Wolfish: Curseborne

by G. K. DeRosa

  I searched my core for the familiar twinge of magic and the shift came on. A minute later, I was standing naked with only the hedge to hide beside. A very nude Hunter stood in front of me, his large body a wall protecting me from the audience. Despite the crowd, a tingle of heat lit up in my core at the glorious sight of him.

  A young guy sprang up from behind the maze and tossed us each a new jumpsuit. I quickly stepped into mine as Hunter provided coverage. His burning gaze lanced into me as I zipped up the skin-tight material.

  “I can’t wait to make you mine,” Hunter growled, his rough voice stealing my senses, and I nearly jumped him in the middle of the arena.

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I shook out the wave of lusty thoughts pummeling my insides. “We just have to make it through this thing alive then.”

  He shot me a grin as he dressed, robbing me of the captivating sight of his flawless muscled form. “I heard they brought in the vegetation from the Fae realm,” he said as I tore my eyes away from him and stared up at the towering bushes. “Everything is exotic and deadly.”

  “So we get out of the maze, and it’s over?”

  “Looks that way.” He sauntered up to the scanner and swept his hand across the reader.

  “Hunter Silverstalker, Dragos Pack, first to enter. Time: seven minutes and thirty-one seconds.” A robotic voice rang out, and the gate creaked open.

  “And I’m in.” He walked through and the gate slammed behind him, the sharp clap thundering around us. “Guess there really is only one way out.”

  Muttered voices caught my attention from behind. Ransom and Viceroy were racing across the smoking coals. I swiped my hand across the scanner and rushed into the maze as the robotic voice read out my credentials.

  Hunter’s fingers closed around mine as soon as I crossed the threshold, and he pulled me into his side. “Stay close and don’t touch anything. From what I know of the Fae, the more beautiful, the more deadly.”

  “It’s a good thing I’m not much of a flower girl. I much prefer chocolates.”

  He chuckled. “Good to know.”

  The hedges closed in on us as he turned down a forked path. The leaves swayed on a ghost breeze, as if moving of their own volition. Vines slithered across the pathway as we moved, blocking the way back.

  “This is crazy creepy,” I whispered.

  Hunter stopped and closed his eyes, then lifted his head and sniffed the air.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to catch Vander’s scent.”

  My brows knitted as he walked in a circle, sniffing the three passageways. “Huh?”

  “I told him to go to the end of the maze, this way I could use him to get us out of here.”

  My mouth formed a capital O. “Good looking and intelligent. The gods were definitely smiling down on me when they were handing out fated mates.”

  He shot me one of my trademarked eyerolls. “Right, what’s a little curse to contend with?”

  “Nothing we can’t handle together.”

  His nostrils flared, and he tugged on my hand. “Come on, this way.” We darted down the left corridor, and the bushes sprang to life knitting behind us.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  It felt like we’d been walking in circles for hours. I glanced up at the clock suspended over the maze of greenery. Thirty-seven minutes and change. Okay so it had only been a half hour, but recently the temperature had ratcheted up at least ten degrees. Sweat pooled on my brow, my palm moist against Hunter’s. We’d been following his nose toward Vander, but either his senses were off, or this living labyrinth was moving.

  “Maybe we should try our wolves again?” We’d already shifted back and forth twice, but neither form had brought any luck.

  He shook his head. “I think we’re going to need our human wits to get through this.”

  We’d seen a couple other contestants in human and wolf form in the past half hour, but everyone had kept to themselves. Hunter and I seemed to be the only pair working together. Which didn’t bode well for keeping our fated mate status on the downlow. My mate said it didn’t matter anymore.

  My shoulder bumped Hunter’s, and he shot me a quick smile. “Thanks for sticking this out with me. I’m sure winning these trials would be much easier without me slowing you down.”

  He stopped, and the crease between his brows deepened as he regarded me. “You say that like I have a choice. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I physically couldn’t leave you to fend for yourself even if I wanted to. The pull between us is so strong, the call to protect you so overpowering that I have no choice but to remain by your side.”

  “Ah ha.” Now I knew why he said not to take it the wrong way. Basically, I was mystically strapped onto his back like an overgrown baby koala.

  He let out a rueful laugh. “I told you I’m not good at this stuff. So many years of avoiding females because of the curse that expressing myself clearly isn’t exactly my forte.”

  “No, I think you were very clear.”

  Hunter moved closer and wrapped his big palm and fingers around the back of my neck. “That’s not to say I don’t want to be with you, too, as Hunter, as the man. I may not be able to love you, yet, but I still feel things for you.”

  I glanced down at his lower half and rolled my eyes.

  A belly laugh shook his shoulders, the warm sound like a soothing balm to my anxious nerves. “I don’t mean lust or desire. Or not just those anyway.” He tugged on my ponytail, forcing my chin up and eyes to his. “There is plenty of that, trust me, but I genuinely enjoy your company. There’s no one I’d rather be trapped in a maze with than you.”

  “Gee, thanks,” I muttered, but I couldn’t deny the swell of happiness at his words. I felt exactly the same. I often wondered what would’ve happened if Hunter and I had met without the mate bond looming over us. Would I feel the same way or was it only the bond driving us together?

  Hunter muttered a curse, drawing me from my thoughts. I spun around to find him clutching his hand.

  “What happened?” The coppery scent of blood made my nostrils flare, and anxiety spilled through my veins.

  He ticked his head at the vibrant magenta flowers woven within the hedge. They looked like daisies on steroids. “One of those little bastards bit me!” He held out his hand and a huge bite mark, the size of a human jaw was imprinted into his palm. And it was already starting to swell.

  “You think it’s poisonous?” I examined the sharp teeth marks and the mix of blood and a viscous white liquid that seeped from the wound.

  “From the way my hand is throbbing, I’d say yes.”

  “Geez, you’ve been having bad luck with poisons lately.” I forced a smile to cover the rising panic.

  A rueful chuckle ground out of his clenched jaw. “I forgot to mention funny. You’re also hysterical, which is just what we need in this sort of situation.”

  Purple veins spiderwebbed from the bite mark, stretching across his palm. Oh no, this couldn’t be good. Would the healers have the antidote on hand? Would we be able to make it out of here in time?

  Hunter’s mouth closed over the wound, and a slurping sound cut through the thundering echo of my racing heartbeats.

  “What are you doing?” I screeched.

  He lifted his eyes to mine, his fangs dripping with his own blood. “I have to get the poison out.” He took another long slurp before spitting on the ground. A blob of white fluid pooled on the grass. “I’m lucky I’m not Fae. A bite like this would likely be deadly.”

  “Are you sure the same doesn’t hold true for wolves?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not certain, but we’ve got to stay positive, right?”

  “Right.” I took his hand and wrenched it free of his hold. “Let me help. I didn’t come this far to lose you to a freakin’ mate-eating daisy.”

  His lips parted to object, but before he could get a word out, I clamped my jaw around his palm. I sucked, and a nasty-tasting liquid filled my mouth. Rele
asing him to spit, I repeated the procedure until the fluid ran clear. When I was certain I’d gotten every drop of poison out, I ran my tongue over the flower’s teeth marks.

  A deep groan jerked my attention up to a pair of smoldering golden orbs. A wave of lust crashed into me, kindling a small fire in my core. “Thank you,” Hunter muttered, the jagged edge to his tone only inciting the flame. I slowly dragged my tongue over his warm flesh once more, and a tremor shook his broad shoulders. “Sierra…” he growled. I lifted my eyes to his and gave him an innocent smile. “Let’s get through this so we can get home and pick this up later.”

  Heat unraveled in my lower half at the prospect, and my lusty emotions swirled with his, a tornado of great expectations. He drew his hand away, and I tamped down on my crazed wolfy hormones. He was right; we had to get out of here before one of these wicked plants attacked again.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. “Not dizzy or trouble breathing or anything?”

  He shook his head and laced the fingers of his good hand around mine. “I think you got all the toxins out. Cass would be proud of you.”

  I rose to my tiptoes and brushed my lips against his cheek. The roar of the crowd sent my heart leaping up my throat for the tenth time today. My brows knitted as our eyes locked. “Can they see us?” I scanned the dense bushes for a peephole or a camera. They were way too tall to see over, even in the upper level of stands.

  “They must be broadcasting something,” he replied. “Maybe it’s jumping around between all the contestants.”

  “Great, and of course they focus in on us right at that particular moment.”

  “You never know, they could’ve been watching us the whole time you were sucking the poison from my palm.” He shot me a mischievous smirk.

  Oh gods, the embarrassment. I tugged on his hand and forced him to keep moving. “Let’s just get out of here.”

  A swarm of flies just up ahead caught my attention, and Hunter’s too. He halted mid-stride, and I nearly slammed into his back. “What’s wrong?” I muttered, rising to my tiptoes to see over his broad shoulder.

  He sniffed the air, and his lips screwed into a grimace. “You don’t smell that?”

  I moved around him, and a foul odor latched onto the sultry breeze. I gagged as the smell of decaying flesh assaulted my senses. “What is that?” I squinted to make out the mound beneath the horde of flying insects.

  “Not what, who.”

  A swell of nausea clawed up my throat. “That’s a body?” I squealed and took a step closer.

  Hunter’s arm slapped across my chest, holding me back. “Don’t.” He bent down and picked up a handful of rocky gravel. He tossed it at the buzzing insects and the flies scattered, revealing a furry lupine body wrapped in a snarl of vines.

  I gasped. “Oh gods.” Nearly all the wolf’s fur was gone and only desiccated, leathery skin remained. “How could that happen in such a short time?” I didn’t know much about decomposition, but there was no way that could happen in less than an hour.

  “Those plants,” Hunter answered, pointing at the vines hanging from a nearby tree. “They’re carnivorous. They feed on the carcass after squeezing the life from it.”

  “Elfin’ faeries! Who came up with this stuff?”

  He squeezed my hand, and we spun back in the direction we’d come. Another forked path appeared before us, and as always, Hunter followed his nose. “Vander seems closer,” he said after we trudged down the narrow path for a few moments.

  “Not close enough,” I muttered. I couldn’t get that wolf’s dead body out of my mind. I couldn’t recognize it, but at least it wasn’t Ransom. What about the other Lunar Pack wolves? Not that I particularly liked any of them, but I wouldn’t have wanted them to meet such a gruesome end.

  Well, except for maybe Triton. He did gore me with his trident…

  Hunter’s nostrils flared, and a smile parted his lips as his eyes glazed over. He was talking to Vander and from the looks of it, it was good news.

  “What? What?” I shook his arm as they continued their conversation through the pack link.

  Hunter blinked and his eyes cleared, but the smile remained. “Look.” He pointed at a brown smudge just over the top of the hedge across the way.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s the corner of the arena. Vander is standing at the exit as instructed, and he said he’s standing right under the northwest corner.” He pointed again. “Right there!”

  I yanked Hunter this time, pulling him down the green pathway, giving the nasty vegetation a wide berth. We sped up into a jog as the brown blur became more clear. It was the end of the arena!

  We turned the corner and the wrought iron gate appeared, the imposing structure a beacon of safety within the verdant labyrinth. I almost squealed in excitement as the stands came to view through the black metal rods. Hunter darted ahead and stopped just in front of the scanner. He turned to me with a sheepish smile. “Ladies first.”

  I swept my palm across the reader and the robotic voice announced, “Sierra Wildstone, Mystic Pack. Time: Fifty-two minutes and thirty-three seconds. First contestant to clear the maze.” My eyes nearly bulged out of my head.

  “We did it!”

  Hunter repeated the procedure, confirming his status. We’d come in first and second place, and this trial from hell was finally over. He whipped open the gate, the groan reverberating through the maze, and motioned for me to go first.

  My heart swelled with happiness, relief, and love for my fated mate. Since the first day I’d met him, he’d proven how important duty was, how badly he wanted the title of alpha, and on numerous occasions he’d put me first. Allowed me to win in his stead. A man who still claimed he couldn’t love me. How would this honorable man treat a woman, no a mate, he did love?

  The prospect squeezed the air from my lungs. Nope, actually that was Hunter. He wrapped his arms around me and crushed me to his chest. Spinning me in a circle, a beaming smile split his lips as the crowd went wild.

  “What are you doing?” I squealed in his ear.

  “I don’t want to keep this a secret anymore, Sierra. With the way things are going, we’ll be lucky to survive the rest of the trials unscathed. I want everyone to know who you are to me, and to understand the wrath they’ll suffer if they raise a paw against you.”

  As Hunter continued to spin, the hair on the back of my neck rose. From the first row, a pair of blazing eyes bored into me. Tyrien. His alpha power pummeled into me, and my she-wolf awoke, a growl vibrating my throat.

  Hunter stopped twirling, and his eyes met mine. “What’s wrong?”

  I ticked my head toward the stands, and he muttered a curse. “I don’t care, Sierra. He can glare at us all he wants. My father’s reign of terror is over. It’s time for a new alpha to rule Moon Valley.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Five days off! I was beyond giddy at the idea of a break from the dreaded trials. Especially after everything I’d heard about the third and fourth rounds. I still couldn’t believe our win had earned us an additional two days off. More than that, the top five time scores from the maze had earned the first two days of the third round as automatic wins. Which meant, I’d be going into the third round with my best score ever.

  The winning wolves had all been from one of the Lunar Packs, of course. Besides Hunter and I, Ransom, Castor, Zuriel and Viceroy had earned the five spots. Hunter still owed the Demon wolf a win and had guided him out of the maze through the pack link moments after we’d exited. At least now they were even, and we didn’t owe the demon any more favors.

  “What are you smiling about?” Cass shot me a smirk as she stretched out across my bed. “Still replaying that monumental PDA with Dragon Boy at the trials?”

  A laugh tumbled out at Hunter’s old nickname as I searched my closet for a suitable outfit. What did one wear for undercover spying?

  “So I take that silly laugh as a yes?”

  I grabbed a pair of dark jeans and a black
shirt and sank onto the mattress beside her. Tugging the shirt over my head I said, “Of course I’m happy that Hunter’s finally acknowledging our bond, but it’s also freaking me out. He’s always been so adamant about how others would use me to get to him if they knew. Plus, there’s Tyrien. As if he didn’t hate me enough before…”

  “Aren’t you going to take him out anyway?”

  I huffed out a breath and stepped into the jeans. “It’s proving to be more difficult than I’d planned. I keep hoping he’ll lead us to Mom but so far nothing. Which is why Hunter and I are following his personal guards tonight instead.”

  She squeezed my hand and gave me a sad smile. “How are you holding up on that front?”

  “I can’t even think about it, Cass. If I do, I’d never be able to get out of bed. The idea that my mom is out there somewhere, alone, hurt…” I chomped down on my lower lip to keep the tears at bay.

  “Vander seems pretty certain this all goes back to Tyrien.”

  I nodded. “Just like my Grams.”

  “He was the one that noticed one of Tyrien’s guards leaving every night around the same time.”

  “I’ve got to remember to thank him for keeping an eye on the supreme alpha for me. With the trials, it’s been nearly impossible. We never would’ve figured that out without him.”

  Her fingers tightened around mine. “You’ll find her. I know you will.”

  I wanted to believe her. I’d been holding onto hope for so long, but every day that passed the boulder of dread in my gut only swelled.

  Two quick knocks at the door made my head swivel toward the entrance. I darted out my bedroom with Cass on my heels. When I opened the door, I was surprised to find two males staring back at me. Vander stood next to Hunter wearing a soft gray Henley and dark jeans, the exact outfit he’d worn the first time I’d met him back at Arcane when Hunter had sent him to keep an eye on me.

  “Hey, what are you doing here, Vander?”

  His cheeks rosied as he glanced at my best friend. “I figured since I had the night off, maybe we could hang out, Cass?”