by L M Wilson
He’s a monster.
A murderer.
A demon.
“You will forget this ever happened or you’ll spend the rest of your life wishing you had.” Loki shoves me hard, causing me to fall onto my bottom on the hard wood flooring. My teeth sink into my bottom lips as I try to suppress my cry of pain. The copper tang that permeates the air is now filling my mouth as well.
Loki’s demonic body morphs back into his normal one as tears silently roll down my cheeks. He lifts me easily by the arm and marches me back to my room. His grip is hard enough that I know I’ll have bruises there before the night is over but I’m too scared to try fighting him.
I’m too scared to do much of anything right now.
After shoving me through the door, he growls out, “You will marry me.” I don’t get a chance to respond, he slams the door, the last sound I hear before my sobs take over is the lock clicking into place.
◆◆◆
Fader continues to dig though my memories as tears run down my face. Everything I’ve ever seen, pulled from my mind with a force that makes my earlier headache seem like nothing more painful than my own heartbeat. The images only show a small portion of my life, things like my parent’s smiling faces, my first ride in the carriage that lost its wheel halfway to town, my first horse ride.
He even cycles through memories of me looking into my mother’s mirror as I age. He keeps going through my memories, both the good ones and some of the worst things I’ve been through. Before he can dig any deeper and discover the worst moment of my life, the images stop and for a second all I see behind my closed eyelids is my own face, looking more beautiful than I’ve ever looked in real life. His pressure in my mind eases up but then he pulls the one memory I don’t want to share.
◆◆◆
It’s been weeks since I discovered the truth about Loki Bromamere. He’s not human. From what I’ve been able to uncover he was human once, but he sold his soul for power. Power that he gains from taking innocent lives. I’ve suspected for a while now that he may have been behind my parents’ murders, but I couldn’t prove it.
I plan and I wait for the right opportunity. I need to get away to find a safe place to hide from the monster. I’ve only got a month before the wedding of my nightmares becomes a reality.
I’m sneaking out to see a friend from town when I hear voices, “The girl is strong, she will be perfect to carry my new body into this world. You must make her bow to your wishes. If she doesn’t accept the marriage and bed you willingly then the ritual will not work.” The man speaking sounds like he’s been eating rocks, his voice is gravelly and menacing.
“Sire, I know this is what we planned but no one could survive the birthing process. I want to keep Rose. Isn’t there another who would be able-.” Loki’s voice is cut off by the first grating voice.
“It must be her! Find a way to make it happen. Don’t forget that I gave you everything you have; I can take it away just as easily.”
I don’t wait around to hear any more. I run to the woods, searching for the man who said he could help me….
◆◆◆
I don’t want to relive this day. I don’t want to see my fate. I scream, tearing my mind from Fader’s. The pressure from his mind in mine is gone, leaving behind nothing more than an empty feeling and a sadness that fills my heart so deeply I don’t think it will ever go away.
After what feels like an eternity of silence, Fader finally speaks, “She’s like us, but not quite.”
“What does that mean?” Wolf-man asks studying me with undisguised interest.
“It means that she is cursed. Loki cursed her to live forever, bound to this very cottage, but I couldn’t see why.”
To my shock, the three of them sit down on the floor in front of me, identical looks of curiosity on their faces. I know they want me to tell them, but I’ve never told anyone before and I’m scared that if I let them in, they’ll just leave like everyone from my past.
Everyone always leaves, usually because death knocks on their door but they still leave me. The one person I confided in a hundred years ago, couldn’t handle the truth, he ran screaming and never returned.
After what feels like an eternity of curious staring from the guys and nervous squirming from me, Fader finally puts me out of my misery by changing the subject, “Bryant, will you explain who we are.”
“Fader found me almost a hundred years ago. I was cursed because I was caught in bed with a woman, who I thought was single.” Wolf-man, Bryant says.
A spike of jealousy hits my stomach and I frown, trying to squash the unwanted feeling. I have no right to be jealous. I don’t even know these men. Besides it’s not like they are mine or anything.
“Turned out she was married to Loki fucking Bromamere, when he caught us, he cursed me to be trapped in my wolf form at night and my human form during the day. The girl wasn’t so lucky, he slit her throat to use her death as the catalyst for the curse.”
I shudder at the brutality of his words, but honestly, I’m not surprised. Loki is the kind of monster who would take what he wants and if someone else tries to take what’s his, he’ll punish them in the cruellest way possible. The worst part is that whatever he does to those he deems punishable, is usually twisted in such a way that he gains something from it (Well Technically it’s not him that gains something from it. It’s the beast inside him that does.) Whether that be power, money or women, no one really knows.
“Fader and I found Kalum,” He nods to the golden guy. “About what, eighty odd years ago?” Golden guy, Kalum, nods and Bryant continues, “Kalum was born a normal human, but when he fell for the wrong girl, well let’s just say that my history became his, only difference is that he’s cursed to become a lion every time he gets overly emotional, that emotion turns into a wrath so volatile it transforms him into a huge ass lion who is more animal than man.”
“Seriously, happy, sad, horny?” I ask, only truly curious about that last one. Call me whatever you want but the guy is hot and after being alone for so long, I’d love to see what he’s like in bed.
Um, I did not just say that… Nope, not curious. Not at all. (Okay even I know that I’m protesting too much now.)
“Any emotion.” Kalum states simply.
“Fuck, that’s gotta suck.” I couldn’t imagine never being able to feel. Never being able to orgasm. Come on people, could you imagine it?
“Sucks all right, I didn’t understand the curse at first and well, when I became intimate with a girl a few years after I was cursed, I-,” His face flames red, “my lion ate her after nothing more than a kiss.” The words come out an animalistic growl as he rushes from the room and right out the front door. I jump to my feet worried that he’s upset with me for making him say it.
Before I can do more than take a step towards the door, Fader grabs my wrist, halting me in my tracks.
“He’ll be back, he’s in need of a few deep breaths and some meditation.” Bryant waves my concern away.
“What’s your curse?” I ask directing my question at Forest Fader. I almost get lost in his beautiful eyes again. My mind races trying to figure out the right word to describe their colour. It’s the writer in me, I know it, but that doesn’t stop me from trying.
“I’m not human.” He says, his face a mask of annoyance as he gets to his feet and takes off outside after Kalum.
“Sorry, he doesn’t like to talk about his past. His story is far worse than ours.”
“I understand.” I say, but the truth is that now I’m dying to know what Fader’s story is. I’ve always loved mysteries, and this is one mystery I really want to get to the bottom of. I shake my head, determined not to let my curiosity consume me.
We sit in awkward silence for a while, then Wolf-man suddenly asks, “So, how did you end up cursed by Loki?”
I don’t really want to go into details, but I feel like I owe the guys some kind of explanation. So, I simply say, “I refused to marry him.” Wh
at I don’t tell them, is that marrying him would have led to something far worse than being trapped in a loveless marriage with an abusive man. Hell, ha, Hell is right, I would have ended up being the mother to the devil himself. Well, that is if I had have survived the birthing.
A gasp has my eyes lifting to the front door, Fader’s shocked gasp is nothing compared to the look on his face. His mouth opens and closes a few times like he’s trying to make the words form but can’t get anything more than a grunt out. When he finally speaks, its slow, almost like his words are unwilling to form coherently, “Hol-ly shit!” The shock is expected, the sadness turning his gorgeous eyes glossy, however is entirely unexpected. “You’re the Beauty.”
The Story: Rose
I know what he is referring to, but he’s wrong. I’m not the “beauty” in the story. No, I’m the beast. When I first told the story to a very famous author, he turned it into a fairy tale with a happy ending. He is the reason I write. He told me that the only way to take control of my past is to control the story. “If something bad happens, then change the outcome. Even if it’s only in a story without an audience. For knowledge is power and the written word is more powerful than any curse.” I’ll never forget his words, but to this day, they’ve never rang true for me.
No matter how many times I twist and change the story, I’m still trapped in a nightmare of a curse, with no hope in sight.
Trying to change the subject, I ask, “Why are you searching for Loki Bromamere? You know he’ll never reverse the curses.”
“We were hoping that killing him would reverse the curses.” Again, a darkness fills Fader’s mesmerising eyes.
“All of our research says that once the person who cast the curse dies, the curse is broken.” Kalum agrees coming back inside the cottage. His eyes are more of a green gold now that he seems calmer. He smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. Knowing now that he can’t actually feel emotions without turning into a lion, his stand-offish demeanour makes more sense.
I feel sorry for him; living like that would be worse than death but he’s still here. He’s not giving up. Still trying to change his fate. He actually makes me feel sorry for myself, not for the curse but because I’ve spent the last few hundred years wallowing in my own self-pity instead of trying to change my life.
“I’d like to help, but I’m not really sure how much I can help with.” I take a deep breath and let it out slowly before stuttering my way through my own cursed story…
◆◆◆
“Once upon a dreary winter, some four, maybe five hundred odd years ago…”
I’ve always found it easier to tell the story from an outsider’s perspective, it’s easier to distance myself from the story than to feel the pain it causes.
“…there lived a girl who had everything. Parents who loved her, a rich man who wanted to marry her and a life of luxury, but not every story has a happy beginning, or a happy ending, for Rose, the girl of whom I speak, suffered a tragic loss on her seventeenth birthday. Her parents were supposed to go to the next town over, to see about buying a new coach, when tragedy struck. They were set upon by wild wolves and never returned.”
This is why I freaked out about seeing Bryant turn into a wolf, but I’m not about to tell these guys that part.
“Being a self-sufficient young woman, Rose decided she would wait for their return before marrying the man she was promised to. Rose’s actions were unheard of at the time, a woman should defer to the men in her life, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She spurned him when he tried to force her, and he threatened her. “I killed my King and damned my soul for you, and this is how you repay me? If you do not take my hand in marriage before your eighteenth birthday, you will forever walk this Earth alone and without hope.” His words were followed by a blinding flash of light. Too scared to heed his warning, I… I mean Rose ran away.
She did not do so lightly, she arranged with a hunter to rent his cottage in the woods in exchange for maintaining the upkeep of his cabin when he was away.
She made her flight, escaping to the forest. The evil monster followed her to the centre of said forest and before she could run any further, he changed her curse. She became trapped within the confines of the cabin which was to be her salvation.
The huntsman’s fate was much worse for the evil monster required a death sacrifice to seal the curse and extend Rose’s life.”
I leave out the worst part of my curse, they’d run like scared children if they ever found out just how much of a beast I truly am. I can’t look at the guys, too scared they’ll see that I’m hiding more than I’m telling.
“Months passed and Rose fell into despair. She tried everything she could to end her life, but always she would wake the following morning, in the same condition as she was when the curse began. On the night of every full moon the evil monster would return. Always with the same offer, “Marry me and I’ll grant you your freedom.”
Rose always gave the same answer, “I’d rather die than be bound to a monster like you.”
Months turned into years, the years to decades, Rose discovered that she could move freely during the daylight hours, wandering to the nearest town but once night fell, she relived every attempt to end her life. The pain would pass and once again when the dawn came, she found herself within the forest, in or near the cabin.”
Again, I leave out the worst parts, they really don’t need to know about and then I finish my story in a rush, trying in vain to hide the tears threatening to spill from my eyes.
“Soon centuries passed. The evil monster began coming less and less, appearing but once a year, then once every decade until eventually he stopped showing up at all, having left Rose to her eternal fate. It’s been almost a hundred years since the last time the evil monster visited Rose, but her story remains the same, no end to the torment and no end to the loneliness.”
By the time I finish telling my story, all three guys are just standing in front of me with dumbstruck looks on their faces. For several seconds I freak out, thinking Fader is going to tell the others that what I told them is only part of the story, but he just winks and nods his head once.
I’m fairly certain he won’t elaborate on my little story, but I’m not sure how far I trust him yet, nor am I sure about just how much he truly saw in my memories before I managed to push him out of my mind.
After several moments of intense silence, “Have you ever thought of becoming an author?” Bryant asks with a deep drool-worthy chuckle.
I’m so shocked by the change in subject that I answer without thinking about it, “Nah, I’ve never been one for story-telling, it takes too much hard work and I’m a lady of leisure.” I deadpan.
A burst of laughter comes from Kalum seconds before his clothes burst from his body. Fur sprouts from every pore of his skin, covering him in head to toe as his bones break and shift until all that’s standing in front of us is an animal.
Bryant and Fader jump in front of me while I scream. To everyone’s surprise, Kalum’s lion doesn’t launch at us, instead he lowers his head, cocking his head to the side exposing his neck. His submissive behaviour stops the scream in my throat. I swallow roughly then take a deep breath and look more closely at the lion.
“Fader-,” I can hear the worry in Bryant’s voice but I’m too afraid to take my eyes off the giant lion in front of us. “What the fuck is he doing?”
“I’m not sure, he usually lunges at the first person he sees.” Fader grabs my arm, pulling me in behind him. The moment I’m out of sight of Kalum’s lion, he starts growling, a warning rumble that makes all the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Fader, I think you should let Rose go and take a step back.” Bryant hisses under his breath.
I cling to Fader, refusing to let him abandon me. The last thing I want is to become cat food. I may not die from most things but being eaten isn’t something I want to take a chance on. Peeking past Fader’s shoulder, I see Kalum sit down, shaking his man
e.
Curiosity, – yes, my curiosity is definitely a curse at this point – it gets the better of me and I take a step out from behind Fader.
Both Fader and Bryant try to grab me, but I dodge their hands and kneel down before the huge lion. My hand shaking as I lift it to the thick fur around his neck, half expecting to have my hand taken off, but part of me knows he’d never hurt me. I have no idea how I know that, but I am one-hundred percent certain that Kalum, even in his lion form would never harm me.
The second that I sink my hands into his soft fur, I feel it so clearly, there’s a connection between us. What it means, I don’t have the faintest idea, but it’s a connection none-the-less.
Kalum Leroy is mine! The words ring out in my mind and I know them to be true. The lion-man is mine, body, heart, and soul.
Kalum shimmers, the bright light surrounding him forces me to close my eyes. I feel a hand touching my face and before I can open my eyes, another set of hands is covering them, preventing me from seeing.
“Kalum’s naked sweetie. Give him a minute.”
I hear scuffling then a grunt before whoever it is that has covered my eyes removes his hands. I blink a few times to get my sight back then burst out laughing. Seeing the big bad lion-shifter Kalum, sitting on my pastel green couch with the pink knitted throw rug covering his nudity and a blush staining his cheeks. The sight has me laughing in a way that I haven’t in centuries.
“I don’t have a change of clothes.” He grumbles over my laughter.
“Sorry, I’ve never had male guests…” I double over. “I don’t have anything for you to wear.” I say between bursts of laughter.
“I’ll go get some supplies. If it’s alright with you Rose, we’ll stay a few days and regroup before we head out in search of Bromamere.”
I think for a moment, then realise that my biggest secret wouldn’t be revealed if I just keep my distance from them emotionally. It’s a risk having them here, but I’ve been alone for so long, I need the company or I’m going to lose my mind. “I’d like that.” I whisper, my heart pounding and a blush staining my cheeks.