“Mom?” I breathed, unable to hold back the question in my voice. It was still hard to believe she could be a wolf, even after seeing Beast change multiple times.
Mom’s tongue slobbered the side of my face. I jerked back against the chair and wiped the saliva from my cheek.
“Gross,” I complained lightheartedly. I smiled at Grandma’s laughter and Mom’s wolfish grin. Her tongue lolled playfully to one side. I was grateful for the unexpected laughter. Apparently my mother didn’t know how to act in this situation anymore than I did.
I tried batting her head aside, but she dodged out of my range, and I almost fell from the chair.
“If I could run, I would so get you back,” I teased through my laughter. My chest burned from exhaustion, but I didn’t care.
Grandma’s amusement died at my comment, and she looked at me as only a grandmother could. “How’s your leg doing?”
“It’s fine, I guess. Beast cleaned and wrapped it last night.” My brow puckered. “He might’ve slipped me some pain meds in my drink. It doesn’t hurt as badly as I remember.”
“Hmm.”
After grabbing a couple of steaks from the fridge, Grandma tossed them to Mom and Beast. Mother waited to eat hers until Beast turned his back on the other offered steak. It was odd to see them acting human one moment and pure wolf the next. I turned back to Grandma while they devoured their breakfast, so I wouldn’t lose mine at the sight of the bloody meat.
“He said you would heal fast,” Grandma said.
“Did he say that this was normal?”
Grandma shrugged. “He wasn’t really specific, but he did warn me that you might not wake at all today. Guess you smelled my famous pancakes and just couldn’t help yourself.”
I smiled at her attempt to lighten the mood, but my mind was still strained with the fears Grandma couldn’t ease. Only Beast could answer the questions that plagued me like a waking nightmare. Was my body changing too fast? Was my time as a human shorter than we thought?
I sighed and lowered my forehead into the crook of my arm resting on the table. Beast’s dark snout snuffled around my face. If I’d been feeling better, I might have laughed, but my eyelids were losing the battle to sleep now that my hunger was sedated. Beast prodded my arm, demanding I look at him. When I didn’t, he grabbed the baggy sleeve of my robe with his teeth, and pulled, indicating that he wanted me to go back to his room to rest.
“He’s right, you know, Tay. You’ve already nodded off twice,” Grandma said.
She came to my side and looped a supportive arm under my shoulders. Beast padded along in front of us, skillfully opening doors in our path with his paws. Suddenly, I realized someone was missing—my mother.
“Mom? Mom!” My heart beat frantically, and I forced my sleepy eyes to scan the room. Had Beast made her leave? A wave of panic raced through my body. I couldn’t lose her again. I sucked in quick breaths. I couldn’t. I’d just found her.
A few moments later, a gray wolf entered my line of vision and my heart rate stabilized. I took a deep calming breath. “Don’t leave me.”
Mom gave me a sharp nod and a low ruff of reassurance. Grandma led me to Beast’s bed and tucked me into the thick comforter. With my hand curled in the silky fur of my mother’s head, I drifted off to sleep.
~Hope you enjoyed your peek into Star Cursed! Now Available.
Curse of the Beast Page 27