Page 4 of Knot Cursed

I was doing my best not to scare the bird, but she saw me coming and started flapping her wings frantically. She must have taken some hair with her from the groan of pain before she flew at me. I lost my footing and fell right into the stranger while she landed safely on a cabinet above us.

My cheeks burned with humiliation. What had I done in my past lives to deserve this?

The handsome stranger toppled over with me. My hands were braced on his rock-hard abs as he landed on his back, barely missing the shelves on either side of us.

“I'm so sorry," I muttered, trying to get off of him by scrambling backwards, my hands drifting lower than I intended.

"That's not the chicken," he smirked.

"Fuck my life," I sighed, completely mortified now.

“What’s with the chicken?”

“Free chicken with purchase. Today only, supplies are limited,” I muttered as I climbed to my feet.

He was smiling now. As if women launched by poultry fell into his lap every day.

“Then today is my lucky day.”

The gorgeous, little witch sprawled across my lap was definitely my mate. Her scent was missing but I didn’t need it to recognize what was mine.

My alpha was ecstatic at this turn of events and thinking up ways to keep her right here in our lap, but I was mostly trying not to laugh.

The magistrate made it clear this little witch wasn’t going to stop looking for a cure to her curse. Every attempt so far had ended in chaos and even I had heard about the latest chicken mess. They needed me here to keep her grounded and hopefully have less disasters.

I eyed the bird glaring down at us and I found myself speaking before I could consider the consequences.

“Who needs a dog when you get a free chicken?” I mused as I reached for the bird, putting out a bit of soothing magic to lure it into a sense of calm. The chicken relaxed and went willingly into my hold.

“It was mostly a joke,” she admitted, stuttering through the words. “Y-you don’t have to take it. I’ll figure out something.”

“Nope, an offer was made and I accepted. She’s mine now,” I said with a grin. “I’ll also take this cabinet. She seems to like it.”

“Oh?” she perked up at that, eyeing the antique chest I was gesturing to. The price tag was steep, but came with receipts outlining the history and origins. She clearly did her work.

Though, I was a bit surprised she was running an antique shop if she had proficiency in alchemical chemistry.

Her file was answer enough.

Prudence Ever was adamant she was innocent and something was wrong with the ingredients, but no one believed her. Eyewitness accounts mentioned her cauldron producing a strange glow before the explosion. There was little left in the aftermath to find real answers and the High Council did not hesitate to quarantine a curse when it popped up.

Her file read like a list of increasingly creative insurance claims which only solidified their choice to send her.

Tack on the recent events and it was even more insane. Exploding potions, a flock of chickens, stalking dolls, talking ants and spiders, and dancing teddy bears to name a few.

There had to be a pattern. Curses always had patterns. That was how you found the cure. But what pattern was there in a list of strange events like this?

My mind had attached to the puzzle this woman was and I knew I couldn’t let it go. I should introduce myself and tell her why I was here but the magistrate I spoke with told me she’d be reluctant.

Not to mention I had a chicken to wrangle.

The magistrate gave me a house on the edge of town. It was reserved for guests of the High Council, but no one was using it. Too many feared Moonlit Grove and everything it stood for.

For me this town was a well of possibilities. I’d dedicated my life to studying curses, their origins, and their cure.

It may not have saved my brother, but I could save others, and that had to be enough for me.

The work was certainly not boring and if the chicken in my arms was indication of anything, I was not going to find boredom in Moonlit Grove, either. I’d been in town less than an hour. Apparently, that was enough time to acquire a mate and a chicken.