Chapter 19: The Ring

They cleared a ring in the middle of the stones, forty feet across, and both packs stood back to its edge.

I stood at the front with Addie's arm through mine.

Bram took off his shirt and boots.

He didn't look at me, and I understood it.

If he looked, he'd see how I swayed.

"Go on," I said.

He turned.

His eyes were already gold, and the scar through his eyebrow was white.

"I'll be back before the moon moves," he said.

"Don't make me a liar to my own pups."

He kissed my forehead, once, and walked into the ring.

Garland was waiting for him with his stick planted in the dirt.

He was fifty-eight and lean, and he stood easily, and he had been fighting challenges since before Bram could walk.

"Last chance," he said. "Say the words yourself, and I'll lift it for her tonight. Nobody has to bleed."

"No," Bram said.

"A pity."

The Greywater herald dropped her cane.

The change took Garland first.

His body folded and stretched, and where an old man had stood, a huge grey wolf stood with silver along its spine.

Bram shifted a half second after.

He was bigger, darker, built for weight, and when he landed on his four feet the ground shook.

Garland hit him low.

They went over together in a tangle of teeth and fur, and a collective gasp went around the ring.

Bram rolled and came up with a gash across his shoulder.

Garland took a bite at his throat and missed by an inch.

I couldn't breathe, and it had nothing to do with the curse.