Page 4 of Blood Brother Cursed

With a smile, she replied, “So was the way you did it.”

In her mind, she heard the robust laugh from her childhood as she turned toward home. The air was already starting to feel oppressive despite it only being May. It seemed like the best indicator that it was time for her to leave the place where she had lived for most of her life.

Chapter 1

A Hot Meal and a Cold Reception

Despite a day’s worth of cleaning and unboxing, the house was still full of boxes. They were on the countertops, the couch, and all around the bed, which she had put together while the people brought the other furniture – and all of the boxes – into her new place. It was just a rental, and it was much smaller than the house she had lived in with her father.

Until the movers left, Astrid had not realized that the house was substantially smaller than her home back in Louisiana. Now that she was actually seeing just how little space she had, she knew she needed a solution because it was nearly impossible to walk around the place.

“Well, I guess that’s why I get for not seeing the place before signing the lease,” she muttered to no one. After a moment of staring at all of the work she had left, she muttered, “No, I’m not dealing with this right now.”

She marched back to her room and went to the box with her fall clothing. Putting on some workout wear, the young woman headed out for a jog. She knew she would regret it later, but for now, she just wanted to feel carefree.

More importantly, she needed to learn about the small town on the Washington State peninsula. It was near the base where her brother had died. The place had probably changed a lot in 20 years, but as she set a steady pace, Astrid liked to imagine her brother jogging down the same road. Was he amazed by the very different world around him that first time? Or was he sad that his family was an entire continent away? In her mind, he was happy, enjoying the freedom just like she was.

As a freelance developer, she always had work, and it meant that she could work from anywhere. It also meant she kept her own hours, and that was essential to her current situation. Since she specialized in security, a lot of her work wasdone at odd hours so that it didn’t affect normal operations. She hoped that she would be able to work her way into consulting on the military base – then, she would be able to hack their systems without raising suspicion.

She shoved all of that to the back of her mind as she made her way to the small downtown area. The day was clear, and the air was clean. It was so different from the humid air in the south at that time of year, and she felt a burst of energy. A new sense of freedom washed over her, giving Astrid a boost of confidence and interest in her surroundings. She decided to go through town and head to a beach about a mile from her home to enjoy the sensation while doing a bit of surveillance on the place where she would be living for a while.

She knew when she was nearing the beach because she was suddenly wishing she had worn jogging pants and a jacket. The breeze from the ocean was much cooler than she had expected, so she picked up her pace as she jogged along the shore in an effort to warm up a little. When she left the beach, Astrid felt that she was running out of steam. Fortunately, she had brought her slim wallet. While jogging through the town, she noticed a bakery, and if it was still open, she figured she would stop in for a pastry and a drink. That would also give her a nice place to warm up.

When she reached the town, Astrid finally stopped jogging and started her cooldown walk, although even that was a little too fast as she was now shivering a little. The sidewalks were mostly empty, and she didn’t have any trouble finding the bakery.

The smell of fresh bread, fruit, sweets, and chocolate hit her as soon as she opened the door. She smiled.

An older woman stood at the register, her mostly white hair carefully pulled back in a kerchief. She smiled, and the lines around her mouth formed deep grooves.

“Good afternoon, dear. I hate to rush you, but we’ll be closing in 20 minutes.”

Astrid smiled back at her as she pulled a card out of her wallet. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll be more than happy to take a few pastries off your hands before then. And do you serve any hot drinks?”

“Sure do, dear.” She pointed up to a menu above her head. “Although I strongly recommend the hot chocolate with an eclair. You lucked out; those usually sell out the fastest, but we have one left.”

“Do you make sandwiches because it’s been a long day, and I need a bit more sustenance.”

“Here’s what’s left of our bagels. I can make you anything on the menu on a bagel.”

“That sounds amazing.” Astrid walked over to the case to select her bagel and to determine what to have on it. The smell of fresh salmon made at least that part easy. The toppings and condiments didn’t really matter, so Astrid told the shopkeeper to surprise her. As the woman was preparing the sandwich, the young woman decided to get dessert and a hot chocolate.

The older woman slid the plate of food over to her. “I’ll get that dessert ready for you. And if you need to stick around for a bit, I can start cleaning up while you’re still here.”

Just as Astrid was slipping into a seat, the door opened again. The older woman looked up and was about to let the new customer know that they were about to close. However, her tone shifted, and she sounded absolutely ecstatic. “Phoenix! I didn’t know you were back in town!”

Astrid looked up and watched the older woman hurry around the counter and toward the man who had just entered. She threw her arms around him, an impressive feat since he was nearly a foot taller than her. From the corner of the bakery, the young woman had a great view of the encounter as well as theyoung man apparently called Phoenix. He was tall with thick, short black hair. He had the bluest eyes she had ever seen, like the color of a lagoon she’d seen in films and TV. The easy smile on his lips reached his eyes for a moment, but quickly disappeared.

“I simply couldn’t stay away from you forever, Mable. My stomach simply wouldn’t allow it.”

The older woman laughed, then noticed another man standing behind him. “Oh, you’ve brought a friend. A boyfriend, perhaps?”

Astrid watched as the man behind Phoenix stared at the older woman. His curly blond hair framed his face in a way that seemed very ’90s to her, but it suited his young features. If not for his sharp gaze only partially hidden behind a pair of glasses, she would have thought he was a teenager. But there was something about his eyes that told her he was much older than he looked.

He was about to say something when his eyes moved over to Astrid.

Oh shit,the thought hit her as the other man’s eyes fell upon her.They are shifters.

For the first time in two decades, she felt something bumping up against her mind. She knew exactly what that meant – one of them was trying to talk to her. Judging by the animated conversation between Phoenix and Mable, she figured it had to be the curly-haired guy.

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