Therianthrope: A New Kind of Curse

Lily changed out of her work clothes into more comfortable clothing, a t-shirt, and jeans. She ran her hands through her dark hair, just glad to feel it down and loose again after a long day at work. Grabbing her keys, Lily left her apartment and drove to her adoptive parents' house. They invited her to dinner tonight, and for once, school and work didn't stop her from accepting.As she pulled into the long driveway, a feeling of home washed over her. Lily smiled as the large, two-story ranch style house came into view. Andrew, her father, ran quite the profitable Architect company. Lily got out of the car and waved to her brother, Tony, once she parked the car and got out. Her brother was most likely the biggest heartthrob in town. He had the suave movie-star good looks, a muscular build, and an easy smile."How goes the life of busting crime?" He teased while that easy smile made an appearance."Oh you know, a lot of work and long hours," Lily said as she walked up the steps. "We've

Lily and Lacy gave him a sheepish apology. Lily handed her sister the journal, and they tried to hide their laughter. The older man just shook his head. "James, as much as I regret the manner in which you have met. This is my adopted daughter, Lily Nawassa," he said. He gave her another disapproving look. "Lily, this is James Lacrosse."James held out his hand, and his large hand swallowed her much smaller one. Like all werewolves, his body temperature ran warm, and she could feel that heat run up her arm. Lily swallowed nervously, her mind going over all the things she heard about him. "Nice to meet you," he said, still giving her odd looks."Same here," she replied, glad she sounded normal. Lily wondered just how much of the twisted tale of James Lacrosse was true."Later we have some matters to discuss with Lily," Andrew told her, and she nodded. Lily knew when Andrew Roberts said the words matters to discuss that meant they were to be discussed privately."Okay, sure thing," she s

"Not that fast Jake!" James told him, holding onto his shirt. "You have to answer my questions before you run and throw up.""How do you know my name?" Jake asked, his voice cracking with fear."Relax kid! I am not going to tear you apart unless you piss me off. I only want you to tell me about what happened a week ago," James replied as he returned his left hand to normal.Jake looked at him confused but nodded. "What do you want to know?" He licked his lips, his whole body tensed to run at any moment."Start off by telling me what happened," James suggested as he leaned against a nearby tree."Well I went out for a run then a bunch of humans came out of nowhere. They tried putting some metal cord around my neck but they missed, and I ran. That's it," Jake explained.James frowned, the similarity to his own kidnapping disturbing. Jake's fear hit him hard, making him wrinkle his nose in disgust. "Where did it happen," he demanded.Jake looked a little paler than before as he swallowed

Lily hurried towards the employee break room that also served as a locker room. She tossed her things into a small gray locker and slipped on the mandatory white lab coat. The whole time she ran over her cover story. She’s there two hours early because she wanted to try to get on top of the backlog they currently had. Lily put on a pair of latex gloves and took out the pills her dad gave her from the evidence locker.She had only done a basic test of the pills against known drugs, but it came up negative on all counts. So today she was going to go into a deeper analysis. Crushing one pill, Lily brushed the power into a petri dish and placed it into a large machine. The machine would tell her the chemical makeup and it should help her determine what the pill was for.Putting the bottle back into the locker, she decided to give some truth to her cover story. Taking one of the many samples waiting to be tested, Lily began to work. She’d made more progress when she heard shouting. Lily gl

A couple of hours later, Lily was free of the hospital and tossed the cop’s card into the trash. They questioned her and she answered with mostly lies to protect the pack. She walked to her car, then paused. What little good mood she had dissipated when she saw Tony leaning against her car. “What are you doing here, Tony? I thought I told the grand and powerful alpha I can make it home on my own,” she said, letting her irritation show.“Aw, not happy to see me?” he teased with a pout.Lily narrowed her eyes at him. “Not if it means what I think it means,” she replied.Tony looked at her with a sly expression. “Yeah, Dad sent me here to keep watch over you for a few days. You know, make sure the werewolf doesn’t want to finish what he started. Also, he wants the p