Free The Lycan and His Witch by Anastasia Maltezos Page B

sooty lashes, framed by delicately arched
brows. Kindness poured from them and he was fascinated with their
out of place context on the hag’s repulsive features.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered,
before he blacked out.
     
    Bryce opened his eyes and took a
moment to adjust to his surroundings. He was sitting on a couch,
his body wrapped in a silver chain. His ears pricked when he heard
the sound of singing again, but this time, he wasn’t enchanted by
it.
    This time he was bloody
furious!
    Whoever was singing outside on
the front porch was holding him prisoner. Evidently the hideous
looking witch, Zora, had a daughter because he couldn’t conceive a
voice so lovely belonging to the old hag.
    Bryce tried shrugging out of the
chains, but the more he struggled, the weaker he became. He heard a
movement at the door and saw the hag walk in from the outside.
    “Untie me,” he growled as he
snapped his gaze to her face.
    “I cannot.” Zora walked into the
living room and stood ten paces from him, wringing her gnarly hands
as she stared at him with worry on her face.
    “You know what I am,” Bryce
said.
    “Yes. You are a Lycan.”
    “I only seek a cure for this
damn curse.”
    Her expression faltered and she
looked momentarily surprised. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
    He grimaced. “I have gold, if
that’s what you want.”
    “You don’t understand. I cannot
remove the werewolf curse. No one can. The rumours you’ve heard
about me are false.”
    Bryce couldn’t believe his six
month journey had brought him to nothing. Anger rose in his chest
and he struggled to get out of the chains, growling as a numbness
restrained his strength. Dammit! He’d have to ruin his remaining
clothes.
    As a human, he didn’t possess
the strength to snap the chains in two, but as a Lycan he did.
    Calling on the beast within him,
he summoned it to the surface. Nothing. His beast refused to rise.
He glared at her.
    Zora watched as Bryce struggled
with the chains and said, “You cannot shift into either your Lycan
or your wolf form. I’ve cast a spell on the silver chains. They’re
subduing your beasts.”
    “What do you want from me?” he
roared. He moved sharply and jostled the table next to him,
knocking a vase over as he shot her a furious look.
    Sadness and regret tinged her
expression. “I want nothing.” She walked to the table and reached
for the vase.
    Bryce narrowed his eyes and
lunged forward, his hand snaking out from beneath the chain. The
chains stopped him from moving further, but not before his fingers
brushed her skirt.
    She shrieked and jumped
back.
     
    * * * *
     
    Zora felt the blood drain from
her face as she glanced sharply at her skirt and then back at him.
A little more to the left and he would have touched her hand. What
a fool she was for taking her gloves off! Frightened, she ran her
gaze over his face and breathed with relief. He looked very much
alive with his arrogant, dark looks etched in granite, his black
eyes flashing ire.
    “I only want the cure. I’ll pay
anything,” he said roughly.
    “And I told you I don’t have the
cure.”
    His eyes narrowed. “You are a
powerful witch. I heard you can—”
    “You heard rumours. My powers
are limited. Spells can be changed…altered, but curses cannot be
removed without their specific cure. I do not know the cure, nor
does anyone else. I’m sorry.”
    His expression remained hard,
but she could tell he was disturbed and Zora felt sorry for him.
She knew how a curse destroyed hopes, how darkness and loneliness
followed.
    “Untie me. You have no need to
fear me,” he persuaded.
    Of course, she didn’t fear him.
She feared for him, but she wasn’t about to tell him that.
She frowned, biting her lower lip as she stared at the chains. He
didn’t deserve to be shackled and subdued. He only wanted his
freedom and his humanity back. Still…could she trust his word?
Could he keep his distance? History told her otherwise, even though
she’d