Chapter 12: Their Cursed

Cullen

“Remi, you can tell me what happened. Nothing you say will leave this room and I am already aware of the… tempers… that wolves can tend to have,” someone said from the living room. Remi? Why was she here?

“So, after he stopped the car, he sort of pulled me out of it. He was yelling about things and I did not know what he was talking about. When Calder and Gentry got there, Cullen and Calder were fighting. I do not know what they were yelling about. There was this pressure in my head and then my whole body felt like it was buzzing. It just got worse until I guess I passed out,” her soft, melodic voice said. She sounded nervous.

“I see,” said the other voice. I got to the top of the landing railing and looked down into the living room. Remi sat on the couch across from Gentry’s grandfather. “When you woke up, how did you feel?” he asked her.

“Well, I, uh, vomited but after that I was just tired,” she said. I stood there listening.

“This is all very interesting,” he said. “Remi, did you grow up near here? Near the city?” he asked her.

“Yea. I grew up in the suburbs on the edge of the city,” she said to him. That was impossible. She is a werewolf; her parents have to be as well. She had to have come from the Supernatural Realm.

“So, you have no recollection of living elsewhere?” he clarified.

“No, why?”

“Well, Calder and Cullen are right. I can clearly smell that you are in fact a werewolf. And seeing as you do not smell foreign, my guess is that your family comes from our pack. But it is strange that you were so thoroughly cloaked and reacted so harshly to travelling across the boundary,” he explained to her. It had not crossed my mind that she belonged to our pack. That put things in a different light.

“Oh,” she said. She dropped her head and fiddled with her fingers in her lap. Maximus whined in my head.

“Our mate is upset. We need to be there for her,” he said.

“I get the feeling you were hoping to hear me say something different,” he said. She shook her head and continued to look down. “Remi, it is okay to be overwhelmed by all of this.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Do you think you could tell me what's going through your mind right now?”

She paused before saying, “Yesterday I woke up and everything was normal. I was just a waitress that works in a diner and I spent the afternoon with a guy I like. Today, I guess I am a werewolf who was hiding, and I have some destiny love.” Of course, Calder told her that she was his mate. I shook my head.

“First you throw her over the Boundary, then you scream at her. She passes out and you ignore her. Now you are going to stand here and ease-drop?” Calder said from behind me.

“If I didn’t do it, we wouldn’t know she is a wolf,” I said.

“And where has that gotten us?” he shot at me.

“Did you consider the fact that she doesn’t smell like a rogue?” I said turning to him.

His eyes went wide. “Wait, a second…”

“So at least one member of our pack has been cloaked and living in the Ordinary Realm for who knows how long,” I clarified for him.

“But how?”

“I don’t know but I do intend to find out.”

He looked down over the handrail towards the living room. I turned to go back to my room. “Are you going to reject her?” he asked quietly. I ignored his question and walked away.

Calder

“Yesterday I woke up and everything was normal. I was just a waitress that works in a diner and I spent the afternoon with a guy I like. Today, I guess I am a werewolf who was hiding, and I have some destiny love.” Cullen was standing there, looking down at the living room. He was listening to Remi talk to Charles downstairs. It made my blood boil a little.

“First you throw her over the Boundary, then you scream at her. She passes out and you ignore her. Now you are going to stand here and ease-drop?” I said from behind him.

“If I didn’t do it, we wouldn’t know she is a wolf,” he said like it was the answer to everything. He clearly does not see just how many problems he created with this stunt.

“And where has that gotten us?” I shot at him.

“Did you consider the fact that she doesn’t smell like a rogue?” he said turning around to me.

“Wait, a second…” She did not smell like a rogue. There was nothing in her scent that would indicate she was with another pack either.

“Our mate comes from our pack…” Magnus said.

“So at least one member of our pack has been cloaked and living in the Ordinary Realm for who knows how long,” Cullen said.

“But how?”

“I don’t know but I do intend to find out.”

I looked down into the living room at Remi on the couch. Cullen turned to walk away. “Are you going to reject her?” He ignored me and walked away. I sighed. Charles looked up at me. He nodded to let me know I could come downstairs.

“Come take care of the girl. We will speak later,” he linked me. I made my way down the stairs.

“I am sorry I cannot tell you more right now, Remi. But if you think you can give me a couple days, I am sure I can help figure out what is going on here,” Charles was telling her.

“Okay, thank you,” she said in the smallest voice. Charles stood and she followed suit. I came over to them.

“Thank you for coming,” I told him.

“No problem, Alpha. For now, Remi should rest. It may be best if she does not attend work for a few days,” he told me. Her head shot up to us at that.

“No, I can’t. I already was sick and then called off today. I can’t miss any more work,” she said worried.

Charles looked at me with worry in his eyes. “I really need to know more about the girl’s past and how she came to be here all this time, Alpha. I trust you can look after her until I can find out more?”

“Yes. Gentry can get you all the information we have about her,” I linked back.

“I assume you did not look at it yourself?”

“No. I couldn’t invade her privacy like that.”

He gave me a smile. “Remi, you should at least rest for one more day. I wouldn’t want you to experience any more concerning symptoms,” he told her. Her eyes were watering but she nodded at him.

“I know she won’t understand the bond yet, but you should try to calm her. I have some theories but I can’t tell you anything at the moment. She is distressed by all of this understandably. Whatever is happening to her will not be made better like that though,” Charles linked me. If he was not saying this to her, maybe things were worse than I thought.

I nodded at him. He left me and Remi standing in the living room. She was looking down at the floor. I walked over to her and lifted her chin up with my finger. Her eyes were watery.

“Are you okay?” I asked her softly. She nodded her head slightly. “You know it’s alright not to be. You can tell me; I won’t be mad.”

She shrugged her shoulders and turned her head away from me. Magnus was whining in my head because she was so upset. Tears began spilling down her cheek.

“Please don’t cry,” I whispered as I pulled her into my arms. She started to sob with her face buried in my chest. “I am so sorry, Remi,” I whispered in her hair. Her tears did not stop. After a while, I could feel her body getting heavy against me. Her sobs were slowing down.

I picked her up and she continued to sob into my chest. I carried her upstairs and went straight to my room. I closed my door and sat on my bed still holding her. Her sobs were turning into small hiccups now.

“It’s okay,” I tried to calm her. “We will figure this out. I won’t make you face this alone.” Her heart rate began to slow as she calmed down. Soon her breathing began to even out. I looked down at her. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying but they were closed. I held her for a little bit longer, letting our bond comfort her.

My thoughts strayed to Cullen. What would his lack of acceptance do to her? Could it be affecting her now? Would it be better for her if we were both comforting her? Would she feel it if he slept with Jaime now that he knew she was his mate?

There were so many things to figure out. She did not even know ten percent of the things we would need to tell her about at this point. I looked up at the clock. It was very late now. I stood up and set Remi down on the bed, laying her head on the pillow. I removed her shoes and covered her up. I sighed as I left her to go down to the kitchen. I had not eaten since last night at dinner when I got back from our date. I figured she was probably the same.

When I got down to the kitchen, there were some plates of grilled chicken and salad on the counter. Gentry must have left them here for us earlier. They were not going to be any good now. I cleaned the plates and made a couple peanut butter and honey sandwiches. I shoved one in my mouth and grabbed a couple bananas and bottles of water. I took everything back upstairs. I wanted to have some food ready for when she woke up.

When I got back upstairs, I set everything down on the nightstand. I plugged in my phone and texted Gentry that Remi needed to be let off work for the next couple days and that she was not going to agree with it. I grabbed one of the bananas and ate it while sending a message to my assistant as well. Once I was done, I put my phone down and looked at the bed.

We slept together earlier but never exactly talked about it. I was not sure she was okay with it. Her face scrunched up and she started to move around a bit.

“We need to hold our mate. It will calm her and help her sleep,” Magnus said.

“You just want to have her in our arms,” I told him.

“That too,” he admitted.

She whimpered softly in her sleep. Magnus was right; she was not going to sleep well on her own right now. I climbed into bed and laid behind her. I carefully wrapped my arm around her and pulled her close to me. She settled down quickly. I buried my nose in her hair and inhaled deeply. This is not how I thought finding my mate would go.

-

Remi

When I woke up, I was lying on the most comfortable bed I have ever been on. It was soft and squishy but also a little firm. It also smelled heavenly. It was like coffee and caramel swirled together. As the sleep began to lift from my brain, I also realized that there was an arm around my waist and soft snoring sound behind me. I blinked my eyes open.

I was not home, that is for sure. I thought back to last night. I started to cry, and Calder had hugged me. Then he picked me up and carried me somewhere. I did not pay attention to where we went because I was still crying. I must have fallen asleep after that. I tried to look around. I was in an exceptionally large bedroom that had to belong to a man. Directly next to me was a nightstand with a plate of food and a couple bottles of water on it.

I turned over carefully, trying not to disturb the person next to me. My suspicion was confirmed as I rolled over and saw Calder sleeping next to me. As I turned over, his arm tightened and pulled me closer to him. I should have been freaking out waking up in another person’s bed with their arm draped over me but for some reason I was calm. I looked at Calder. His face was relaxed, and his snoring was sort of cute. I watched him sleep for a minute. I did not notice when his snoring subsided.

“Baby, it's rude to stare,” he said. His eyes opened and looked right into mine. I could feel my cheeks heat up. Did he just call me baby?

“I-I’m sorry!” I said quickly and turned my head. I tried to roll over, but he tightened his grip on me, preventing me from moving.

“I am just teasing. Sorry,” he said. His voice was husky from the sleep. “How did you sleep?”

“Good, thanks,” I said.

He removed his arm from around me and sat up. He looked down at me still lying on the bed with a smile on his face. “How do you feel this morning?” he asked.

I sat up slowly. I was still dressed from last night so that was a relief. “Okay,” I said. “Where are we?”

“In my room,” he said nonchalantly. “You fell asleep last night so I thought it would be better to just have you stay here with me.” I nodded my head. I hugged my arms around myself. A phone rang on the nightstand next to me. “S**t, what now,” Calder muttered as he got off the bed. He grabbed the phone and looked at the caller ID. “I need to take this. Stay right here, I will be just a minute,” he said. He took his phone and stepped out of the bedroom.

I looked around the room now as I sat there alone. I reached over and grabbed one of the water bottles sitting next to me. I drank almost the whole bottle not realizing just how thirsty I was. I set the bottle back down and scooted over to the edge of the bed.

Looking around the room I saw a desk in the corner with a laptop and some papers on it. There were two doors opposite the bed that I guessed were the bathroom and closet. There was a TV on the wall between them. To the other side there was a small sectional couch with a coffee table in front of it. The couch faced some floor to ceiling windows that provided a beautiful view of the city. The bed I sat on was huge. All the furniture matched and looked really nice.

The door opened and Calder came back in. He had an apprehensive look on his face. I had a feeling that whatever he was about to tell me was going to be just as bad as anything else that has happened.