of my fellow witches got their hands on that glove, they would use sympathetic magic on it to get i
t to lead them to the other glove, and to me.

  It was a long shot.

  But it was the only shot I had.

  As the trees closed in around us, I continued to struggle. I might not be strong enough to break free, but I wasn’t about to give in without a fight.

  Eve’s words echoed in my head.

  You’re a fighter, Kendall.

  Damn straight I was. And these guys were going to be sorry as soon as I figured out how to get this collar off.

  “Cover her eyes,” muddy one said.

  “Shit, I almost forgot,” the other one said, slipping something dark over my head.

  Keep fighting, Kendall, I told myself.

  But I was already beginning to wonder if I even had chance of escaping.

  I was so busy fighting, that I didn’t even have time to think about what they would do to me once we got to wherever we were going.

  Knowing what the Order was capable of, that was probably for the best.

  12

  Jared

  I was running through the forest and sprawled on the cold floor of my cell at the same time, drifting in and out of sleep.

  Hours of boredom meant I napped, in spite of losing my hold on my panther’s nature. It was the only sort of escape I had. I clung to these dreams, especially the ones about chasing down my mate.

  In this dream, the forest was cool and damp, the fragrant soil squishing beneath the pads of my massive paws, my muscles expanding and contracting as I leapt through the trees, looking for her.

  A scent made its way to me, wending and flowing like a crystal-clear stream burbling over a pebbled creek bed. It was sweet, with a hint of spice, and my body drank it in frantically.

  My mate.

  I prayed that the dream would take me fully. I wanted to see her, needed to see her.

  I tried to close out my senses in the real world and focus on that magical scent.

  But there was a huge commotion coming from down the dark corridor. I could hear the ringing of boots on the stones and the animal growls and moans of whatever they were struggling with.