Page 44 of Curses and Casualties
Magnus’s mouth tilts in a wry smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “I don’t just want to be human. I want to be free from the burden of magic, to experience life untainted by the knowledge of what we are. A shifter walks a line between worlds, constantly pulled in directions that are at odds with one another. It’s a weight I no longer wish to carry.”
“And I’m guessing you need a shit-ton of magic to make that happen?” I ask, anger bubbling beneath my skin as I finally understand what his stake is. This man is both victim and villain, enacting a twisted plan that has cost far too much. “The kind of magic that would come from completed Soul Bonds?”
“Yes,” he says simply, and that single word contains multitudes.
“You selfish asshole!” The words rip from my throat. “You destroyed our lives! I have a twin. We were supposed to live side by side, grow old together with our families. Georgia had a career that she excelled at, family and friends. But you threw this curse out into the world like a grenade, and now our lives—our human lives—are in chaos because of your choices! Georgia almost died in that cave. Kane spent ten years mourning Luna while I tried to hold us together. All so you could, what? Forget that any of this exists?”
“Yes.” The confirmation is a whisper this time, but that single, simple word makes my vision go red.
The dampening magic fights me, pressing down like invisible chains, but my fury burns hotter than any spell. I feel my canines lengthen, taste copper on my tongue as fangs break through. My fingernails sharpen to claws, the partial shift painful but unstoppable. Bones crack and reshape, muscle fibers tearing and reforming.
YES! Break through! Kill him!Kane roars in my mind, his rage feeding mine until we’re one unified force of vengeance.Make him pay for Luna’s pain!
“Ryan!” Georgia’s warning comes too late.
I explode across the room before thought can catch up, claws ripping free as my hand clamps his throat. I slam him into the ornate bookshelf hard enough for the shelves to shudder like they fear me. Volumes tumble to the floor in a cascade of leatherand parchment as I lift him off his feet, my partially shifted strength enhanced by pure, burning rage.
“Ten years,” I snarl through my fangs, each word dripping venom. “Ten years of agony. Of Kane screaming for his mate every night. Of me watching him fade, thinking Luna was gone forever.”
Magnus doesn’t fight back. His storm-gray eyes meet mine steadily even as my claws draw pinpricks of blood from his neck. The scent of it—old blood, old power—fills my nostrils. “I don’t give a fuck what you think,” he says, his voice strained but unrepentant. “I have my reasons, and I’d do it all again in a heartbeat if I had to.”
“You son of a?—”
“Whether you like what I’ve done or not,” Magnus continues, cutting through my fury with cold logic, “supernatural kind needs the Soul Bond to survive. Magic is dying, shifters can’t reproduce, witches are losing their power. Without Soul Bonds, we all fade into nothing.”
My grip tightens, claws digging deeper. “That doesn’t give you the right to play god with our lives!”
“Doesn’t it?” His lips curve in a bitter smile despite the blood now trickling down his neck. “When no one else has the spine to save this dying world, someone has to play god.”
My hand trembles with the effort of not crushing his windpipe. Every muscle in my body screams for violence. “You engineered our suffering.”
“I engineered your destiny,” he corrects, still maddeningly calm despite his position. “Without my intervention, Ryan would have lived and died never knowing Georgia existed. Luna and Kane would have continued jumping from vessel to vessel until magic burned out or one of them let go, causing the other to go mad with grief. Is that the alternative you prefer? The one where everyone dies longing?”
The worst part is, I can’t answer that. Because despite everything—the pain, the loss, the manipulation—it led me to Georgia. To our bond. To a love I never knew was possible. The realization makes me sick.
Don’t listen to him,Kane snarls.He used us. Hurt Luna. Kill him now!
But as I stare into Magnus’s eyes, I see the exhaustion there. The weight of centuries pressing down on him like mountains. Whatever else he is, he’s not lying about his motivations.
“If you kill me,” Magnus says quietly, “you’ll never meet the witch who created the curse.”
My claws dig deeper, drawing more blood. “What?”
“You need something from her to fully break it.” His voice comes out forced, each word a struggle against my grip. “Without her, you’re gambling with Luna’s life. Is your revenge worth that risk?”
“Where is she?” I demand, giving him a shake that rattles his teeth.
“Safe. Hidden.” He swallows carefully against my claws. “Release me, and I’ll tell you what you need to know.”
“Ryan,” Georgia says softly, her hand touching my arm. Through our bond, I feel her conflict—her anger at Magnus warring with her desperate need to free Luna. “We need that information.”
Every instinct screams at me to end him. This man who orchestrated so much pain, who treats our lives like chess pieces in his game for freedom. But Georgia’s right. We need him.
I release him, stepping back as he drops to his feet, one hand massaging his throat. The puncture wounds from my claws are already healing, supernatural resilience kicking in despite his bound wolf. He straightens his jacket with hands that barely shake, composing himself with centuries of practice.
“The curse will weaken as the supermoon approaches,” Magnus says, his voice hoarse but steady. “Luna will grow stronger, more viable. Georgia might even achieve partial shifts, perhaps even a full shift if the conditions are right. But the link will remain tenuous, fragile.”
“Until?” Georgia prompts, her scientific mind latching onto the details.
