Page 71 of Cursed
Freya takes Nori’s hands. “I brought you here, daughter, to tell you that you are going to play a pivotal role in the times to come. You need to start preparing now for the war that will ultimately be waged.”
“Me? I’m nobody. And what war? How could I possibly play any kind of role?” Nori’s heart starts pounding at the thought of a war.
Freya’s brows furrow, and her golden eyes glow as they narrow into a fierce glare. Freya’s booming voice echoes across the meadow. “You are Goddess-blessed, Norina Valcrest! You are The Lightbringer. You will bring about the end of the abominations!”
Nori shrinks back from the Goddess, but then Freya takes a breath. Her face returns to normal, and her voice lowers in volume. “You must learn to use the power I have bestowed upon you, and for that, you will need your Mate.”
Nori is a bit unnerved by Freya’s sudden mood swing from fierce to friendly. “O-OK. I—I will work on all of that.”
Straightening her shoulders, Nori gathers her courage and anxiously asks, “You said you put me in Ryland’s path. Did you also bond me to Malrik Blackstone? How could you do that?”
Freya frowns for a millisecond. “It was necessary. It was time for you to leave and find your way to your Fated Mate.”
Freya rises, pulling Nori up with her into a brief embrace. “Now go, Nori, and prepare yourself for what’s to come!”
Freya’s face melts into a menacing sneer, and she growls loudly in Nori’s face. “WAKE UP!”
chapter forty-three
Nori’s eyes fly open. She is exactly where Freya said she’d be, sitting on the front of a horse, leaning against a male who smells of rotten apples. A thick rope surrounds her wrists, keeping them tightly together in her lap. Her mouth is gagged with a filthy cloth. It smells like it came from the rotten-apple man’s pocket.
Looking around, trying to orient herself, all she sees are trees in every direction and snow on the ground. Nori glances up at the sky to find a normal-sized moon.
Breathing shallowly through her nose, she reaches for her wolf in her mind. “Aylin! Are you there?”
“Yes. I think I’m in shock over meeting the Moon Goddess in person. I still can’t get over Fated Mate, and what the hell is a Lightbringer?”
“There’s no time to figure all that out now. I need two claws to get through this rope without alerting rotten-apple guy.”
Two claws extend from Nori’s right hand, and she begins carefully sawing at the rope, letting the fibers fall to the ground in front of her. She can’t risk drawing blood to leave as a trail because her captor will smell it. So, she cuts through the rope, keeping as still as possible.
Worried now, realizing they are in a terrible situation, Aylin asks, “Do you think they’ll come for us, Nori?”
“Absolutely, yes! It’s only a matter of time before Ryland and Bade figure out that we are missing. Once they realize we’ve been taken, they will hunt us down and kill this smelly wolf. It will be awesome!” Nori says confidently.
“Ah, you’re awake!” the stinky kidnapper says. “I’m not sure why Beta Malrik has gone to such lengths to get a slave girl back, but he will be pleased with me. Yes, indeed. I’ll retire on the bounty money.”
Nori’s eyes widen. Bounty? What possible reason could Malrik have for wanting her back bad enough to put up a bounty? He hated her. They all did! She tries to yell at the smelly male around the gag, but it comes out muffled.
“What was that? I can’t hear you.” He laughs at his ownjoke and takes a drink of something that smells like gasoline. She’s guessing it’s alcohol, but it smells rancid.
Nori leans forward in the saddle and then quickly rears back, trying to hit the kidnapper in the face. She’s not as tall as he is, but does manage to slam her head into his chin.
He whips out a knife and holds it to her throat. “There’ll be none of that unless you want me to drug you again.”
The kidnapper barks out a short laugh, wrapping his other arm around Nori’s waist. “It will take us a couple of days, maybe three, if I drag it out, to get to Starfall. In the meantime...”
Pulling her close to him, he digs his erection into her ass, making Nori gag. He snarls against her ear. “You and I will get to know each other very well. Malrik said nothing about what shape I return you in, just that I return you.”
As soon as the words leave his mouth, they catch the stench of a Rogue. The kidnapper pulls the horse to a stop. He sheaths his knife and reaches for his sword, but he’s too slow. A female Rogue bursts from the woods, tackling the kidnapper off the back of the horse.
Nori leans forward, throws her leg over, and jumps down off the horse, away from the battle between the male and the Rogue, landing on her butt. Screams of agony from the kidnapper and blood-curdling snarls from the Rogue echo through the forest.
The next few moments are filled with sounds of rippingflesh and gurgling, choking noises. The smell of blood saturates the air.
Trying not to panic, Nori tears the offensive gag out of her mouth and makes quick work of the rope.
“We’re next, Aylin! Shift!” she yells.
