Moon Cursed (Wolf Hollow Shifters Book 4)

by Nikki Jefford

  If not, Elsie would start a new life with Zackary someplace else. Perhaps Raphael and Diego would allow them to join in their nomadic cross-continent run. They could become a wandering wolf pack. She wondered how the brothers felt about a half-witch, half-wolf shifter.

  Elsie’s fingers moved fast even as her mind drifted. She filled her basket soon after Zackary who waited to walk with her to their tree where they set down the berries.

  Taking both her hands in his, Zackary stared into her eyes. “We don’t have to do this today.”

  Elsie lifted her chin. “I’m ready. Are you?”

  “Are you sure you want me as your mate? Once we break skin with the intention of claiming, we will be bound to one another.”

  Elsie rose on her tiptoes and planted a soft kiss on his lips before lowering herself back to the ground. “You’re the only one for me.”

  Eyes brimming with love, Zackary bent down and grazed her neck with his teeth. A shiver of pleasure skidded across Elsie’s skin. Her heart rate picked up as Zackary’s hot breath caressed her lower neck. His bite started out gentle. As the pressure increased over her skin, a dull ache burned up her neck. Zackary bit down, breaking through her skin.

  The sharp pain made Elsie whimper. She clamped her mouth shut while Zackary finished the mate claim. A sense of completion and belonging rushed through her. It was as though a well inside her chest had been filled and would never run dry.

  Once releasing her neck, Zackary licked the wound on her neck clean of blood.

  Elsie bit him next, sealing their claim with the blood on her tongue. It was done. She was safe. She was mated to her forever.

  “You are mine now, Elsie,” Zackary said, guiding her to the ground.

  She touched the tender skin where he’d bitten her while Zackary removed his shorts then straddled her beneath their tree. He pushed her dress up to her belly and entered her, joining with her in their first time as claimed mates.

  “And you are mine, Zackary,” Elsie said as her mate groaned his pleasure with each thrust of his hips.

  He was thick and long, stretching her apart, filling her completely. Her big beautiful mate. She’d been claimed. She felt like stars should shoot across the sky. Maybe tonight when she could actually see them.

  Desire built inside her. When she first woke up in the morning, she’d whispered her protection spell. She preferred not interrupting moments like these. Now that they were mated, perhaps she wouldn’t be using the spell for long. She’d wait until Zackary was ready. He’d already taken a huge leap in claiming her.

  Pulsing, in the throes of pleasure, Zackary ground his hips against hers and groaned, gritting his teeth, holding on. The next time he thrust, a male shouted, “Get the hell off her, you mongrel!”

  Hudson and Chase appeared over Zackary’s shoulders; their faces mottled red and the whites of their eyes blazing.

  “No,” Elsie cried as they yanked her mate back and threw him to the ground.

  As though she had ceased to exist, Hudson and Chase came at Zackary from either side with their fists raised.

  Zackary got to his feet with a snarl. His muscles corded. Even though it was two against one, he could take Hudson and Chase on with his brute size and strength.

  Yanking her dress down, Elsie sat up. “Guys, stop. It’s not what you think. Zackary is my mate.”

  Ever so slowly, Hudson and Chase turned to face her with gaping mouths.

  “Mate?” Chase asked in disbelief.

  Hudson’s eyes rounded as he zeroed in on the fresh bite wound on her neck. Elsie touched the tender spot tentatively with the tips of her fingers. Nodding, she pushed herself off the ground and dusted off her dress.

  “We were going to tell everyone at supper tonight.”

  Hudson’s neck corded. “Elsie, you can’t go claiming someone you hardly know. And you,” he said, pointing a shaky finger at Zackary, “you know damn well you’re not allowed to claim a mate after what you did to Tabor. Is that what this is? Payback? Thought you could force yourself on his little sis?”

  With a loud groan, Elsie stepped between Hudson and Zackary.

  “That’s not what happened,” she snapped. “We fell in love. Why do you think we hid it? Because we knew packmates would react this way.”

  Hudson shook his head. “This can’t be.”

  Zackary growled and Elsie put her hands on her hips. Chase rubbed absently at his arms, looking from one face to the next. He cleared his throat. “So, you’re telling us you want to be Zack’s mate?”

  “I am Zackary’s mate, and yes, I want him as my forever.” Elsie lifted her chin.

  “Tabor needs to know about this,” Hudson said, still shaking his head. “He needs to know now.” He gritted his teeth and took off in big sweeping steps for the woods.

  Chase grimaced then jogged after his friend.

  Jaw tight, Zackary glared in the direction the guys had gone.

  Elsie forced a smile. “Well, Tabor had to find out today, anyway. Hudson really should have let me be the one to tell him, though. No matter. We can talk about it when he finds me.”

  Zackary put his head between his hands. “This won’t end well.”

  “It has to. We’re all family now,” Elsie insisted.

  She wondered how long it would take for Hudson to track Tabor down. She faced the forest, ready, waiting. With her focus so intent on the woods, she didn’t see the figure creeping in behind her from the river.

  A growl rose up Zackary’s throat. He rushed past her. Elsie spun around, gasping when she saw William glaring at Zackary.

  “Is this the animal you chose to claim?” he demanded.

  It was as though a storm had rushed over the sky as her vision clouded.

  “William, I told you never to come back here!”

  Zackary’s head jerked. “This is the boy?”

  Nostrils flaring, William sneered at Zackary. “I’m no boy. I’m her first; her forever. And you’re just the animal Elsie was forced to claim in order to avoid mating a much worse beast.”

  A frown dragged down each side of Zackary’s chin. “Elsie? What is he talking about?”

  Words stuck in her throat, like she was choking on a large chunk of meat.

  William looked Zackary up and down with a scathing jeer. “I take it you are oblivious to the curse placed over Elsie by her father. She’s turning twenty in three days. If she didn’t claim a shifter mate by then, she would have been forced to become a bear’s mate. Lazarus owed the bear shifters for stealing their home. He promised them his firstborn daughter. At least she doesn’t have to worry about Brutus any longer. You took care of that by claiming her in time.”

  Rather than snarl, Zackary turned to Elsie with a grim twist of his mouth. His eyes were unfocused and dark, unable to hold her gaze for long.

  “Elsie, is this true?”

  She opened her mouth to deny it, explain. William had it all wrong. But that phantom chunk of meat was still blocking her airways.

  The one voice she was sick of hearing filled the clearing, as William explained how her father’s first forever was barren and he never expected to have children. Then he explained about Lazarus seducing female wolf shifters and forcing them to mate with him. He offered no sensitivity on the subject, circling back around to the curse and how at least the “bastard wizard” had the foresight to word his binding promise carefully. He’d promised Elsie to a shifter. “Shifter,” William repeated slowly, as though Zackary were daft. “Not a bear shifter specifically. So you served quite nicely as a replacement. Now that you know the truth, I’m sure you won’t bind Elsie to you indefinitely. You did a good thing, sparing her from a terrible fate. For that, you have our gratitude.”

  Zackary’s spine bowed like a bent over tree when he looked at her.

  “This is why you wanted me,” he said flatly. “To break some curse.”

  “No,” Elsie said, her voice cracking on that one short word. Tears swarmed her vision.

 
; “It makes sense.” Zackary’s head bobbed slowly. “How could anyone truly love a mongrel like me?”

  With heavy footsteps, Zackary headed for the woods, not bothering to pick up his shorts as he passed them blindly.

  “That’s not true,” Elsie cried after him.

  William made a sound between a sigh and a huff. “We should get going, Elsie.”

  “You!” she snarled, fangs protruding from her gums. “You ruined everything. I hate you!”

  William frowned. “You don’t mean that.”

  Claws poked out from her fingertips. William’s eyes widened.

  “You better get out of here before my wolf breaks out and rips you apart.” A growl erupted from Elsie’s throat, causing William to take a step back.

  “Elsie?” he asked uncertainly.

  “Go!” she bellowed.

  William turned and ran for the river. The angry wolf inside her wanted to chase after the meddlesome weakling, rip open his chest, and pull out his intestines. But going after her mate was more important. First, Elsie made sure William cleared out of the hollow’s territory. In his hurry to get away, he ran across the river, getting his pants soaked. Once he reached the other side, he kept running, fleeing into the woods on the other side.

  Elsie’s fangs and claws retracted. She sprinted after Zackary, afraid he’d already shifted and taken off on four legs. Dense trunks and foliage blocked out the sunlight when she entered the forest. She found Zackary hunched over beside a thick tree beyond the edge of the clearing. His back was turned to her, his shoulders shaking. At the sound of her footsteps, he went still.

  “Zackary,” she said softly, her heart twisting inside her chest.

  “You needed a male wolf shifter to break your curse,” he said in a hollow voice. “Someone dumb enough to be fooled into a quick claiming.”

  “No,” Elsie cried.

  “Was I even your first choice? Or was I just the most convenient?”

  Elsie rushed over, but Zackary kept turning away from her. She grabbed his arm and opened her mouth to tell him she loved him. The words shriveled inside her throat when she saw the tears streaming down his cheeks.

  Elsie’s heart split open, torn violently apart. Seeing her mate in such anguish shredded her soul. She had caused this. She’d hurt the male she loved most in the world.

  Elsie released his arm and sobbed. “No. That’s not what happened.”

  Zackary turned his head away, unable to look at her.

  “I can’t . . .” His teary voice was cut off by a soul shattering sob. He took off, arms swiping aside brush in his hurry to get away from her.

  Elsie didn’t pursue him this time. She could barely breathe or stand. She collapsed on the ground, a sob-scream rising from her lips. The forlorn sound made her cry harder. She wrapped her arms around her middle, rocking and crying her heart out.

  That’s how her brother found her. He and Sasha ran up to her the moment they caught sight of her on the ground. Sasha dropped down and put an arm around her. Tabor’s neck corded and lightning-like flashes streaked through his eyes. The rage awakened his powers.

  “I am going to kill Zackary,” he said in a chillingly calm voice.

  Before Elsie could scream at him to stop, he was gone, just gone. Had he figured out teleportation on his own?

  Sasha froze and blinked several times while tears flooded down Elsie’s cheeks.

  A firm arm squeezed against her.

  “Did Zackary hurt you?” Sasha demanded.

  Shaking her head, Elsie erupted into a fresh rush of tears.

  “No! I hurt him,” she sobbed.

  chapter nineteen

  The world had ended. Not the world before. Not the old one Zackary’s father used to rant about.

  “Asshole politicians” and “stupid fucking people” who had “destroyed the planet and brought disease upon the whole of humanity.”

  “Morons deserved to die out,” Vallen used to say.

  Despite the turbulent relationship he had with his father, Zackary figured he was better off in this new world. At least Vallen had brought him into a strong community of wolf shifters. Their pack was the only family Zackary had ever known. Wolf Hollow was the place where he had grown up and made friends . . . the place where he thought he’d met his mate.

  He was a fool. He should have trusted his instincts from the start. Only the most desperate female would allow him to claim her. And Elsie . . . His mind clouded on her name. Elsie had been in a race against time to claim a wolf shifter—any wolf shifter—before a bear claimed her.

  He remembered her singling him out, calling to him to join her swimming in the pond, trying to get a kiss out of him after she’d first arrived. The moment she’d returned from Balmar Heights, she’d sought him out straightaway—because she had a curse to stop.

  What had she truly seen when she looked at Zack? A dupe? A mindless mongrel easily manipulated?

  He yanked a branch off a tree and snapped the wood in half, throwing the pieces roughly onto the ground.

  Had she recognized the hopeless romantic in him—the one who had opened his heart to her and made himself vulnerable as he’d never done before?

  Zackary doubled over, tears spilling from his eyes.

  Damn it!

  He was pathetic. All weepy over a woman. What a sissy he’d turned out to be. He didn’t need Vallen around to tell him how stupid he was for letting himself get duped into believing a female as beautiful and clever as Elsie had really chosen him above all others to be her mate—that she loved him so much she couldn’t wait to be claimed.

  She’d broken his heart permanently. It was all too much for his wrecked emotions to handle.

  Zackary fell to his knees in the dirt. He wanted to keep falling—for the ground to swallow him up and bury him without a trace. Let the rest of his pack search for him and trample him in the process. He wouldn’t be missed. Only Justin and Wiley would care, but they’d move on. No one mentioned Rebecca or David any longer. How soon until they stopped talking about Jolene and Patrick? Jolene’s two closest friends were no longer sniffling in the glade at every meal. Hell, they were smiling again. That was just the nature of life. Live or die, everyone moved on.

  Would Elsie miss him . . . even a little? She’d seemed so genuine in her affections. How did someone fake that? Had she faked everything?

  Zackary breathed in the earthy loam below him. He dug his fingers into the soil. If the ground would swallow him up, maybe he could bury his broken heart.

  As his fingers closed around loose soil the ground seemed to shake beneath him, as though the weight of his emotions might cause an earthquake. Leaves rustled from branches overhead. An unnatural breeze swirled through the forest.

  “Zackary!” Tabor bellowed, murder in his voice. A cold wind blew over Zackary’s hunched back.

  “Let him come,” he thought bitterly before shifting into wolf form.

  His body contracted, becoming more agile and lean. Sight and scent heightened. Energy filled his limbs. He could hear Tabor’s two-legged approach.

  Zackary streaked through the woods. It wasn’t fear that drove him, but heartache. If he moved fast enough, perhaps he could outrun his emotions. All he knew was he couldn’t stand still.

  Large paws landed on the earth, pushing away to lift him over the forest floor. He made his way to one of the hollow’s trails, which was easier to speed along. Front paws. Back paws. Lifting and landing. The path was clear. Packmates used it to travel to and from patrol, which kept them dispersed throughout the woods, fields, bluff, knoll, falls, and pond.

  Zackary wasn’t headed in any particular direction—just running as hard as he could.

  A rumbling growl behind him announced the raging pursuit of Tabor’s wolf. He’d caught up fast.

  Zackary shot forward. Tabor was lighter, leaner, and faster. He sprang into the air, landing on Zackary’s lower back. His hind legs bowed from the abrupt weight. Zackary spun around and snarled. Saliva dr
ipped from Tabor’s fangs. They circled one another growling. Tabor lunged at him, but only snapped air with his teeth when Zackary sprang away.

  When Tabor next charged, he managed to knock Zackary over and wasted no time biting at his underbelly. Zackary kicked at Tabor with all four upended legs, nails clawing at the other wolf’s neck. Teeth sunk into Zackary’s hind flank. He snarled and snapped viciously, rolling over onto his side and dislodging Tabor in the process. The moment Zackary was on all fours, he lunged at his attacker.

  At least in wolf form, Tabor couldn’t use sorcery on him. They were evenly matched. Zackary didn’t want to harm a packmate, but he wouldn’t allow him to injure his wolf.

  They leapt at one another, quickly becoming a manic flurry of biting fangs and vicious snarls that rang out across the forest. Tabor sank his teeth into Zackary’s neck and bit clean through fur and flesh. Zackary reared back, Tabor coming at him. He grabbed hold of the wolf’s leg and bit down hard. Tabor howled and yanked free then jumped at him, swiping his claws at Zackary’s snout. It was hard to hear anything over their thunderous snarling. Zackary thought he caught the sound of screaming, but it spurred the two wolves on rather than inspiring them to cease fighting.

  “Tabor. Zackary. Stop!” His wolf’s ears heard the sound of Elsie’s screams, but he couldn’t stop. She tried to get to them, arms jerking at her sides as though she thought she could pull them physically apart.

  Tabor snapped down on Zackary’s neck below his jaw and shook. A jolt of piercing pain went through Zackary. He cried out.

  “Tabor, no!” Elsie screamed.

  Zackary clawed at Tabor until he released him but as soon as they were separated, they lunged at one another again. Tabor’s intent was clear—this was a battle to the death.

  Elsie backed away and raised her hands to her cheeks. Sasha arrived, jogging up to Elsie. The scent of human fear was strong in the air.

  “Tabor, stop it!” Sasha yelled.