Page 106 of Vasmora

He gripped the rim of his monocle, adjusting it again. “And you’ll never be vree.”

It seemed Zevander was right in guessing that death wouldn’t break the curse. “So, then, tell me how it can be removed, if you can’t do it yourself.”

“There is only one vay—something given vor something taken.”

I scratched behind the puppy’s ear, keeping my eyes on the two adult wolves. “I don’t have time for your riddles. Speak plainly.”

“You must ofver me something that vas taken vrom me.”

“How about your life?”

“Your threat is in vain. You need me to break the curse, therevore you have no true intentions ov killing me.”

“I hate you. Truly.” Eyes pinched shut, I shook my head. “So, what was taken?”

“My essence. Stolen.”

“By whom?”

The fire flickered out and a darkness blanketed the cave. A chorus of puppy whines and threatening growls echoed around me.

A slow, venomous fear uncoiled in my stomach. Zevander. Had something happened to him?

Bolts of lightning struck the ground in a flash of illumination, and a tingling vibration spiraled up my legs to my spine. Light flashed over the walls at the far end of the cave and across the ceiling above me. I twisted around to see the cave’s entrance was no longer there.

“No! No!” Without thinking, I dashed toward it, quickly brought to a halt by the wolves that growled back at me, hackles raised. I stepped cautiously toward where the entrance had once stood, the scorpion and runt at my heels, and as I slapped my hand against the stony surface, the panic I’d felt before crawled its way back into my chest. “Zevander! Zevander!” I screamed, and I turned in time to see the scorpion fade to smoke. “Zevander!”

“It’s futile.”

At the familiar male voice, my heart sank into my stomach, and I turned around to find Captain Drefan stepping out from behind the boulders at the back of the cave.

How he’d managed to get inside was as much a mystery as why the entrance was no longer there.

Fear clamped my chest, a cold, clammy sensation settling over me, as the walls shifted in my periphery.

A gruff bark startled me, and I turned to see the brown wolf inch forward, the spikes on its body standing upright.

The runt I’d been petting moments ago sprang toward the captain.

“No!” As I jolted for the pup, a hard gust of wind threw me backward

The cave wall crashed into my spine, and pain shot up into my sinuses as I crumpled to the ground, two of Drefan merging to one.

Drefan swiped up the puppy, chuckling as it squirmed and snapped its jaws at him.

The brown wolf let out a roar and reared back, but before it could attack, the mother wolf lunged for its neck, inciting a shrill yelp. As if understanding the gesture, the brown wolf lowered its head, stepping behind the black wolf. The mother wolf’s snarl faded, and she cautiously approached Drefan, undoubtedly offering herself as a sacrifice.

“No, wait!” I cried out, but it was too late. The moment she neared him, he drew his sword and stabbed her in the shoulder.

The wolf let out a howl of pain that sounded more like a human scream than that belonging to an animal. She stumbled backward, blood dripping across the cave floor.

The other wolf lurched, and the mother barked, her voice turning into a guttural, “Stay!”

Frowning, I watched as her body twitched and shuddered, the splinter and crackle of bones echoing through the cave. Black fur fell away in small piles around her, sliding off pale skin. Haunches jerked and twisted unnaturally, shrinking into slender human legs with feet and toes, while its upper body contracted into arms and fingers. Pointed ears shrank, her head rounded and bald, as the elongated maw slinked back for a small nose and lips. The scar where she must’ve been bitten, shaped like teeth, stretched across her naked flank.

She lifted her head and reached out a shaking hand toward her pup still captured in Drefan’s arms.

“Is this what you want?” he asked, holding it out by its scruff.