Chapter 84

The witch’s house is tricky. I realize it the moment I step through the door. My senses, razor-sharp just seconds ago, feel dull now, like something is pressing down on them. I move down the narrow hallway, my footsteps eerily muted, until I reach a small room with two doors. Behind me, my sister follows, her gaze flicking to the second door before settling on me. I give her a nod, and she moves toward it without a word. My instincts scream at me to take the first door alone. As soon as I enter this house, I notice a flicker of movement in this direction.
She knows we are here.
Although I’d been uneasy about how long it took us to reach this place, the timing made a strange kind of fit. She was likely asleep the entire time we trespassed into her domain and tore through the protective wards she’d woven around her territory. 
She must be silently planning an ambush right now. But I already expect that. One thing I know for sure—she won’t get out of this house alive, and if she does, she’ll get an arrow straight to the head.
There is no room for failure. Not this time.
I don’t pay much attention to the rustic decor around me. Instead, I follow the rapid beating of someone’s heart that I hear coming from the room ahead. Silently, I take a step forward, the tension coils tighter in my chest. Then, a light flickers on in the room ahead, and I get closer just enough to spot the shadow of someone kneeling there.
It’s her. 
She is kneeling in front of the coffee table in the living room, next to a fireplace whose wood looks like it has just been burned. Around the unlit fireplace are several dried plants and jars of all sizes, some closed, others with contents that are larger than the size of the jar itself.
I can feel tension and anger hanging in the air like smoke, so fucking thick I nearly gag on it. Despair rose up in my gut, sharp like Kral’s fangs.
She suddenly rises to her feet, hatred etched across her face. The flickering candle in the center of the table only sharpens her expression, casting jagged shadows across her aged features and making her look even more cruel.
I feel every muscle in my body tense, ready to strike. I’m not in my wolf form, but my senses still are sharp. Ready to fucking kill her. Even though Kral is demanding me in my mind to be the one to play that part.
Across the room not so far from me, her angry face turns to confusion before she opens a wicked grin, as if she finally recognized me. “You.” 
The witch has a slew of rings on each hand, an inordinate number of odd bangles on her wrists, and a curtain of bizarre charms on her neck. She paired all of that with a long black dress and boots. 
Unlike her, I don’t find it in myself to smile. However, I do find it curious that she recognizes me since more than two decades have passed since our last meeting. “You always knew I would come after you. Your fate was sealed the moment you cursed my baby sister,” I point out darkly. My mind flashes back to that night when she bit her wrist before casting the curse with her bloody mouth. I can’t allow her to do that again.
“I didn’t know you were an Alpha back then, much less that you would be stupid to take her place,” the witch says with a shrug as if that statement alone can justify her actions. “You’re wasting your time. I know you’ve tried to come after me before—” 
I interrupt her. I’ve been hunting this old bitch for years; she’ll listen to me now. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done to my life? You took the most precious thing a Werewolf can have from me. And you knew it. Do you really think I wouldn’t fucking hunt you?” I may have started speaking in a low, menacing growl, but by the time I’ve finished, I’m practically shouting.
She tries to hide it, but I see her body slightly shaking with the hatred and intensity of my words. Still, the old witch’s face shows nothing. She stares at me menacingly. “You shouldn’t have come here, Werewolf!” She sneers. “You just reminded me now why I hate Werewolves. Do you really think that breaking into my house and growling with your Alpha commando will make me lift the curse?” She lets out a sinister laugh. “You’re no match for my power.” Her eyes linger on my neck. “Do you seriously think this necklace will protect you against me? Me? If so, you really have no idea what I can do. Or how powerful I am. You have five seconds to get the fuck out of here.”
If I didn’t feel so angry right now, I would probably laugh. “Do you seriously think I’m here to ask you for something? Don’t be ridiculous. I’m here to kill you with my own hands and get it over with.” 
Her eyes widen for a moment, looking scared, but she shifts to her smug face with a macabre smile. “So you think that will break the curse?” She laughs cruelly. “Oh, Werewolf. Don’t you remember what I said that day?” My mind remembers that day very well. Every single detail—Vi begging her to lift the curse and her saying she would never do such a thing.
“Meaning?” I prompt through my gritted teeth, not liking where this is going at all. I recall what she said that day, but I don’t want to believe it. 
“Meaning, there’s no point in killing me—only I can break the curse I casted!” the witch replies with a big grin. “And I won’t.”
No. 
That can’t be true. 
“I’m not falling for it for a fucking second!” I growl. “I’ll kill you!” 
“Well, I dare you to kill me then,” she says resolutely. “Do it. Do that, and you’ll never have what you want most.” Her gaze lingers on my forehead for a moment as if she can see beyond it. “If you think I’m lying, then kill me.” 
My gut tells me she’s toying with me. And just as the thought enters my mind, Kral agrees, ‘She’s trying to buy some time to get out of here. She knows she’s at a disadvantage. She knows we can kill her in the blink of an eye.’ That’s one of the reasons I don’t get too close to her. I’m afraid if I do it so, I’ll end up killing her without a second thought. If what she says is true, all of this will have been for nothing.
Growling, I mindlink my sister at the same time the witch goes on, tilting her head back as if she calls the shots. “But I have a generous offer for you. A task. If you bring me a person who is trapped in a certain pack, I will lift the curse. You are an Alpha. I’m sure you can do it.”
“I’m not going to do a fucking thing!”
“Bring me who I want, and I’ll lift the curse. See? We both win.” Her grin widens. “I know that when Alphas truly give their word, they hold to it. Especially someone like you, who has so much at stake. So much to lose,” she proposes. Fuck. *Does she have clairvoyance or something?* Her gaze grows colder despite her wicked smile. “I’m the one who cursed you, and only I can reverse it. I’m offering to help you with a way to break the curse, but you must bring a person that I want for me first.”
My mouth pops off without consulting my brain. The bitch really thinks she has a good thing to offer. “I won’t do shit to you. And just so we’re clear, don’t count on the help of the two males in the next room because they are no longer alive to save you,” I reveal after hearing Vi’s mindlink.
Her smile slowly fades as my words make sense to her. 
Yes, the witch was trying to buy time. 
Then, I mindlink my sister. ‘You can bring her now, Vi.’
“Now you’ve lost any offer I could have made!” She gnashes her teeth at me in hatred. “I’ll never lift the curse,” she snarls, lifting her wrist up.
My lips pulled up into a grin all on their own. The first grin I’ve made since I got to this fucking house. “Well, are you sure? If I were you, I’d think twice before I proclaimed that.”
No, I’m not backing up. 
Vi enters the rustic living room behind me, and she is not alone. 
My sister has her sharp blade in the center of a dark-haired little girl’s throat. 
As soon as the witch sees the little girl with pigtails, her breath catches. 
Despite her being a witch, her aura hints that she told the truth. It’s fucking true—only she can break the curse. And because I know that, I say darkly, “If you don’t want me to slit your little daughter’s throat and leave her little body to bleed out in a dark corner somewhere, you better change your fucking mind.”