Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
MOON CURSED
(SKY BROOKS BOOK 5)
MCKENZIE HUNTER
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
McKenzie Hunter
Moon Cursed
© 2016, McKenzie Hunter
[email protected]
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-946457-94-3
Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
MESSAGE TO THE READER
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER 1
Logan sat in the chair, his gaze sweeping across the room, draped in a dark confidence that made the moment even more intense. My fingers prickled with an overwhelming need to do bodily harm to him in ways that made me a little afraid of myself. He deserved it. Every hateful and violent thought that went through my mind as I glared at him, he rightfully deserved.
He had been tasked with finding the Tre’ase that had created Maya, the spirit shade that I hosted and that was thus keeping me alive. Which he had done. But in line with most of his behavior, which seemed to be sociopathic at best, a quality he appeared oddly proud of, he’d returned with only her heart, keeping it beating with magic that was linked to his life. If we killed him, we would stop the heart and in turn kill me. Now he wanted to make a deal. I was tired of making deals with the devil.
The intense silence continued as he waited for someone to speak. The seconds became minutes, and still no one had spoken. I didn’t think I was alone in being reluctant to make a deal with someone like Logan, but we didn’t have a lot of choices.
“What do you feel you need and want?” Sebastian asked, although Logan didn’t let that sully his mood. Logan’s smug smile broadened as his fingers drummed on top of the container that held the heart of the Tre’ase that had created me. He held the confidence of someone that had my life in his hands—because he did.
“Please, have a seat, we have a lot to discuss,” Logan offered with pleased confidence.
“I’ll stand,” Sebastian said, keeping a stern gaze on him. If looks could kill, Logan would have died a thousand deaths at that time.
He shrugged. “Have it your way.”
I stood, too, though I really wanted to sit. I didn’t want Logan to have my life—or death—in his hands with the ability to destroy me with a simple spell.
“What do you want?” Sebastian asked, his tone rough and hard as he watched Logan intensely. This situation had quickly devolved from any hint of civility, and it was predator against predator as they assessed boundaries and looked for weaknesses. But there was a flaw; despite Logan’s various weaknesses he had the upper hand and could not be divested of it.
Logan’s smile blossomed, opening up to share what I was sure was a deviant and twisted wish list. “Very simple. One, I’d like these cursed marks removed from my body. They do make things difficult for me.”
“Why, because they alert people that they are being magically bound to a contract and don’t allow you to trick anyone into anything?” Josh offered. That was news to me, and it would have been good information to have known before I’d become involved with him. I’d assumed that they were triggered by his emotions, like that weird eye color shift thing that happened with were-animals. He hadn’t taken a seat, either, but instead was switching between pacing and leaning against the counter behind Logan while intermittently sending deadly glares in his direction.
Logan smiled. “Exactly. You’ve noticed I’m the only one who has them. Why should I bear the marks of past mistakes that were forced on me by the dreadful witches?”
“How many did it take to invoke the curse?” Josh asked.
Logan made a face. “Thirteen.”
“If these marks were given to you by thirteen witches, how are we, with one witch, going to remove them?” I asked.
Logan’s attention shifted to Ethan, where it stayed for a long time before reverting to me. His tone held a cool edge. “You removed a curse done by witches before, so it stands to reason that you can do the same again. But frankly, how it is done really isn’t my problem as long as it is.”
Sebastian had implied that we had access to the Clostra, a book of powerful spells and the very thing we’d used in lifting the death curse witches had placed on me, accidentally lifting the ward that had kept Logan from leaving his home as well. If Logan hadn’t helped with finding the Tre’ase, then we would have reversed the broken ward. We had two volumes of the set of three. Getting the third wasn’t as easy as Sebastian had led Logan to believe.
The tension was so thick it was suffocating. Sebastian’s eyes narrowed as they homed in on the creature that had become the pack’s enemy. His jaw clenched before his lips pulled back, baring the edges of his teeth as though he was ready to strike.
Logan chuckled, placed his hand on the cylindrical jar, and smiled, a subtle reminder that he had the upper hand. The tension-filled stillness continued and he seemed to be feeding off the anger directed at him. He took his hand off the jar and stood in a dramatic gesture before clasping his hands behind him, unconcerned that he’d left the container with us.
Pacing the room, he kept his back to us and continued. “Should I go on with my second request?” No one responded. He turned and directed his attention to Sebastian and asked the question again.
Sebastian didn’t speak but instead fixed Logan with the same hard stare he had given him most of the day. He took Sebastian’s silence as a tacit agreement to go on.
He resumed pacing the room, a haughty smile draped over the magically modified features that disguised his actual grotesque appearance: teeth that protruded from his maw, a gruesome elongated snout that dominated his face, and horns that extended from his scalp. His usual monstrous broad build didn’t lend itself to the graceful movements he was now afforded by his human form, a slim frame that moved agilely throug
h the room. He’d changed his hair again—now it was a pale blond color with light hints of silver throughout.
But we had already stopped paying attention to him and started to concentrate on Josh. His eyes had eclipsed to a smoky color—something that happened when he called upon stronger magic. He kept doing spell after spell. I could see magic inching closer toward the jar. Then it wrapped around it like condensation before it faded away.
Each time Josh tried a spell an equal force pushed his magic away.
Logan’s dark laugh filled the room as he kept his back to us. “Ah yes, did I expect anything less than the witch attempting to remove the spell? Tell me, are you having any success?” he taunted, and the glare that Josh shot in his direction indicated that he was getting to him. “I assure you, I’ve mastered the spell to ensure that it cannot be lifted by anyone but me. Shall I continue?”
“Go on,” Sebastian urged, forcing the words out through clenched teeth.
More confident than one should have been in a room full of angry predators, Logan continued to slowly walk the length of the room. Seemingly unconcerned by our presence, he kept his back to us. He seemed to be pondering his words carefully before speaking. “Sky made a deal with me; one that she didn’t fulfill. I would like her to fulfill that deal. That’s my final request.”
A hostile quiet overtook the room. Everyone was silent, staring at Logan, who had finally turned in our direction and looked quite satisfied with himself.
In a moment of desperation, I’d sought him out in hopes that he’d remove the death spell the witches had cast on me as punishment for taking the Aufero, a protected object that had the ability to remove magic, from Marcia, the head of the Creed that governed the witches. I was still convinced it had been done in retaliation. In the process of taking it, I’d nearly drowned her, and if it hadn’t been for Quell, I would have. I’d been foolish enough to consider performing a servus vinculum in exchange, which essentially would have bound Chris, Ethan’s ex, to me. Then I could have “gifted” her to Logan. Although I hadn’t agreed to it by allowing him to bind me with his magic, I’d made an implied agreement; then my guilt and conscience had caused me to change my mind. The guilt was something I dealt with on a daily basis. It was one of my darkest moments, and I refused to do anything like it.
Now he wanted us to agree to do it again. “No,” I said firmly, heading for the door. “We don’t have a deal.”
“Ms. Brooks, I don’t believe you have much of a choice,” Logan said.
“Yes, I do have a choice, and it is to leave. I’m not giving you anything. You live your miserable life as it is with your goddamn marks to show that you are truly a demon and remain alone, because I refuse to give you a person to keep as a pet. And know that I will be doing everything possible to make sure that the ward is replaced and you are confined here in your home as was intended.”
“I do believe you are underestimating the situation.” His velvety soft voice contrasted with the harsh look he gave me.
“No, I understand the situation just fine.”
He flashed me a smug grin. “Then you understand that you aren’t really in a position to bargain. At this juncture, the only thing you should ask is how much time you have to deliver.”
It felt like I was always dealing with compromise and watching my humanity devolve into something unrecognizable. This was one of those times I felt like the line was drawn in blood, and stepping over it would take me to a point where I couldn’t return and be me, or at least happy with who I had become.
“No deal. If I have to die just so that you can continue to live this miserable life, then so be it.”
I started out the door, ill prepared for the pain that shot through my heart. It felt like someone had punched through my chest, grabbed my heart, and twisted it. I dropped to my knees, panting while trying to catch my breath and diffuse the power shocking my heart, which thumped once and then stopped. Thumped again seconds later—arrhythmic, shallow. Colors flashed before me and my head swam. I couldn’t pant anymore. My breaths were being siphoned off by magic and held. I struggled for every one I managed to take. The background noise was getting duller by the moment, masked by death’s call. I heard Ethan scream, “Stop it!”
“I will stop when we have an agreement.”
I didn’t need to see it to know the tapestry on his arm was moving, the marks rolling in a slow swirl as they did when he prepared to lock someone into an agreement by which they were magically bound. I didn’t want that for my pack.
“No. Don’t agree,” I managed to pant out as darkness drifted over me, casting its nebulous wrath.
“We agree,” Sebastian said.
Magic unraveled from around me, my heart pumped a little faster, and the breathing—although labored—finally came. The heavy feeling of my body made it difficult for me to find the resolve to stand up. I lay on the floor, contemplating how fast I would have to move to get to the heart, save it, and kill Logan. But that was the problem—if I killed Logan, I might as well not have the heart, as it would be of no use to me. He had linked himself to it, so the moment he died, it would, too, and so would I. Fuck.
I finally came to my feet and looked around the room, feeling the wispy air of the magic that now bound my pack to their agreement with Logan. It brushed against me, sending goose bumps up my arm, and the remnants of it lingered in the air. A sick look of satisfaction marked Logan’s face, and there wasn’t anything I wanted more than to wipe it off. The thirst for revenge left a dank taste in my mouth. I was still thinking about it even as Sebastian and Josh walked past me and out the door. My eyes fixed on Logan, thinking of the million ways I wanted to inflict pain on him. And the thousand ways I planned to kill him.
Ethan’s lips brushed against my ear when he spoke. “Come on, let’s go.”
As we walked to the car, anger and frustration melded together. We were screwed.
“Are we really going to do this?”
“We don’t have a lot of options, Sky,” Sebastian said.
“Of course we do. We don’t do it.”
“Do you think he was bluffing in there?” Sebastian snapped. He wore his frustration heavier than anyone else, and it marred his face.
“He was going to let you die,” Ethan offered, his voice tight and strained. “What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that I didn’t want to give him the upper hand.”
“He has the upper hand!”
“We don’t even know where Chris is,” I said. “And do you think Samuel is going to give us the third Clostra again so that we can remove a curse from a Tre’ase?”
I could see everyone’s wilted frustration on their faces. This was a hard situation, and while they were probably thinking about how to solve it, I couldn’t get the taste of revenge out of my mouth and thoughts of it out of my head. We’d screwed up by lifting the curse that the witches had placed on me and in turn removing an unknown number of curses. The vampires freely walked in the daytime without any aversion to the sun. We’d broken the ward that kept all the elven creatures in the dark forest and removed the ward that kept the Tre’ases restricted to their homes instead of roaming the world freely and performing countless atrocities that we didn’t know about.
Ethan was right, Logan had the upper hand. And I couldn’t help but wonder, what else could come from us removing his markings and giving him free rein to bind people without their knowledge? My pack made the world worse each time they tried to help me. The guilt of it was getting harder to deal with.
Ethan and I drove away from Logan’s in tension-filled silence that continued to the point where I couldn’t stand it.
“What—”
“Sky, please. Not now.” He kept his eyes on the road. Platinum rolled over them each time he looked in my direction, and his frown deepened. I hated the quiet and the unpleasant discord that existed between us. When he stopped in my driveway, I got out of the car and went to the front door of the house. He exited and
went around to the back. I got to the window in time to see him strip down, near the side of my house, grateful once again that I didn’t live close to a neighbor and that I had compromised open lawn space for privacy when I’d purchased the home. As soon as he shifted, he ran deep into the woods, darting around the trees and receding farther into the woodland area. I thought that maybe he needed a moment alone. I certainly needed one to deal with the lingering animosity that existed between us. I also needed a minute to figure things out with Logan.
Maybe he’d be more amenable to us removing the marks even if we didn’t bring him Chris. They were both terrible options, but removing the marks was the lesser of two reprehensible requests. We were faced with removing a curse that had been performed by thirteen witches. The gnawing feeling in my gut led me to believe there were more layers to that story. The spell we’d used removed the curse that had been placed on me by the Creed and made more powerful with Ethos’s magic. At that time, we knew him as just a purveyor of dark magic, but we later found out he was a Faerie. His magical boost was removed by that spell. What the hell type of curse had they performed that could withstand that? If the Clostra couldn’t remove it, what could?
I didn’t like the Creed. They were power hungry and deceitful, but if thirteen had cursed him, that meant that they’d found his ways to be particularly dangerous. Witches were a lot of things, but unwarrantedly cautious wasn’t one of them. At some point, some had felt the need to warn others that any agreements they entered into with him were sealed with magic and had consequences. Logan’s marks were the only thing that allowed those dealing with him to know that they were making a magically bound deal. If we removed them, he’d be free to trick people into agreements.
Moon Cursed (Sky Brooks Series Book 5) Page 1
