Hair of Gold: Just Right (Urban Fairytales Book 6) by Erik Schubach Page A

as the wolves turned to us, another appearing from the shadows.
    It was a short-lived battle, leaving Hansel and Gretel shaking their heads at the efficient ferocity of my bears. We decided to do two shifts, Andrei and Pavel returning to the cellar while the rest of us patrolled.
    She stopped us a few minutes later and stepped up to Andrei, She placed her hand on a gash on his shoulder and pulled it away, covered in blood. She said in alarm, “You're bleeding. That is a claw mark!”
    I saw the alarm in her eyes that matched her tone, then I understood. It was not simply concern that he was injured. I smiled at her and shook my head, “He will not turn. The Lupus Contagion cannot affect my brothers. The magic of Perchta, which allows them to change, protects them from it.”
    I examined the gash, it hadn't hit anything important then I thumped his shoulder as we started patrolling again. “He'll heal when he changes back to human. They get banged up like this all the time.”
    She nodded hesitantly then she slapped the tip of Andrei's ear and said, “Idiot. Letting yourself get hurt.”
    He chuffed a bear chuckle and just lumbered along. We only came across one more wolf before the boys relieved us. As Andrei started his charge, Hansel's whip shot out and wrapped around the wolf's front legs, and he yanked them out from beneath it, flesh and fur sizzling against the silver strands in the rawhide.
    Gretel's hand shot forward, and a lance of that green energy slammed into the beast. It yelped, and I sprang into the air from my own charge and came down on it, my blade slamming down through its skull, bones crunching. I gave it a twist and flopped the wolf to the side as the acrid smell of transformation back to human began.
    Andrei had just cocked an eyebrow at us, an extremely odd sight to see on a bear, then he shook his head and smiled, showing his fangs.
    I glanced back at Gretel, who had her head tilted as she watched me. Then she asked, “Are you sure you're not bear? The strength needed to drive a blade through bone like that is incredible.”
    I shrugged and teased, “Maybe I am.” Then I added, “Grr?”
    She chuckled and then walked with me back to the cellar when the boys showed up to relieve us. She was leaning against me with her head on my shoulder the whole way. It was distracting, and I missed it the moment she stepped away to enter the door.
    Hansel sat down on a barrel almost bonelessly. He looked weary, and he rested his head back against the stone wall and closed his eyes. He had the right idea. I stretched and worked some kinks out of my neck. Then wiped my blade with a cloth and checked it for nicks or damage before sheathing it again.
    Little Bear just sort of flopped down in the middle of the small space and closed his eyes, the animals pressing against a wall as far from him as they could get. Gretel yawned, and I nudged my head down toward my brother. She grinned at me, smelled her own shoulder, and shrugged as she said, “I guess I couldn't smell any more of bear anyway.”
    Pavel opened one eye, huffed, then closed his eye again when the petite and fascinating brunette sat and laid back on him like a big overstuffed pillow. She looked at me expectantly and looked at her side. I was torn, I was enjoying just watching her and, found myself brushing some hair behind my ear and nodding, suddenly aware of how ungraceful I was as I sat on the cellar floor and laid back onto my brother beside her.
    We shared a smile. I was starting to get quite fond of the woman, and she looked so bashful just then. We were an awkward pair. I found myself wondering if she knew just how she was affecting me and if she, well... I didn't finish the thought. I just grabbed a blanket from my pack on the floor beside us and offered it to her. Yes, awkward seemed to be my middle name at that moment.
    She smiled in thanks, draping it over herself, then seemed to pause in indecision before holding it open with one arm in