The Lycan and His Witch

Their love was cursed

Zora, a beautiful witch,
prepares to fight an ancient evil spell. Her soul mate, a
ruthlessly, handsome Lycan, must not fall in love with her. If he
does, the ancient spell will see to it he dies. How can Zora save
him? She casts a spell on herself and transforms into a hideous,
old hag. So hideous, how can he possibly fall in love with her?

Bryce, a three hundred year old
Lycan, is either losing his mind or he’s witnessing dark magic at
play. The ugly, old witch who has offered him shelter for a couple
of days is starting to look less repulsive. His human is repelled
by her, but his wolf is fighting for release to claim her.

The unauthorized reproduction or
distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal
copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary
gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years
in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Please purchase only authorized
electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the
electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the
author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

The Lycan and His Witch

Copyright © 2012 Anastasia
Maltezos

ISBN: 978-1-77111-247-5

Cover art
by Carmen Waters

All rights reserved. Except for
use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in
whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the
written permission of the publisher.

Published by Devine
Destinies

An imprint of eXtasy Books

Look for us online at:

www.devinedestinies.com

Smashwords Edition

The Lycan and His Witch

By

Anastasia Maltezos

To Etta

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 chances. She’d prepared
for this moment most of her life and if
he
was out there,
she had to follow through with her plan.

Grim-faced, she turned and ran
into the house, her heart racing. She grabbed her gloves, slipped
them on and ran to the door. She paused on the porch and prayed the
animals weren’t hurt.

She even prayed for the other
animal, the two-legged one.

If there was one thing Zora had
feared all her life, it was Lycan, and with good reason.

With a swift movement of her
hand over her face, she whispered the enchanted words. Slowly, she
began to feel her face and body tingle. She touched her face,
wincing for a moment as her nose grew to a bulbous shape. Her skin
turned scaly and rough. She grabbed a lock of her hair and brought
it over her shoulder, satisfied it was no longer a silky gold, but
a thin, dull grey. She looked down and saw the added pounds to her
body. Her breasts were now droopy and limp, her previously flat
tummy, a rounded girth. She was now transformed into a hideous
looking hag.

If
he
was out there, her
gloves and unsightly appearance were going to protect him.

Chapter Two

Bryce snarled as the biggest
wolf sank its fangs into his back. He growled, whipping his head
back and snapped his jowls at the animal. The two other wolves
pounced on him, ripping through his fur as they bit him. He had had
enough. He didn’t want to kill them. They weren’t human. They were
innocent animals acting solely on instinct. Their need to protect
their lair, which Bryce suspected was close by. With a deep growl,
he shifted into his massive, nine-foot Lycan form and grabbed two
of the wolves, one in each of his taloned hands, flinging them far
away from him. The wolves yelped as they flew through the air,
landing with heavy thuds on nearby boulders. They rose, whimpered,
and sped away.

Bryce faced the remaining wolf,
the biggest one, and growled at it. It growled back, but didn’t
advance. Smart beast, Bryce thought.

“Go!” he snarled

The wolf backed away slowly,
snarling, and then turned and fled.

Slowly, Bryce transformed back
into his human form, naked. Grimacing, he glanced at his shredded
clothes strewn around him and cursed. He was down to one shirt and
trousers. Travelling through villages in close proximity to each
other was always ideal for him so he could purchase clothes every
time his turns destroyed what he wore, but he was in the middle of
the damn woods and he doubted a merchant lived close by who could
sell him trousers. Dammit, he couldn’t afford another shift unless
it was a matter of life and death.

The sound of a startled gasp
snapped his gaze to a clearing. His eyes narrowed on the hag who
stood there, her gloved hand raised to her mouth, her eyes wide as
saucers as she stared at him.

“Oh no!” she whispered, gaping
at his cuts and gashes.

He knew they were fading and
disappearing right before her eyes. Her horrified gaze darted to
his shredded clothes.

Hell and damnation! She looked
like she was going to faint. He grabbed his bag from the ground and
pulled his remaining trousers and shirt out. “Do not fear me,” he
said as he shoved them on. “I was attacked by wolves.”

She backed away. “No! Stand
back!”

“I will not harm you. I need
assistance. I seek a woman who—”

“You seek
me
,” she said,
raising a gloved hand.

He narrowed his eyes as
realisation dawned on him. “You are Zora, the witch who lives in
these woods.”

“Yes. Forgive me. I do this only
to protect you.” She mumbled a string of words he could not
understand.

Stunned, Bryce felt himself grow
cold and then numb. Unable to hold himself up, he collapsed to the
ground as darkness surrounded him.
She
was doing this to
him!

“I mean you…no…harm…” he said
hoarsely, trying to hold onto his last shred of consciousness. He
stared at her unsightly features, tight and drawn with regret, and
rested his gaze on her eyes.

They were the colour of the
ocean, fringed with 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.