Black Haunts the Heart: Cursed Wolves, #3

By Amanda Heit

Loralie Mills has never wanted to be an agent that stops curses and tracks down demons. She's content to do the paperwork behind the scenes, but when seers send her out to track down a cursed object, she becomes tangled up in trying to save Branson from an unknown fate. Little does she realize that no matter how hard she tries, she might end up sharing his same fate.

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Now that Ava is distracted by her schooling and has a new boyfriend, Branson is struggling with his own identity. What is he to do when he's spent his entire life protecting his sister? To make matters worse, he can't call JV his dad anymore. A pressure sits in his chest, out of reach and insistent, telling him that he's missing something about his real father, Trent Furrows. Branson sets out to discover the hidden answers, but they will come at a cost higher than he could have imagined.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amanda Heit
• Release date: Dec 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781949858372

Amanda Heit

Finding meaning in life—feeling like you’re contributing to all of humanity in a good way—is a large undertaking. When I write, it’s the task I take on. Sometimes, that task is daunting. Sometimes, it’s full of laughter, joy, and fear. Reaching the end of a book can put me on top of the world or cause me endless frustration. But I can’t stop myself from trying. I can’t stop the inner clock that ticks and tells me that writing is something I enjoy the heck out of and there is nothing that will stop me from writing for long. As one of the quiet people in the universe, my best joy and flow in life comes when I’m creating new worlds and exploring characters. For me, each book I create finds new friends that share with me the intimate tangles of their lives. They cheer and I cheer. They succeed and I rejoice. They fall and I’m there hoping for that happy ending right along with them. I hope that you can find something in the stories I create that will bring you the same type of thrill. Thanks for sticking to the end!- Amanda Heit

Book preview

Chapter One

Loralie

It was one of those days when I tried to avoid the worst of the problems, but knew I wasn’t going to get out of it.

Immediate surveillance needed. Target: Hunter Virgo. Fourth call!

Yeah. I knew why no one else was taking this one. Hunter just had a major disturbance in his life, and no one wanted to get mixed up in his magical curses. It was going to go to a fifth call and then the team who should have been watching Hunter, who was now sloughing their job off to everyone else, was going to start calling people.

Bring!

No! Not me. Not me!

Hello, I answered the phone as I scowled at the red screen demanding that somebody act against Hunter.

"You’re out Loralie. Don’t even dare try to tell me that you didn’t see the message. You can’t have an excuse. Go find him!"

Zeak, I whined, even if I knew this was coming. I had been watching the excuses rush in for the past twenty minutes. That gave Hunter a twenty-minute lead on me. Zeak worked in Special Operations and getting a call from him was never good.

You can fly! Fly after him. Get in there. He’s headed toward the Steel Vision Construction headquarters. We have nearly perfect proof that he has created another illegal cursed object. If he passes that off to anyone, anyone at all, you are to report it. We’ll take care of the rest. This is his last offense.

You’re gonna...

I jerked backward in my seat and glanced at Aaron sitting beside me. He pulled his beanie hat closer to his eyes over his weathered dark skin. We had both taken this job because we liked to be the people hiding in the background. So many of us had been sent to watch Hunter these past few days that he was starting to get suspicious. I had heard rumors that a few of the best agents, whose job it was to trail wayward curse breaker agents, had forgotten what they were doing and returned before they could finish a week of spying on Hunter. No one could prove that Hunter had cursed them to stay away. It was another reason no one wanted to be trailing him.

Even worse, Zeak was talking about last offenses. If Hunter messed this up, the CBL (Curse Breakers League) was going to kill him. I didn’t want to feel responsible for that. I was also not in a position to stop Hunter Virgo at all. He was probably the most powerful demon on the planet right now. The curse energy he held was usually contained in destroying other curses, but Trenen (may he rot in peace) had cursed Hunter some four months ago. He was so stupid. You don’t curse a demon and expect that not to have lasting consequences. Hunter had handled the problem. Trenen was dead. The other curses Trenen had been crafting had all been destroyed, but Hunter still felt like he could get away with creating cursed items of his own.

Loralie, stop wasting time. Hunter doesn’t know that you exist. We need you. Get out there. Go now!

It feels rotten to be chasing after our own people, I grumbled as I logged out of the computer and stalled for time.

Now!

I’m going!

Good. Check in with me every ten minutes.

I can’t! I wailed. I’m not practiced with being a crow that much. I’m not your regular super-awesome agent woman. When I turn into a bird, I can’t turn human again for at least three hours. I can’t talk to you every ten minutes. That’s physically impossible for me.

I smiled at the thought and paused my actions of putting my stuff away before I left.

So, you should find someone else to go after—

Check in as soon as you can. You’re still the one going. Go.

With a huff, I took off the heels that I had worn to work and pulled out the sneakers from my gym bag. It didn’t change the fact that I had worn a dress, so I still had limited mobility if I transformed into a human and had to hold a face-off with the strongest demon I knew. I couldn’t cast magic at him. I had no idea what I was going to do. I would stand there and die, probably.

I handle the paperwork, I squeaked out as I laced up the shoes. Hopefully, nothing bad would happen. I was really hoping that things were going to be okay.

Come back alive. I’ll miss you.

Aaron tried to give me an encouraging smile. He couldn’t transform. Lucky person.

I checked the clock. Hunter was too far ahead of me. At most, I could reach 25 miles per hour. Hunter had a car, and if that wasn’t bad enough, Trenen had also cursed him so that he could transform into a wolf. That was why he kept going back to the Steel Vision compound. It also doubled as the Radiant Woods wolf pack home. He had been going to visit Ava Furrows a lot lately. She was currently in the process of obtaining her seer license. Once she got that, there were no less than five competing agencies just inside the CBL who were going to give her impossible offers to work for them. I knew because I had seen all the paperwork. Ava was the youngest seer alive, and the most sought after. I had never had contact with her, but I sure heard a lot.

No time for me to stall any longer. I left my stuff cluttering the desk, hoping that Aaron would clean up after me for the next person who came in six hours from now. I wanted to walk down the stairs in my dress, but I pulled it up as high as I deemed appropriate and hit the stairs running. I had to get out there before the world exploded. This was totally not supposed to be my job!

Since I wasn’t a rescue agent, I hadn’t driven to work. I usually carpooled or took the bus. Today had been a bus day, even if ice had lingered from the morning frost. I didn’t have any way of reaching anywhere unless I flew. I was going to arrive too late and the CBL would blame me. There would be a black mark on my record, the kind that I would never be allowed to see, but those who handled the paperwork would always know about.

Failed to report demonic curse activity. Untrustworthy.

I groaned against my thoughts as I neared the front door.

Oh. They got Loralie Mills. Poor thing, I heard the door guard commiserate with his buddy. They were gruff and buff. They should be the ones heading after Hunter. Not me.

What’s she do? his friend asked, as he opened the front door for me so I could burst out of here without needing to shove into it.

She works in the records office. Turns into something with wings, I believe.

I did. And if I didn’t have to worry about opening doors, I was late! I transformed before I hit the main entryway. This had to be serious if they already alerted everyone to pay attention to the demon on the loose.

Kill him. Kill him.

I shrieked out a pained caw as I thought about how I was going to be helping. Maybe if I warned Hunter to not be stupid, then no one would have to die, and I wouldn’t be held responsible for a curse breaking out.

Crow, the door guards said in unison as I flew past them, veering upward into the sky so I could catch an icy breeze and zip as fast as I could toward Hunter’s destination.

At least in this form, the dress wasn’t in the way. I always felt slightly wrong, though. I didn’t enjoy feeling trapped with being so small. I never minded the actual flying part. That part felt like freedom from the constraints against the rest of my life. I reveled in the feeling of flight as I pushed myself harder and faster.

I had to come back alive, at least. That meant that I shouldn’t strain my wings, but Hunter was too fast for me! Cars passed below me even if I tried to pick one at a time and keep up. By the time I was close enough to wolf territory, my wings were aching. I wished I had human lungs so I could catch my breath. I crossed the barrier into the zone, feeling a shiver run through my soul.

Wolves. I shouldn’t be surprised to feel immediately hunted, but I was. I rushed toward the tree line, scanning hopelessly for Hunter. He was usually easy to pick out with his dark-blond hair and dark green winter coat that matched the vibrant green shade of his eyes. He wasn’t anywhere in sight, although I could spot the top of his car. I changed my direction to move toward a sign post closer to the car than not. He would have to come back to it, after all.

I never saw it coming. A net shoved up into the sky, expertly catching me within it and dragging me down. A shriek came through my body but never made it out of my mouth. I tried to scream again as I struggled and got even more tangled in the net. I couldn’t make a sound! Why was I here? I was already cursed!

Struggling made my legs trapped at weird angles, but I discovered who was on the other end of the rope. It stilled me. Ava. The seer was saving me. She dragged me behind a large truck and then turned around to face me. I tried to scream all over again.

Ava! Instead of the warm brown eyes of a human or even the yellow eyes of a wolf, Ava’s eyes were glowing orange. Demon. Hunter had turned her into a demon! That was why he kept coming back here. He’d crafted himself a little demon wife who could see every threat coming against him. The reason no one could pin anything directly on Hunter was staring at me. Ava was the one cursing us all. I never stood a chance, because she would have seen me coming.

Ava’s straight black hair was slipping over her shoulders to conceal her round and tan face. Wearing black wasn’t her style, and she didn’t need it to magically disappear from view. Her outfit of choice was a light blue jacket that had cute squiggly lines across the hems. Too bad she wasn’t acting adorable.  

Ava’s hand came up buzzing with demonic energy so strong that I couldn’t even quiver. What was she going to do with me? I handled the paperwork! I was supposed to be back home early tonight because my older sister had come to visit and we were supposed to have girl time. I felt incredibly sorry for myself as I stared back into those glowing orange eyes.

Darn! Ava grunted. Why is it you?! She lowered her hand, but she was angry enough to growl at me. The wolf sound coming out of her human throat was horrible.

It’s going to work itself out, you know. I will spare you, but only so that you can save my brother. If you don’t save him, don’t expect to see another sunrise. You won’t get past me again.

With that, Ava left me there trapped in the net on the ground as she rushed off. Was I... cursed? I tested out a chirp, surprised that I could make sounds again. The seer’s warning would have made my mortal body shiver for the next ten minutes, but I was a crow. I screamed for help, unable to get out of the net on my own. My crying paid off.

A ginormous gray wolf rushed over. Wolves were always large, but they looked like ferocious monsters when I was this small. I struggled despite myself as it got closer.

Poor bird. Who did this to you?

Managing to get my terrified body under control, now that the wolf had turned into a human, I squeaked out the answer. Ava! The human couldn’t speak bird and I couldn’t speak human for another three hours. The man started to carefully cut me out of the net while I tried to come up with a way to explain what had just happened.

Not another sunrise!

The words rushed into my brain as if Ava had placed herself in there, demanding my silence over what she was. I was cursed. I cried.

It’s alright birdie. The guy talked to me gently. You’re not too bad. I’ll get you out in a moment. I’m going to grab your legs now. Don’t flap those wings.

I held still. If I was an agent, I would know who was rescuing me. I would know every person on this complex who could turn into a wolf and know the ones who couldn’t. Never mind. All the construction workers here could turn into wolves. All the same, I would know which guy was helping me. He was short for a man with fuzzy gray eyebrows and fuzzy blond hair. I had no idea who he was.

There you go.

The wolfman pulled me away from the net and then slowly released my legs, leaving me plopped on the ground. I was still trying to wrap my head around everything. Not cut out for this sort of work, I had no idea what Ava had been talking about. Save her brother? Was Hunter cursing Branson Furrows right at this very minute? I had to find him. I had to save him or I was a goner. There was no escaping the hunting of a human wolf, especially since that wolf was a seer.

You alright? the wolfman fretted.

Yes. I was fine. I had to get up and get back in there, even if Ava was hiding a demon beneath her sweet face. Flapping myself upright, I took back to the skies, warily alert. If I was lucky, I would find Hunter, Ava, and Branson together. I could swoop between them and save Branson. Maybe.

Chapter Two

Branson

Iwas born to a cursed mother whom some people regarded as an evil monster, even if she was the sweetest person around.