Page 64 of A Dragon's Curse

“Then, you shouldn’t have asked,” she quipped.

As soon as she tied the last knot, she reached into the bowl I’d seen on the table and flicked some sort of rancid concoction into my face.

I squeezed my eyes closed and coughed as my head shook. “Seriously, GiGi.”

She didn’t say anything else. Instead, something warm poured over my head and I kept my eyes sealed shut.

My fingers curled over the arm of the chair, nails digging into the wood. I tried not to breathe in the stench, but that was nearly impossible as my heart rate sped up.

I wanted to ask what the hell was happening, but goo slid down my face and there was no way I was opening my mouth for any reason.

“This might pinch a little,” she warned right before her palm slammed over my heart.

My back arched, forcing my chest to push against her hand that I was nearly certain was burning through my skin.

The festering black hole of a connection that I had to Knox flared to life. It grew stronger inside me, expanding until I was certain it was going to swallow me whole.

Whatever shit Beatrix had poured onto me started to burn into my pores, and I swore it was entering my bloodstream and lighting a fire inside my veins.

She finally removed her hand from my chest. “He’s stronger than I anticipated.”

I badly wanted to ask what the hell she meant by that, but before I could chance opening my mouth, an electric current felt as if it was being stabbed through my skull then shooting down my spine.

A partial shift started, and my nails turned to claws, while I was certain fur had sprouted along my skin. My teeth elongated, and there was no keeping my lips together any longer.

As soon as the wretched sludge entered my mouth, I was convinced I’d throw up, but with the current of electricity still pulsing through me, I had no control over my body.

Dawsyn.

My name was a whisper of rage through my mind.

What the hell was that?I asked my wolf.

Knox. He’s trying to connect deeper with you.

Fuck that nonsense.

“Get this bastard out of me,” I yelled. Or at least, I think I did. There was a pounding inside my head that made me unsure of my volume.

I sensed my grandmother moving faster around me. I’d have expected her to answer, but there was no response. Or maybe I just couldn’t hear it.

Either way, whatever she was doing next didn’t seem to be helping.

The rope tied around my arms and legs was beginning to cut into my skin as my body tried desperately to get free of the restraints, only it wasn’t me that wanted free. I wasn’t controlling my movements.

The spell Beatrix used must have opened the connection between the two of you further, my wolf said.It’s as if his spirit is right here with us, fighting against whatever she’s doing.

Based on the conflicting actions of my body, I could believe that, but I didn’t understand why. Knox had hardly paid attention to me while I’d been in his possession. Did he truly hate his brother enough that he just didn’t want Cillian to have me?

I didn’t know for sure, and a part of me hoped I never found out. That the fucker would be nothing more than a corpse the next time I saw him.

There was a pulsing sensation inside my chest, and my hands wanted nothing more than to sink my claws through my skin and rip my own heart out. The desire wasn’t mine, but it felt so fucking tangible that I could taste the fury inside my mouth.

My eyes finally opened, wider than I thought should have been possible. My head jerked back, then slammed forward over and over again.

“Stay still, damn it,” GiGi demanded, but it wasn’t me. I’d lost control of my own body.

“Can’t…stop…him.” My words were garbled, but I got them out right before the pounding in my head intensified so severely that all I could hear was the sound of an invisible windstorm circling my body.