A Curse of Tooth and Claw (The Ozero Curse Book 1) by Nicolette Elzie

Author:Nicolette Elzie [Elzie, Nicolette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nightshade Press
Published: 2023-02-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter nineteen

The Other Side

Kiki

Overhead the sun slowly sank behind the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange and purple.

Kiki bit her lip as Aurelia spoke about curses and demons and sacrifices. Already, Turi was pacing the clearing, careful to stay within the protection runes. A low growl vibrated in his throat as his claws dug into the dirt. Kiki was grateful that she wasn’t the only one to seem overwhelmed, but it was all too much. Her mind reeled as she tried to make sense of Aurelia’s tale.

Luna sat next to Kiki with her knees drawn up and her hands wrapped around them. Her eyes were glazed, and she stared at nothing as she wrung her hands. Kiki had never seen her friend so rattled before. She’d seen Luna face an entire infirmary of injured Slayers before, blood coating her apron and hands. Nothing had ever made Luna cringe before. No wound was too gory. No amount of puss disgusted her. Whatever Luna had seen while they were crossing the Cicatrix had made her retreat deep into herself.

To make matters worse, the second Turi crossed through the Cicatrix; he’d transformed into a bear. Kiki ran a hand over her weary eyes. She was used to facing many decisions at once. Most of those decisions were matters of life and death. But this? Luna breaking and Turi being cursed? Kiki had no frame of reference for how to deal with any of it.

The sunset drenched the sky with color. It wouldn’t be full night for another hour, which meant Turi would be a bear until then. But that was too long for Kiki’s tastes. She needed answers. Now.

Turning her raptor gaze to Aurelia, Kiki spat, “You said what’s happening to Turi is a curse. How do we break it?”

Aurelia cast her silver gaze to the ground and lifted her shoulders to her ears. “I don’t know. My cousins have been trying to break the curse their whole lives. Every year that passes, they lose more and more of their humanity until, one day, they’ll be more bear than men.” She shook her head with a sigh. “Most of the men in my family haven’t shifted into their human form in years. It’s only a matter of time before the same happens to the twins.”

Kiki’s heart dropped into her stomach. She couldn’t just sit around and accept that Turi was part of some family curse. Not when it was her fault that he had come into the Cicatrix. He’d be safe on the other side if it weren’t for her. He’d be clueless to his heritage, to the curse, and definitely wouldn’t be pacing the forest in the form of a bear.

“So that’s it?” Kiki snapped, her hands curling into fists. “He’s stuck like this for the rest of his life?”

Aurelia sat on her heels next to Turi, examining his black claws. “My cousins found a spirit woman who helped them stop the shift during the day. It’s not a permanent fix, though.

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