The Konig Cursebreakers

by Brenna Lyons

  “Headache?” Sylvia inquired.

  “My whole body aches, but no bruises. Any idea why it hurts?”

  “Adrenaline overload.”

  “Ah. That’s what got me,” she decided.

  “No, that was the result of what got you. You don’t remember what happened?”

  “I remember laying on steam. After that, I’ve got a regular black hole, Doc.”

  “Well, your tests came back with no brain damage, no heart damage, whacked blood chemistry even for you—”

  “Can I do anything but sleep it off?” Erin asked pointedly.

  “Not really,” Sylvia admitted.

  “Then, release me before someone gets hurt,” she pleaded.

  “Erin,” Talon warned.

  Sylvia considered it carefully. “Ibuprofen for the pain. I’ll give you a vitamin supplement. Drink lots of fluids to help flush the toxins. No training for three days. Light duty for a few days after that.”

  Erin sighed in relief. “Agreed. Anything, just let me out of here.”

  The old woman laughed lightly and her blue eyes glittered in her wrinkled face. “I don’t know why Warriors bother to come see me. There’s not much I can do. Your systems are just too damned efficient.”

  “Wasn’t my idea,” she commented weakly.

  Piers cleared his throat. “Not to be indelicate, Sylvia— Is it in Erin’s best interests to let her go?”

  “I wouldn’t let her go if I thought she was in danger. She can relax at home, and that’s what she needs. She won’t do that here. She’s already like a caged tiger. If she’s not up to par in three days, or if she has a relapse, she’s coming in for a few days.”

  Erin groaned at the thought of it. “I promise doctor’s orders are law.”

  * * * *

  Hunter paced the front room. They were on their way back, and he was fuming that Erin talked her way out of medical care. Despite the risk to the humans at the hospital, she had to come first, but she refused to endanger them.

  He heard the car coming and bolted out to meet it. The fact that Jayde pulled up to the door instead of going to the garage told him all he needed to know. Hunter pulled the rear door open and gathered Erin into his arms. “She’s unconscious again,” he noted bitterly.

  “Asleep,” Talon corrected him. “Sylvia says all she can do is sleep it off. She’s weak, but you know Erin. That can’t hold her down for long.”

  Hunter nodded and carried her in out of the cold night. Erin was practically too easy to lift, and he sighed at the thought that for the third time in less than a week, he was carrying a woman he cared for into this house and praying she would recover from some strange malady. Hunter glanced at the door to his room sadly as he passed by. It was going to be nerve-wracking having both Sarah and Erin incapacitated at the same time.

  He settled Erin on her bed and pulled her boots off. She curled to her side, dragging the blanket with her to cocoon herself. Hunter smiled as he brushed at her damp, black curls. He stood to leave, as Jayde sheathed the weapons Hunter had rescued from the training area into Erin’s empty belt and hung them over the headboard where Erin would expect to find them when she woke.

  Talon was waiting in the doorway, watching the scene with grim resolve. He waved for his wife and son to follow him to the living room where Piers was waiting for them.

  “How is she?” the old lord asked.

  Hunter smiled at that. How much could her condition have changed in the hour since he saw Erin to Jayde’s car at the hospital before getting in his own to rush here?

  “Asleep,” Talon assured him. “How is rumor control faring?”

  Hunter winced. Piers had insisted on taking over after the first three hours, when it became obvious that Hunter — speaking for either König or Crossbearer — would not be sufficient. Piers, as lord of Cross range, carried much more clout.

  “About as well as you can expect. Lewis is sending one of his. He’s convinced the beasts will see this as an opportunity. Being stone lord entitles him to leeway I don’t extend to anyone else. I’ve convinced the others to hold off, unless Erin has another collapse and-or goes inpatient.”

  Hunter nodded. “He’s sending Curt?” he guessed, looking forward to spending time with the younger man again.

  “No, he’s sending Adam,” Piers informed him with a scowl.

  “Adam? I thought she was supposed to relax?” Hunter countered sarcastically.

  “Better than Bryant,” Talon noted. “At least Adam is printed.”

  “That’s true,” he conceded grudgingly. “So, Sylvia couldn’t give you any idea of what happened?”

  Jayde shook her head solemnly. “No. She had no idea what started the cascade. Could Sarah offer any more help?”

  Hunter groaned. “I wish. She was awake a few hours ago, hysterical still. She wants to leave. She swears she saw a beast walking in broad daylight.”

  Talon shook his head in exhaustion. “Well, that’s not possible, so where does that leave us?”

  “Hallucinations?” Jayde offered. “Maybe she’s not recovered.”

  Hunter shook his head. “I think I know what she saw. What I don’t understand is what she did to Erin when she saw it.”

  “You think Sarah is responsible for what happened?” Talon asked. “If that’s true, we can’t keep our word to Kohl. I can’t risk that type of attack again.”

  Hunter grimaced. “I don’t think it was done consciously. I think what happened was a trauma to each of them in their own ways.”

  Jayde leaned toward him. “Explain what you think happened,” she requested wearily.

  “Remember what Sarah said at breakfast? She sees Blutjagd as a red braid when it’s dormant. The more pressing the bloodlust, the wider the band becomes.”

  “Yes. Go on.”

  “She sees high-level beasts as a solid red shimmer — a red aura.”

  Jayde’s eyes widened in understanding.

  “I think Erin’s entire shimmer lights up red when she goes nuclear. If I’m right, I’m not surprised Sarah went ballistic when she saw it. Look at it from her point of view.”

  “The stronger the Warrior, the stronger the curse,” Piers mused. “How do we test this theory without hurting either of them again?”

  “If it involves lighting Erin again, it’s going to wait the three days of rest the doctor ordered,” Talon reminded them.

  Hunter nodded. “It does. I intend to explain what happened to Sarah and lead her through the experience of watching Erin blaze up through a normal Blutjagd all the way to nuclear grade. We know Erin can do a simple progression like that. We’ve seen it. Now, if we lead Sarah through and keep her calm, it should shield Erin from whatever fallout hit her last time. The only question is— Has Sarah discovered an offensive weapon in her arsenal and doesn’t know it?”

  “Offensive?” Piers repeated. “There’s never been such a thing.”

  Jayde smiled wearily. “Perhaps for humans, the stronger the curse, the stronger the power.”

  Chapter Nine

  January 12, 2025

  Hunter watched Sarah eat. She was brooding and miserable.

  “I am leaving,” she assured Kohl for the third time that morning. “If I have to remove my amulet and run like hell, I’m leaving.”

  Kohl’s face darkened and he started to sputter.

  Hunter waved him off. “Sarah,” he began gently.

  She turned on him in a fury. “Don’t try your tricks on me,” she spat. “You sedated me. I could have been long gone by now.”

  “As a raving lunatic,” he qualified. “Look. I know what you saw. I expected it, and it’s my fault for not preparing you.”

  “Preparing me? Tell me the truth. Is she really Blutjagdfrau or half-beast?” she accused.

  Jayde sucked in her breath in shock. “How dare you! I would die before I’d lie with a beast or carry its child.”

  Hunter blanched. “Erin is a Warrior. There’s not a drop of beast in her. Unfortu
nately, your senses perceive both the bloodlust of the Warriors and the state of high-level beasts as red. It’s not hard to see how that could get confusing in the right circumstances.”

  “Don’t give me that. It’s not the same. A band! You have a band of red tempered by the rest of your shimmer. Only beasts are all red.”

  “And there’s no such thing as purple and gold,” Jayde quipped. “There’s a first time for everything.”

  “Bear with me,” Hunter interrupted, before Sarah could retort. “My sister has a unique ability. She can slip into what you consider a normal Blutjagd. We’ve all seen her do it, even your father. We want her to learn to control a sudden burst of her worst, so we requested that she hold it in check until she could expend an explosive attack. I want to show it to you when she recovers. I want you to see her rise slowly, like any other Warrior, without stopping herself until she goes full throttle. Will you give us the benefit of doubt that long?”

  Sarah looked from face to face expectantly, and Hunter followed her gaze. Everyone waited patiently for her answer. No one was going to force her compliance.

  Finally, she met his eyes again and nodded. “All right,” she conceded, “but if I believe for one second that she isn’t in complete control, I’m leaving. Life is too short to mix with an unstable Warrior. Understood?”

  Hunter darkened. “That’s not my choice. You know that.”

  Kohl shifted uncomfortably. “If I think Erin is out of control, I’ll allow you to leave,” he grumbled unhappily. “Against my better judgment,” he added.

  Hunter snapped a fierce look at Adam as the older Warrior started laughing lightly over his coffee mug.

  “What is your problem?” he demanded. “And, make it good.”

  “The idea of Erin out of control,” Adam admitted. “If that woman lacked control, I dare say half of our younger Warriors would be dead right now. Me, first and foremost.”

  Hunter grunted his agreement. “If anyone posed the danger of killing you, it was me the night she ran away to the lake.”

  Adam stretched his neck, as if he could still feel the imprint of Hunter’s hand, and his smile melted away. “I remember,” he replied solemnly.

  “So do I,” Erin answered from the doorway. “I thought I got rid of you. Don’t you have a mate to go drive nuts?” she grumbled.

  “Yes I do, but Lewis ordered me here until you’re recovered.”

  She leaned against the doorframe, looking pale but decidedly dangerous. “Why you?”

  “Lewis stays close to the stone, and Bryant seems to annoy you. Kord thinks Curt is too young for this responsibility. Plus, Lewis said he couldn’t send Curt because of some four-year plan of the stone’s for him. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

  Erin shook her head, though she rubbed her temples in a way that told Hunter she knew more than she was saying.

  “Figures. Neither does Lewis, actually. He’s sort of annoyed at the whole stone puzzle thing. I take it Corwyn never liked that either.”

  “That’s the understatement of the century,” she decided.

  “Anyway, that leaves me. Besides, whether you like it or not, I made a vow to protect you four years ago. Face it. You’re stuck with me.”

  She nodded, a smile curving her lips. “Closed that hole when you lunge yet?” she inquired.

  “Try me when you recover and find out,” he replied simply, picking up his coffee cup.

  Erin’s smile spread, no doubt in anticipation of knocking Adam on his butt for the hundredth time in the last four years. She started to cross to the table. Her eyes met with Sarah’s and she winced, grasping the back of Hunter’s chair roughly. Adam and Hunter vaulted to her, but Erin pushed them away.

  “Ease off, Sarah,” she growled. “You’re too loud.”

  The sensitive looked at her in shock. “I’m not doing anything,” she answered in confusion.

  “Bullshit! Get out of my head. I have enough problems with my own thoughts. I don’t need yours.”

  “I can’t project. It’s not one of my gifts.”

  “You tried with Tricia, but it didn’t work. She thought it might, because she reads minds like you do, but it didn’t mesh somehow. Interference like static. Now, do you believe me?” Erin finished painfully, rubbing the heel of her hand on her forehead and tightening the grip of her other hand.

  “You read minds,” Sarah accused.

  “I wish,” she shot back. “I’m not the one doing this. If I were, I’d hear everyone, right? The only one broadcasting is you. Turn it off.”

  “I can’t. If you’re hearing it, you have to learn to shut it down. It’s not my fault.” Sarah set her jaw angrily.

  “Fine. I’ll try anything if it will shut you up. Tell me how.”

  Erin squeezed her eyes shut as Sarah got a faraway look. The tension crackling in the room between them seemed to evaporate slowly. Erin relaxed her death grip on the chair and allowed Hunter to ease her into it, while the other Warriors watched the interaction warily.

  Sarah trained her eyes on Erin. “Told you,” she commented acidly.

  Erin was angry and shaking in exhaustion when she opened her eyes. “What did you do to me?” she demanded.

  “Nothing. If you’ve got it, you always had it. Mind reading isn’t a virus. I can’t — infect you.”

  “If I had it, don’t you think I would have noticed it by now?”

  “Not necessarily. I never saw shimmers until I saw my first beast. The shock of it set me off. It unlocked what I already had, and I had to learn to lock it.”

  “So, you set me off? Great. Remind me to thank you properly someday. Like in three days,” she grumbled.

  “How do you figure that?” Sarah demanded.

  “You’re the only one I hear, and I never did this until you came. You figure it out.”

  “You sat with me at breakfast yesterday without a problem. I think that blows your theory out of the water.”

  Erin furrowed her brow. “What else could it be? You’re the only new thing in my life.”

  “Seems to me your problems all started when you went—” she ground her teeth, “nuclear.”

  Erin scowled at her. “No dice. I went nuclear at least twice a day for three days with no real problems.”

  “Trying to plant a blade in your father isn’t a problem?” Sarah asked cynically.

  “I controlled that,” she protested. “Besides, what if you never projected until you saw me go nuclear? Maybe my relief came when you concentrated on the process of shutting it down.”

  Sarah darkened. “Impossible.”

  “Tell me why.”

  “Because I haven’t shut anything down. I’ve opened mine, since you shut down yours. I’m reading your shimmer right now. There’s no reason to be scared of this. You just have to learn to live with it.”

  Erin started to snap back at her, but Hunter dropped a hand on her shoulder to still her. “Okay. There is no way to settle this.”

  Sarah shot him an angry look, and he sent her a warning in response.

  “What I suggest is the two of you experimenting with it. Learn to control the flow between you. There is every possibility that you are affecting each other exclusively.”

  “Meaning what?” Kohl asked.

  “Meaning Erin’s nuclear light-up shocked something in Sarah, and her hysterical response — with or without a psychic push — shocked something in Erin. I think they’re linked, and that means they can learn to use it.”

  “Use it in what way?” Kohl continued.

  “When you battle with Sarah, she feeds you information that you use to attack. The beasts ever respond to what she’s telling you?”

  He grimaced. “Sometimes. We’ve had to revert to an earlier code and hope for the best or even clear out entirely at times. Some beasts catch on too quick.”

  “What if Sarah could feed the information without talking? Even if it was only Erin that could hear her, with Erin’s speed and skill and
Sarah’s abilities, they would be an unstoppable team.”

  Adam made a sound akin to a snort. “You’re suggesting we let our Blutjagdfrau and our most powerful sensitive waltz off to hunt together? You’re insane.”

  “Not on your life, Maher,” he growled dangerously. “What I am saying is that we have these two women — both of whom Lorian wants as mates, I might add — in one place. Now, that makes it easier to protect them, but it also makes a very tempting target. Eventually, beasts will come. The two of them can work as a team to stay safe, if I’m right.”

  Sarah raised an eyebrow at him. “Does that mean you’ve changed your mind about me staying in Cross?” she asked pointedly.

  Hunter stamped down his instant arousal and managed an impassive face. “The offer stands. It’s your choice. Kohl will only release you from your choice, if Erin is uncontrollable.” He smiled. “Don’t hope for that reprieve.

  “Of course, if you can’t work with Erin — if the two of you can’t get along together, Crossbearer range may be the lesser of two evils.”

  Sarah’s jaw tightened and her eyes narrowed. “I can read your mind,” she reminded him.

  “Then, you know I told the truth,” he countered.

  “Yeah. Lesser and greater evils, only which is which is still my call.”

  He shrugged calmly. “As you wish.”

  Talon cleared his throat. “This little experiment really should wait until Erin is recovered from her first shock.”

  Erin met his eyes in a fury. “Who said I agreed to this training? The last thing I want is her in my head.”

  “Afraid?” Sarah taunted.

  “Of you? You’ve got to be kidding. I’m just afraid I won’t be able to control my gut reaction next time. I wouldn’t want Kohl carrying a corpse back to his range.”

  “Reaction to what?” she shot.

  “Calling a sealed Warrior, an elder hunter no less, a beast is about as dangerous as you can get. I can read your mind, Sarah. ‘Demon-spawn beast bitch’ almost got your throat slit.”