Read Online Malediction: An Old World Story by Melissa F. Olson - Free Book Online Page A

were already spilling down my cheeks and I had to focus to control my breathing. Jesse looked like he wanted to say something, or maybe touch me, but I shook my head. I’d asked, hadn’t I? I’d wanted to know. No, I’d demanded to know. Now I had to live with the knowledge.
    After a few more minutes, Lizzy’s breathing slowed. I didn’t think she was sleeping, just … spent. Nearly catatonic. I nodded at Jesse, who went over and picked her up like she was a child. She settled her head against on his shoulder and mumbled something.
    “We’re going to take you home,” he told her. He tilted his head so I would follow him out. I didn’t need to be told—I couldn’t get away from here fast enough.
    “Don’t have a home anymore,” Lizzy muttered. “Just different cages.” I winced.
    When we left the shed, Scarlett immediately backed away. True to her word, she’d stayed close in case we needed her. Now, she hovered about twenty feet away, clearly worried about Lizzy but unable to do much more than wring her hands. Part of me wanted her to run over and give Lizzy some respite from her emotional agony—her sickness. But maybe it was crueler to give her relief that wouldn’t last.
    There were only three cars in the lot: Scarlett’s van, Jesse’s sedan, and a nondescript Toyota. Astrid was leaning against the side of the car, having returned from her walk. She glared at each of us in turn as if daring us to remark on her absence. No one did. She opened the back door of the Toyota, then watched with her arms folded defiantly across her chest as Cruz laid Lizzy across the backseat.  
    When she was settled Astrid went to the trunk and pulled out a rough blanket, passing it to Jesse so he could drape it over the woman’s nude form. “Nice, huh?” Astrid asked, watching him. “Did you get the whole show?”
    “As much as we could stomach,” Cruz said with a glance my way.
    “Why is she like this?” I asked the other werewolf.
    She gave me a look, like I was being thick on purpose and she didn’t like it. “Um, because she’s a werewolf? There’s a reason why they call it a curse.”
    “But you’re a werewolf,” I said disbelievingly. “She’s, like … damaged.”
    A bitter smile quirked up one side of her mouth. “Don’t be fooled, lady. We’re all damaged. That’s what werewolf magic does to you. Some of us just wear it better than others.”
    I shuddered. Back home, Quinn talked about werewolf magic like it was just another branch of the Old World, but this … this was repulsive . Henry Remus was a monster, and he’d turned what was left of this poor woman into a monster too.  
    “What will happen to her?” I asked.
    She shrugged. “My shift with her ends tonight. Tomorrow she’s some other pack member’s problem.” Astrid stomped over to the driver’s door, practically snarling. She seemed so upset, but I didn’t get the sense that it was with us, or even with Lizzy. With herself? Remus? I didn’t know, but I was done asking questions.
    When the two werewolves pulled away, Scarlett came up to stand beside Cruz and me. I felt the little loosening again, the sense of decreased pressure I always felt around my niece. It was beginning to annoy me, coming from her. “I’m sorry, Lex,” Cruz said, still watching the Toyota’s taillights disappear. “About Sam.”
    I shook my head. Be careful what you wish for. Sam had said I deserved to know the truth, that a werewolf was responsible for her murder. But I hadn’t stopped there. I’d wanted the whole truth, and now I couldn’t stop seeing images of my sister’s body, her beautiful, perfect body, which had been home not just to her soul, but to Charlie’s, being mauled. Bite by bite . My fists clenched. I turned to face the others.
    “The bodies weren’t lost, were they?” I asked. “You had them all along.”
    Scarlett and Cruz exchanged a fleeting look that managed to communicate something very complicated. Then Scarlett