Shifted Rose [The Cursed Wolves Series, Book 1]

by Holly Hook

  And this time, the beautiful dark brown one is coming out on top.

  Alan's bleeding from the side. Gavin pulls me back, and this time I let him. He wraps his arms around me from behind, and though the move feels platonic, ironically enough, it's comforting.

  The growls of other wolves approach, and the Rose Pack runs around us before we can react. They circle the two wolves as they continue to battle, watching the fight, and I notice that Chaz's muzzle is bleeding and Valerie has a few slashes on her side, but my heart lifts as I realize they're all alive and the two disgusting wolves haven't come back. As the fight continues, the rose bush sways, damaged at the base, but it doesn't fall. The electric sensation remains in the air, making everything crackle and feel alive.

  And I instinctively know that Tyler's curse has not intensified. At least, not yet.

  At last, Alan rises, shaking, bleeding, as Tyler faces him and puts himself between his enemy and the rose bush. Alan doesn't bother with submitting. It won't be real. We interfered. He turns, growls, and bolts away through the trees as if he'll never return.

  Tyler slowly looks back at me.

  His eyes are still intelligent, but mournful, and a storm of emotions once again rise into my chest.

  He brought me here.

  I'm supposed to break the curse.

  But he brought me here to Tower and maybe even split my parents apart, and all because he's decided he doesn't want to be a werewolf after all.

  "Tyler," I say, my ears ringing.

  He looks away.

  And I don't miss the meaning.

  I kept you here despite the danger.

  I'm going to scream.

  But instead, I turn away.

  "Beckah?" Gavin asks.

  "We need to go," I say. "We need to go, right now. The fight is over."

  And with one last look at the woods, Gavin and I turn away and walk back to the truck.

  And Tyler, completely silent, lets us go.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Agony.

  It stays in my chest even after Gavin and I reach Gia's cabin. He unlocks the door for me. Lets me inside the empty place. And he fires up the gas stove when I collapse on my bed.

  I can't believe how thankful I am for him, that I have someone to lean on after the ultimate betrayal.

  "Tyler. Why did you do this?" I mutter into the pillow.

  I needed help.

  But why make me stay when the danger level rose? Why not tell me the truth?

  Tyler's beautiful face comes into my mind, taunting me. It's not what you think. I can explain.

  "Do you like tea?" Gavin appears in my doorway with a steaming mug. "I might have some myself."

  "Gavin. Thanks." I sit up and I take it.

  I expect him to sit on my bed and wrap his arm around me, or maybe even kiss me, but here he holds back as if he wants to give me space. Gavin stays in the doorway. He must know that my feelings were for Tyler, not him, but he stays.

  This guy used to annoy me, but out of the public eye, he's amazing. I just don't have any feelings for him in that way, and I'm not sure if he has any for me, to be honest. It's odd. Gavin must be at the bottom of the social ladder around here and I'm his chance to gain some status among the football players. Pretend to date the new girl, be cool.

  And I'm fine with that. At least we're on the same page.

  "That was some day," he says. "I never expected...Chaz...that was insane..." He lets his forehead sink to his open hand.

  "Don't tell anyone. Please," I say. "Hopefully Alan is gone for good this time." Tyler, I knew, hadn't been able to kill him. Maybe part of him didn't want to believe that Alan would be capable of so much evil. It could be part of the reason he never sent me back home.

  "Um, who's going to believe me?" Gavin asks with a shrug. He stays in the doorway as I sip the tea. It does help to calm my nerves and help me think. "Tower is full of werewolves. No one's come up with that theory yet."

  He has a point. "Okay. Fair enough."

  "I'm not going to leave until your cousin gets back," Gavin says. "I don't know the full story behind what happened. You like Tyler, don't you?"

  Our gazes meet and Gavin waits. His shoulders rise to his ears. Maybe I was wrong and the jealousy is there after all.

  "No," I say. "At least, not anymore." I push the words out.

  Why couldn't Tyler just tell me?

  And if I can stop the curse—

  "I'm sorry," Gavin says with a sigh. "I wish I could help more."

  I want to see Tyler, even if it's just to give him the chance to explain and to confront him one last time. But then a knock on the window startles me and Gavin jumps back.

  "It's Chaz," he says.

  I whirl. Chaz, returned to his human form and with a few long scabs now across his face, waits at my window. In my state, I forgot to close the curtains.

  I face Gavin. "Can me and him talk?"

  He nods. "Sure. I need a break from all of this." And he backs out of my room, closing the door.

  I open the window for Chaz, who hesitates before cutting to the chase.

  "Beckah. You're not bitten, are you? Or scratched?"

  What to tell him? "I'm physically fine."

  Chaz frowns. "Tyler is making sure that Alan is truly gone this time."

  "I don't want to see him." I say the words before I can stop myself.

  Chaz balks. "Tyler really does care about you. The situation, well, it's complicated."

  "Just complicated?" I ask. Chaz hasn't denied it. "Somehow Tyler convinced my parents to send me out here and into danger, without asking me first, and I'm afraid that's a deal breaker." Tears threaten to spill out in front of Chaz, and for once I don't care about displaying my emotions. I snatch my phone from my pocket. "I'm calling my mom and demanding that I go home right now. And I'm not hanging up with her or my dad until they agree."

  "No," Chaz says, almost reaching through the window. The screen is all that stops him even though I know he can easily get past that. "If you leave, we're doomed. All of us. Tyler bit the members of the Rose Pack before he figured out the full conditions of the curse. We're not like normal werewolves, but we will be, soon, if he doesn't break it. We will lose our humanity. Tyler's already starting to feel it."

  I pause, phone in my hand. And I think of Tyler's angry outburst when I told him I needed to accept a ride from Gavin. Chaz looks straight at me, eyes big.

  "The curse is going to get worse?" I think of those two disgusting wolves Alan brought back to Tower. Those, Valerie told me, are normal werewolves. Savage. Merciless. And now Alan might be one, too.

  Sadness wells into my throat.

  That can happen to Tyler?

  "That rose bush won't live forever. When it's gone, the curse becomes permanent, and then none of us will ever be human again. We might even turn on the people of this town and become worse than Tyler's parents could ever be." Chaz puts his hand on the screen, begging me not to make the call. "Tyler's humanity is in that rose bush. So is mine, and Valerie's, and Cammie's, and even Alan's. He tried to sever that today. Haven't you felt it?"

  My chin wobbles as I nod. "Yes."

  "You've been close to it. You've felt it. The sorceress, whoever she is, must have planned to steal the humanity of Tyler's parents and hold it over their heads as a bargaining chip. That's my theory. But since she got Tyler by mistake, she left it. I think that she wanted to give him a chance to earn his humanity back."

  I swallow. I don't want to hear this, to have something to keep me here, to not be angry at Tyler, but another part of me is desperate to hear the next words. "And I'm key to that?"

  "Werewolves don't love. At least, normal ones don't. They just dominate," Chaz says. "What else can free Tyler's humanity for good, and free the rest of us? Beckah, please stay at least a little bit longer. You should be safe for now, and staying will give you the chance to think things over. Tyler needs to fall in love with an uncursed girl, but that love has to be r
eal on every level."

  * * * * *

  That weekend, I sleep.

  Gia leaves me alone as if sensing that I need the time. I get up. Do some homework. Go back to bed. Marion texts me and asks if I'm okay. I tell her that I am, and I'm sure that Gavin has come up with some excuse on my behalf.

  If Chaz's theory is right, I have to love Tyler to break the curse. And that love has to be real.

  Why me? Why not some other girl?

  I still don't know the whole story. And perhaps Tyler has solidified his curse and made it permanent already, just by betraying me the way he did. No one can truly love a liar. Or a jailer. Anything else is called Stockholm Syndrome.

  On Monday, I rise from bed as a fog settles over my brain.

  Will Tyler be at school?

  I can't just leave. Not yet. I've had an entire town's fate placed on my shoulders and I'm angry. It's yet another chain wrapped around me and I at least need to confront Tyler about that. But another part of me, a part I'm starting to hate, wants to mend things, to smooth everything over, to do what I need to do to stop this curse from destroying the people it was meant to defend.

  What am I going to do?

  I hike my backpack up, rise from breakfast that I don't remember, and head out the door after waving goodbye to Gia.

  And halfway down the driveway, I find a note taped onto a tree. The white paper is obvious on this gloomy day. And the blocky writing tells me that it's from Tyler.

  I hesitate before picking it up, knowing full well that he could be watching.

  I don't deserve your forgiveness. But I can make things right if you give me the chance.

  Pain flares into my chest and I stare at the note, unsure what I'm going to do with it. I at least should let Tyler explain his side of the story while he's in his human form, shouldn't I? It would be the right thing to do.

  Or I should just make the phone call and demand to go home already.

  Let me explain.

  It's not what you think.

  "Tyler, why won't you leave me alone?"

  He'll be waiting for me at school.

  Slowly, I fold the note and stuff it into my backpack, next to the bear spray that I won't dare part with. There's still the chance I'll need it and I hate that.

  Please.

  I sigh as my heart races.

  I'm going to give in.

  Lifting my chin, I slowly start the walk to school, to where I know Tyler will be waiting.

  END OF BOOK ONE

  Thank you for reading Shifted Rose! This is the first book of the Cursed Wolves Series, which will be completed in the Fall of 2020! The next book, Shifted Torment, will release on September 1, 2020! It is now available for pre-order! If you prefer to read your books in Kindle Unlimited, you can also place Shifted Torment on your wishlist! See the next page for download links!

  And if you like werewolves and fairy tales, Holly Hook has several young adult series available! See the next pages for links on how to download! Thank you for your support!

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  --Holly Hook

  Holly Hook is the author of several Young Adult fantasy, science fiction, fairytale, post-apocalyptic and adventure series. She has been writing since very young and publishing her work since September of 2010.

  For the continuation of an emotional, modern, action-packed Beauty and the Beast retelling, click one of the links below to pre-order, download, or add to your wishlist!

  You can find it by tapping HERE for US, HERE for UK, HERE for CA, and HERE for AU.

  The Alpha Legacy

  Wolf Bound is the first book of the seven-book Alpha Legacy series!

  Begin reading the exciting first book, Wolf Bound, today!

  A young woman with a need to protect.A young man drawn to her acceptance. A rival pack threatening to destroy all they love...

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  The Twisted Fairy Tale Series

  The Twisted Fairy Tale Series is a seven-book fantasy/contemporary fantasy series with each book focusing on a different character and Grimm’s fairy tale...as it was meant to be read.

  When you can spin yard into gold, getting whisked into a fairytale world by an evil king is just Tuesday.

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