“Yes, I promise. I will not bother you again.”

Jack plopped down on his chair and began shuffling the cards. “See?” he said, once he had them all displayed again. “This fair-haired man,” he said, pointed at a card, “holds a sword, so he’s your enemy. Confront him, and you’ll meet your end. And here we have Average Joe waiting for you. But this shows a path, so there’s a choice you must make, I suppose.”

“You suppose?”

“Well, I got into this sort of thing only a couple of months ago. My friends hate it when I tell them the truth as the cards show it. That doesn’t make it less the truth. Just one of them thought I could really read the cards and read them well. And you hate it too,” Jack said quickly. “Which proves my point. I cannot read the future people enjoy hearing. Therefore, fail. You know, I’m grateful that you dropped by. It would have been something if I got to tell you that you’d marry Theodore Pembroke, and then that happened. It would have been an incredible boon to my business.” The young man gestured around. “But now I need to kiss this goodbye, and you know what? I’m glad. I’m so totally glad. Because I don’t want this burden more than I hate being unemployed.”

The clairvoyant was talking so much, it made him dizzy. Obviously, he wasn’t very good at his job, but there was no denying that the cards fell the same, each and every time.

“Do you recognize this?” He placed a small charred fragment of incense on the table. Although it had burned his fingers, he had managed to smuggle it out of Theodore’s office. A conviction that it had something to do with the curse affecting both him and his mate was taking root in his mind.

Jack stopped his complaints to take a good look at the incense fragment. “Chance has it that I know. It’s from a posh store selling high-end stuff. Not that I ever shop there. But it’s a good place for playing dares.”

Playing dares. This clairvoyant was a wacky fellow. “Tell me everything you know about it.”

“Well, for starters, it costs a lot. Also,” Jack drew the charred fragment near his nose, “it is not the sort of scent that just anyone can tolerate. I mean, it kind of turns my stomach even if it’s inactive, as it is now by the looks of it.”

Jack had to have an even more sensitive nose than he did, because in this state, the incense no longer seemed dangerous. Ryder could barely detect it, yet this human’s nose was still offended by it.

“Take me to this store.”

“Who, me? Now?” Jack pulled back, looking for the exit again.

“Yes. It’s not like you have other people lining up to hear their fortunes told by you.” To make a point, Ryder went to the door, opened it, allowed Jack a short glimpse at the freedom that lay beyond it, and then closed it. “If you care about your reputation as a clairvoyant, you will assist me in my quest. My success will be a boon for your business, should it occur,” Ryder added. It looked like this young man liked the word ‘business’ a lot.

“What’s the point of it? What’s with this particular scent that makes you so interested?” Jack asked.

“It was in my mate’s office, stinking up the place,” Ryder explained. “What you said about him yielding a sword is the truth. He gave me this.” To show what he meant, he opened his jacket and showed Jack the claw marks Theodore had given him.

Jack yelped and jumped from his chair. “What the heck, man? You should go to a doctor or something! And what do you mean? He attacked you with a sword?”

Ryder huffed. A slow-witted human had been chosen by the powers that be to do their bidding and become a clairvoyant. How couldn’t they see that Jack was a bad choice? He barely understood the world around him, let alone the unseen.

“No. With his claws.”

“Claws,” Jack repeated and nodded, as if that revelation was enough to enlighten him on matters only he was interested in.

“Yes. Because he is also an alpha, the wounds will take a while to heal. But they will. I am concerned about the T-shirt. Such things cost currency, and I have it in short supply.”

Jack made a move to scratch his head, but he must have noticed the look Ryder gave him because he gave up. He began pulling at one of his ears instead. “Are you telling me that Theodore Pembroke attacked you? You should have recorded it with your phone and then posted it on social media! It would have gone viral in like a second!”

Viral. So the curse could be a virus affecting Theodore’s blood. Maybe it was because of that he appeared so unaffected by the horrible scent of that incense. Ryder didn’t care about any of the nonsense coming out of Jack’s mouth otherwise.

“Come with me,” he commanded. “It is in your best interest as a clairvoyant to see how you can assist me in my quest.”

“Clairvoyant? No, no, no, I’m just a guy who enjoys playing with cards and got a few things right. Really, I’m ready to hang up the towel. This thing is not for me. Because, now that I think about it, you better go to the police. Also, to the hospital. That wound might get infected,” Jack said, the words pouring out of him dozens per second. “Gosh, I can’t believe that I almost thought—never mind. I can’t come with you. I have laundry to collect, and some other chores, like buying bread. But it was nice to meet you, Mr. Asherman.” Jack moved around the table and gestured for Ryder to get out.

“You do not decide if you want to be a clairvoyant or not,” Ryder boomed, making Jack screech and jump like a scared feline. “You will come with me.”

“But I don’t have time,” Jack whined. “Look, I’m a fraud, okay? None of this is real.” He gestured around. “It’s a thing people do for fun, and I’m bad at it. Nothing I said to you is true. I have no idea why I invented all that stuff. Maybe I wanted to turn a quick buck.”

“You charged me nothing for this session,” Ryder reminded him. He grabbed Jack by his wrist and pulled him along. “But I will pay you for your time if you show me to the store where my mate got that cursed item.”

“Pay me? You can’t afford a T-shirt, man,” Jack complained.

The currency he had could only be used for something important. Since Danny – Average Joe, since it looked like this imagined name played a role in Ryder’s fate – was allowing him to stay under his roof for free, he could afford putting the valuable bills he had on him in Jack’s hands.

Jack tried to take a step back but curiosity got the better of him. He moved in closer and looked at the money. “You’re giving me three hundred dollars to show you to a store?”

“Are your services more expensive than that? I will be in your debt.”

“No, not, it’s a little too much. Okay, I’ll take one hundred. Wait, I also need to buy some groceries today… I mean, I could do with a little more than ramen,” Jack mumbled to himself, “ah, damn it, I think I’ll help myself to two hundreds--”

“Take it all.” Ryder forced all the bills into Jack’s hand.

“But it’s too much!” Jack exclaimed.

“Then you owe me,” Ryder said matter-of-factly.

“Ah! Damn it. Well-played. But let’s stop by a drugstore and get some bandages at least. I really have no idea what I would do if you suddenly experience seizures and fall to the ground frothing at the mouth.”

“Have you ever seen a curse like that?” Ryder knew that there had to be an explanation for the young man’s reluctance. As a clairvoyant, he probably saw many things that could affect his mind. Cassandra was half-mad most of the time, which was why it was so difficult to get the truth out of her. In a way, this young man Jack reminded him of her, so he shouldn’t have been so quick to disregard his talents. Yes, he was obviously wrong about Average Joe, who could be Danny, as much as he disliked the idea because the scents in his human host’s house were too pure to be tainted by a curse, but otherwise, Jack had known many things that matched Ryder’s current situation.

“Promise me you won’t kill me and leave me in a ditch,” Jack said, fiddling in his pocket for a set of keys that emerged from one of them with the sound of clinking bells.

Those had to be amulets to fend off evil spirits. There was a small bear, and a girl dressed in a sailor’s outfit, and a cat with crazy-looking eyes, all hanging from the same metal thread that held the keys together. The young clairvoyant most likely had a hard life.

“It appears that you are well protected. You have nothing to worry about,” Ryder said, pointing at the amulets.

Jack followed his eyes to his dangling keys. “Yeah, totally,” he said with a snort. “Let’s go. But first, we need those bandages.”

“No,” Ryder insisted. “I will heal. And I have no currency left anyway. I suppose there are no healers offering their services for free, as you are doing with your gift.”

“Nope, quite the contrary,” Jack said. “But I can spare a little from the money you gave me. If I do that, I’ll feel a little less bad about taking it from you.”

Ryder shrugged. “I will not tolerate delays. Lead me to that store. It must be a place that crawls with evil.”

“Only with overpriced items, and people ready to throw you out on your ass,” Jack explained. “Although, some of the salespeople there… well, you could call them witches for all I care.”

Witches. It matched what Cassandra had warned him about. His path would not be without danger. It had been naïve of him to believe that he would simply get his mate so quickly and return to his pack. The full moon would not be upon them for a while. He still had time.

***