The Lycan and His Witch by Anastasia Maltezos

Chapter One
     
     
    The old man had said the house
wasn’t far. Bryce grimaced as he stopped dead in his tracks and
looked around the dense forest. If the house wasn’t far, where the
hell was it? He cast a narrow gaze around him and gritted his
teeth. He’d been in these damn woods for three days and he hadn’t
seen any sign of life, let alone a house where a witch resided.
    The forest animals were hiding
from him. The bears, foxes, even the wolves, which surprised him
since he had so much in common with them.
    Damnation! He had to find the
witch now. The old man had said she was the only one who had the
cure.
    The cure to remove the werewolf
curse.
     
    * * * *
     
    Zora bent down and smiled,
looking at the flowers blooming in her garden. She couldn’t wait to
bring the roses into her home and fill it with their sweet
smell.
    A long, frightened hiss stilled
her thoughts. Rising, she turned and looked at her porch, replacing
her smile with a frown.
    “What is it, Luna?” Her frown
deepened as her cat rose on its haunches, hissing at something
behind her.
    Zora turned around and glanced
at the trees surrounding her. The forest seemed unnaturally quiet
this morning. She couldn’t hear the birds or the forest creatures.
Curious, she looked up and saw clear blue skies. There wasn’t bad
weather approaching, so that couldn’t be the reason for the
silence.
    Luna hissed again and Zora spun
around to give her cat a reproaching look. “Quiet, Luna. You’re
probably sensing a mouse.”
    With a sigh on her lips, she
walked to her porch and lifted Luna in her arms. Zora ran her hand
gently down its back and smiled as her cat immediately began to
purr.
    “It’s okay,” she cooed. “There’s
nothing dangerous out there.”
    She lowered herself in the patio
chair and slowly rocked back and front. Luna’s purr grew, and Zora
began humming a soft tune.
     
    * * * *
     
    Bryce sensed the wolf behind the
boulder and growled at his unseen foe. His pure brethren were
territorial and lived in packs and he quickly sensed two more
wolves surrounding him. Slowly, he lowered his bag on the ground.
He knew the three wolves were readying themselves for an
attack.
    He cursed under his breath. He
didn’t need this. Not now . He had to find the witch known as
Zora who lived deep in these woods. The old man in the last village
had told him no one had ever ventured out of her forest alive.
    “She’s dangerous. Evil,” the old
man had said. “Legend says she could kill you with a blink of her
eye.”
    Bryce stiffened violently.
    He was riveted to his spot,
listening to the captivating sound of a woman…singing? He frowned,
momentarily shaken by the beautiful voice. Without warning, an
uncharacteristic flood of warmth began to thaw his cold heart. The
angelic sound reached him on a level he didn’t know existed in him
and he clenched his jaw, trying to tear his mind away from it. He
knew the wolves surrounded him, but he couldn’t move. The sweet
voice soothed the beast within him, and almost made him forget the
real danger closing in.
    Almost, but not quite, he
thought as he snapped out of his momentary daze.
    He growled ferociously. The
wolves were almost upon him and he raised his head to the sky and
released a long howl before he shifted into his massive wolf form.
Bryce attacked the first wolf on his right that was springing in
the air towards him.
     
    * * * *
     
    Zora stopped singing and rose
sharply, startled by the sounds she heard in the woods. They were
faint, but she made them out—growls, whelps, howls. Luna darted out
of her arms and sprang into the house.
    Fear rose in her breast. The
wolves in her woods didn’t fight each other. They were a tight pack
that lived in harmony…that is, unless there was another wolf out
there threatening their territory, she thought with alarm.
    All her senses flared to life
and she drew in a long, shaky breath. Was it time? She wasn’t
certain, but she wasn’t going to take any