Cursed of moon

Major Fieldstone pushed through the door, and it opened to a large training room. “We’re ready for you, Eleni,” he called to someone across the room.

Commander Klebus followed behind us and cast me another shrewd glance as her nostrils flared a second time.

It took everything in me not to fidget. Instead, I did my best to appear unaffected by her calculating assessment while remaining the portrait of i

Thankfully, everyone’s attention shifted to the woman gliding across the room toward us. She wore a hijab of glistening purple silk, and her ochre complexion was clear and bright, hinting at her youth. Midnight-black hair peeked out of the top of her hijab.

“Eleni is one of our most talented up-and-coming witches,” Major Fieldstone said with a smile. “She was instrumental in producing this exciting new spell.”

I gave the young witch a hello. She returned it, then bobbed her head at the major. “May I, sir?”

Bavar swirled his hands elegantly in my direction. “By all means, please begin. Ms. Davenport has given her consent.”

Eleni approached me on graceful steps. Her rosebud mouth lifted in a small smile, and I was struck by how calm and composed she looked. It was unusual to see that kind of demeanor in someone so young.

“You might feel some tingling, but it shouldn’t hurt.” She lifted her hands and began to weave her fingers languidly through the air while whispering a spell. It was a long one, and what I caught of it told me that it was a mixture of complicated maximizer and cloaking spells.

When she finished, a subtle feeling washed over me that was there one moment and then gone in the next. It didn’t have the same heavy feeling that my daily cloaking spell gave me, but it tingled and sparked my nerves, letting me know that it was strong.

“Did you invent that?” I asked her.

She bobbed her head. “With the help of my mentor.”

“Shall we?” Major Fieldstone held out the cuffs.

I gave him my wrists. “And if this spell doesn’t work? Do you have a plan to get those off me?”

“Of course.” Commander Klebus crossed her arms. “Your mate has told us he possesses an ax that is capable of breaking them. If needed, we will call upon him.”

My stomach fluttered at the mention of Kaillen again. My wolf wasn’t any better. Once again, she was yelping and whining inside me, eager to be reunited with Mr. Swoony Wolf Hunter.

“Let’s hope that the spell works,” I muttered under my breath.

“What was that?” Bavar asked.

I flashed a smile. “Nothing. Go ahead and put them on.”

He snapped the cuffs around my wrists, and that buzzing feeling washed over my skin when their power activated, but even though that draining feeling didn’t begin, a fearful tremor ran through me as a memory flashed to the front of my mind. It was of Cameron betraying me, when he’d clamped identical cuffs around my wrists and had taken me from Kaillen’s cabin. He’d laughed at my terror. Actually laughed.

Rage began to burn inside me, and I used that emotion to cha

“It might be best if we all take a step back.” Bavar waved Eleni and Commander Klebus to the corner. “Try your best, Tala.”

The cuffs’ magic buzzed along my skin, and a moment of trepidation washed through me as I dipped my concentration inward and tugged at my witch magic. My witch powers swelled and rose as I called upon a maximizer spell. They responded normally, but I wouldn’t know if the immunity spell had worked until that power reached my fingertips.

I closed my eyes. Here goes nothing. With an explosion of power, I jolted a maximizer spell down my arms into my hands. When my magic reached my fingertips, I held my breath, but my spell flowed right out of me and engulfed me in momentary power. I wrenched my arms apart as hard as I could and felt my new werewolf strength inadvertently rise.

The cuffs snapped, easily breaking in two.

My jaw dropped when I beheld my free hands.

“It worked!” Gri

Eleni clapped in delight.

Commander Klebus eyed me, then inhaled again. “Very impressive . . . for a witch.”

My face paled as a knowing look grew in her eye.

“Do you care to share with us how you broke them?” the commander added.

“I used a maximizer spell, and, um . . .”

We stared at one another, and with a sickening sense of dread, I realized she knew that witch magic alone couldn’t have broken those cuffs. Even without the cuffs’ magic containing my witch power, I’d just broken through a metal chain. A stronger species of supernatural—a vampire, werewolf, or fairy—could have done that as easily as I had. But a witch? Probably not. Even with a strong maximizer spell, that kind of strength would be incredibly rare, yet I’d just ripped through the cuffs’ thick metal chains like tissue paper. I hadn’t even struggled thanks to my wolf.

And Commander Klebus had seen that.

I ground my teeth together. Smart, wily, Commander Klebus. She’d tricked me after all.

I realized that was part of the reason she’d flown all of the way here. The SF could have used any supernatural to test Eleni’s spell but they’d chosen me.

Because Commander Klebus wanted to know what I was capable of. I’d seen hints of her knowing looks before—her suspicion that I was hiding who I really was—and I’d just given her a front-row seat to it, proving beyond any doubt that her guesses had been correct. I wasn’t a weak witch, and I wasn’t just a witch.

Such an idiot, Tala!

Because the growing look in the commander’s eye—the look she’d often reserved for Kaillen—told me that the Supernatural Forces would be knocking on my door in the near future in order to recruit me, just like they had done with Kaillen.

So much for anonymity. That was officially a life I no longer led.

I sighed in defeat, but then tried to cheer myself up. At least with Eleni’s spell, I was immune to Jakub cuffing me in the future. But I’d just sacrificed my hidden identity to get that immunity.

Perhaps that had been Commander Klebus’s endgame all along.

The vamp gave me a pleasant smile, her smugness disappearing. “Tala, would you be open to letting us test you—”

“No.” I held up a hand, cutting her off. “I’m not open to any further testing, but I would like the SF to do one thing. Will you tell Kaillen that Eleni’s spell works? If Jakub gets a hold of him again, he won’t be able to break through those cuffs without Eleni’s spell since they’ll contain his werewolf power and . . . other things,” I added vaguely, since I had no idea if the SF knew the extent of his sorcerer magic. But the thought of Jakub getting his hands on the hunter twisted my stomach into waves of nausea. “He needs to be able to break them too.”

“Of course.” Bavar gave a graceful bow as the smug expression returned to Commander Klebus’s face.

Yep, bitch. You won.

“We’ll contact him again,” Bavar added. “And we’ll make sure he’s offered the same immunity you now have.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

Something buzzed on Commander Klebus’s wrist, and her communication device flashed. The smugness vanished from her features when she read whatever message she’d just been sent. She showed it to Major Fieldstone, and they shared a concerned look. After placing an earbud in their ears, both hurried to the corner to accept the call in private.

Eleni glided to my side to inspect what was left of the cuffs, but my ears pricked toward the commanders’ conversation.

“Dammit,” Commander Klebus said under her breath as she spoke through her device to whoever had contacted her. “If red tape is the reason that we’re unable to capture him, I’m going to be furious!”

Silence followed while the speaker on the end of the line said something.

“Yes, right away,” she replied. “Yes, he’s with me now. We’ll discuss further.”

After they finished their call, Bavar sighed. “He’s quite evasive, is he not? Since the Supernatural Forces’ jurisdiction ends with earth, what better place for him to escape to than my realm?”

“Hopefully you can help with that.” Commander Klebus’s lips thi

“I have. My uncle and aunt are currently discussing whether or not they will allow SF squads into the fae lands to conduct the arrest.”

Bavar’s uncle and aunt are the king and queen of the fae lands? That would mean that Bavar was a royal fae. I frowned as I continued listening.

“Have they said how long their discussions will take?” Commander Klebus asked.

The bite in her tone had me wincing.

“No, but I’m hoping not long,” Bavar replied.

Her nostrils flared. “Our new intel says Jakub was last seen headed toward Culasberee, north of the capital. We’ll lose his location if we don’t act soon.”

I sucked in a breath. Holy shit, they have a locate on Jakub!

Even though my heart began pounding two hundred times a minute, I pretended to be preoccupied with what Eleni was doing. I kept my attention on the cuffs as the young witch worked through them with a metal cutter that she’d extracted from her pocket. Now that the cuffs were no longer magical, they’d lost their inherent strength. The metal cutter groaned as it cut through the thick bands, but the cutter was spelled, so it was able to do so somewhat easily.

I kept my eyes downcast, but my attention stayed on the commanders’ conversation. Since they had no idea that I was now also part werewolf—even though Klebus knew I possessed strange powers that rivaled Kaillen’s—they wouldn’t know that I could hear everything they were saying.

Thank you, Mrs. Wolf.

My wolf straightened, her head cocking. For the first time since she’d been born inside me, I felt thankful for her presence. If it wasn’t for her, I would have no clue that Jakub had escaped to the fae lands and that—from the sounds of it—the Supernatural Forces had run into bureaucratic issues given the governance of that land. The bastard was currently getting away.

“There you are. Do your wrists feel okay?” Eleni set the metal cutter aside and gave me a tentative smile.

I jolted my attention back to her and rubbed my wrists, just to make her think I was considering her question. “I feel fine. Thank you.”

She bobbed her head.