Chapter 19: Their Cursed

Remi

Amanda was very energetic. She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the mall before I could even answer her. “Coffee first,” she said as she pulled me along. My phone dinged with a message. I looked at it as she pulled me along to see that it was Calder telling me he would be back when we were all done. He was leaving me alone with her? We got into the line for the coffee cart when she started asking questions. “So, Gen said you are Caldy’s mate. That is so awesome! How old are you?”

“I just turned 20. How old are you?” I asked.

“We’re the same age! My birthday was two weeks ago!” she said happily. “This is so cool! I was starting to worry about Caldy and Cully. Wait,” she paused. “Are you both of their mate or like only Caldy?”

“Uh, I guess both. I do not know really. It’s sort of, um…” I was not entirely sure how to explain this when I barely understood it all myself.

“Cully is probably being a jerk, right? Gah! He has always been like that. He will come around soon,” she said. I gave her a nervous smile. “Okay, so dresses…” She looked me up and down. “You have a really nice figure. You are pretty curvy, but I think we can find something killer!”

“I, uh, think I might have something to wear already,” I said quietly.

“Not to be mean, but I sort of doubt that…”

We got up to the counter. She ordered her coffee, but I passed. When the barista handed her the coffee, we left the coffee cart and started walking down the stretch of stores. I quickly realized we were in the higher end mall. I had never shopped here ever.

“Have you ever been to a Gala before?”

I turned to her. I did not hear that correctly. “A gala?”

“Yea, you know. Expensive dinner, lots of pricey alcohol, flashy clothes, and rich people writing checks?”

“Is that what this is?” I asked.

“Yea. I think plates are like $1500 this year. I can’t remember what Gen told me…” My mouth dropped open at her words. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“Amanda, I don’t… I, um…” I could not form the words to tell her that I could never afford a dress for that sort of event. This was so far beyond my league.

“Wait, are you worried about affording a dress?” she asked, stopping me from walking.

“Kinda. I am a waitress… I don’t make a lot of money… I have never been to something like this…” I admitted.

“Oh no! Hey, it's cool. Caldy gave me his credit card so I can get us both something! You don’t have to worry at all,” she said.

“No, no, no. That is way too much…” I said.

Amanda just giggled. “How long have you known Caldy? Or Cully and Gen?”

“I guess around two weeks. They came into the diner I work in and I was their waitress…” I said.

Amanda continued to giggle. “Yea, Caldy is the most doting guy I know, and you might as well get used to him spoiling you. Plus, his card does not have a limit and there is a reason. Gen is pretty much the same and he says that Cully is when no one is looking. Come on, I have an idea!” She grabbed my hand and pulled me along through the mall.

We finally stopped outside a slightly different store from the rest.

“So, hear me out: I love shopping so much. But mom and dad only gave me so much allowance. So, I had to be smart to feed my hobby. I found this place in high school and seriously it is to die for. It is sort of like high-end consignment and stuff. But it is so much better. I promise we can find the best stuff and we won't spend too much money,” she explained. She smiled warmly at me.

I looked over at the store. Looking into the windows, it did remind me of a consignment store more than the others. There were far more racks and items on display than the other stores and they looked to be more mismatched than the other stores around us. I looked back at Amanda who had a hopeful look in her eyes. “Okay,” I said. I felt less uncomfortable with this.

Amanda squealed. “Yay, this is going to be so much fun. I hope Margo is in today!” she said, pulling me inside.

She really had a lot of energy. She led us through the store looking around wildly until she found her target. “Margo!” she yelled. A tall blonde woman turned and smiled at her.

“Look who it is! Little Pip!” the woman said cheerily. “And you have a little friend! How fun!”

“Yea, this is Remi. She is dating my brother’s best friend,” she told the woman. She turned to me and said, “Remi, this is Margo. She owns the shop, and she has the best eye for fashion! She can dress anyone, I swear!”

“Hi,” I said.

“Sweetheart aren’t you so pretty! What are you girls shopping for today?”

“We need dresses for the Hospital Gala tomorrow,” Amanda said.

“I think we can find something for you. Oh! I know! I just got a couple new things in last week that might work great!” Margo said and she hurried off towards the back of the store.

“Margo is awesome. All the clothes here are things that have been returned to other stores and they do not want to resell. She gets them for a steal and so she prices them really low compared to other places,” Amanda explained.

“That is neat,” I said.

-

Two hours later, Amanda was satisfied with both of the dresses her and Margo had picked for the both of us. Amanda had been right; Margo was really good at dressing people. She used to work for a designer when she first got out of college but had decided not to pursue a career with them. Amanda had insisted I needed a coat as well and I had got her to agree to a very simple pea coat that I could wear with other things as well. When we were checking out, she would not let me see the total at all and just kept winking at Margo.

We left the shop with bags in hand and headed towards the food court. Amanda said the boys were coming back to meet us for lunch.

“Caldy is going to freak when he sees you tomorrow night! Can I do your hair and makeup? Is that too much? I am sorry, I just did not have that many girlfriends growing up! It’s really exciting to have one now,” she said. She was so buoyant it was a little exhausting.

“Yea, that would be great,” I told her with a smile.

“I bet you have so many friends. You are like the nicest girl,” she observed.

“Not really actually. I have a couple friends at work, but I haven’t had friends really since…” my words faded as I realized I was about to tell a complete stranger the one thing I tell no one. She gave me a quizzical look. “Um, since high school. I didn’t really stay in touch with anyone,” I said.

“Oh, I gotcha. Mom and Dad let me go away for college, so I made new friends. Now when I come back home, I do not have a lot of people to hang out with. Half my old friends have mates and pups. I haven't found my mate, but I am just not ready to be tied down yet,” she said.

“Why?” I asked.

“I am sure once I find my mate, I will think a little differently, but I just want to experience some life for a while. I want pups eventually; I just don’t see the rush. I know our wolfy biology is all over mating and what not, but I just want to do my own thing. I like school and having a pup would mean I need to stay in the Supernatural Realm and raise a pup,” she explained.

“I think that is really cool Amanda. I do not think you should do something just because it is what most people do. If you like school, you should do school,” I said, giving her a smile. We were in the food court now. It resembled a bunch of nice restaurants with one shared dining room more than anything. We walked around looking for Gentry and Calder.

“Woah, can you tell my mom that?” she laughed. “But seriously. It is cool to hang out with someone who sees it the same way as I do. Gen is secretly dying to find his mate and immediately put a pup in her. He can’t wait to have pups!”

“What are you saying about me, Pip?” came a voice from behind us. We stopped and turned to see Gentry and Calder coming towards us.

“Nothing, dear brother!” she said with a devious grin.

“Don’t be poisoning Cinderella against me now, I like this one,” he said with a smirk. Amanda and I both giggled.

“How did it go?” Calder asked.

“Perfect!” Amanda trilled. “We are going to look fabulous tomorrow night, just you wait!”

He chuckled. “Whatever you say, Pip. You girls hungry?”

I nodded as Amanda said, “Always,” in a sarcastic tone. Calder held out his hand to me and I grabbed it. He led us over to an Italian place. We all ended up with gourmet pizza and salads for lunch. We all sat together, eating and talking. It was surprisingly laid back and a lot of fun. Gentry and Calder teased poor Amanda relentlessly, but she also got the chance to embarrass them a few times as well.

Calder

We left the girls at the mall and headed to the office quickly. There were not many things to attend to but I wanted to call Charles about Remi. When we got there, my assistant left all the documents that needed attention on my desk, and Gentry and I were left alone. I dialed his grandfather and put it on speaker phone so we could both talk to him.

“Hello?” Charles answered.

“Hey gramps! It's me and Calder,” Gentry said.

“Hello, boys. How are you this afternoon?”

“We’re good. We were calling about Remi though,” he said.

“Ah yes. Our soon to be Luna. She is very interesting…”

“And why precisely is she interesting?” I asked.

“Well, I can’t find records of any werewolf raised in the Ordinary Realm for their entire life. It is not common for wolves to spend any significant amount of time there. The only common exceptions I know of are those that attend colleges and those who have lost their mates and choose to live across the boundary. Tell me, what were you able to find out about the girl?” Charles asked.

“Did my father tell you about the curse?”

“A little, yes.”

“Her family is cursed. Her ancestor was engaged to a warlock, a powerful one I believe. But when she found her mate, she left him and immediately got pregnant. The warlock threatened her to give him the pup and she refused. Now, we believe the only way to break this curse is to give over her first-born pup. The Elders believe she is the child of a prophecy and if the curse is not broken by her 21st birthday, she will succumb to dark magic and destroy our Realm.”

“Well, that is some pretty heavy stuff,” he said.

“Her parents said they had given her a potion at birth and age 13 to keep her wolf dormant. The witch that made it for them said it would not kill her wolf; only keep it from emerging,” I told him.

“That goes along with my theory here. I believe the pain she felt as she got close to the boundary was a warning sign from the magic inside of her. It was trying to get her to go away from the boundary. I also think that the pain she was feeling that night was her wolf trying to emerge,” Charles explained.

“So, can we bring her wolf forward without hurting her?”

“I am not sure. I would guess the process has already begun but there is no telling how long it will take. I would hazard to guess that the magic stopped lifting from her when you brought her back over the boundary.”

“Is there any way to know this for sure?” I asked.

“I would need to speak with the witch who produced the potion and even then, I don’t believe we can truly know.”

“So, if Cinderella goes back over the boundary, it's going to hurt her again until her wolf emerges fully?” Gentry asked.

“I believe so. I may be able to ease the pain of that transition, but it will still affect her,” he explained. Magnus whimpered in my head. He didn’t like the idea of hurting our mate, but he also wanted to meet her wolf. Gentry looked at me.

“Should we put any effort into finding this witch?” I asked finally.

“It would more than likely be a fruitless endeavor. I can talk to a contact of mine about this type of magic and see if she can help. For now, let's keep Remi on that side of the boundary and monitor for any odd behaviors,” Charles said.

“We can do that,” said Gentry.

“And Calder,” he added.

“Don’t let Cullen reject the girl. I guess with your desire to help the girl, you have no intention to but because you are twins, I am not sure it would be as simple as normal rejection. I believe him rejecting her would also affect your bond. We could also see some adverse effects if it happens before her wolf has emerged,” Charles said.

“Understood,” I said and hung up the phone.

Gentry let out a sigh. “Man, Cinderella is a tricky one isn’t she,” he said. I just nodded my head and I thought about things. I was not going to let my brother mess up our bond. “How do we keep your brother from rejecting her?” he asked.

“Simple, my father forbade him from doing it. We are not Alpha yet so my father can still command us at least to a degree. And I do not think Cullen would disobey a direct order anyway,” I told him.

“And how do we keep her from the wrath of Jaime? Cullen will surely bring her tomorrow night,” he said.

“That I don’t know,” I said rubbing my hands over my face. “I guess I keep her by my side the entire night.”

“Pip and I can back you up. You know Pip hates Jaime and when I finish explaining things, she will totally be on board to p**s her off,” Gentry said. I nodded my head at him.

“Let’s just try and keep them away from each other. Jaime is a strong she-wolf and I don’t want her developing a vendetta. I can’t imagine she will be happy when Remi becomes Luna over her.”

-

When Amanda finally texted that the girls were done, we hopped in the car and headed back to the mall. We found the girls easily when we heard Amanda gossiping loudly about her brother. After lunch, we took the girls’ bags and headed to the car. Remi held my hand, but Magnus was still pouting in my head.

“Magnus, you need to calm down. We will find a way to bring her wolf out with the least amount of pain to her,” I told him.

“Our little mate is going to be in pain no matter what we do…”

“Maybe you will be able to help her wolf through it. We know she is our mate, and she seems to be feeling a small degree of the bond. Maybe if her wolf has you there it will make the process easier…”

“Maybe…”

I sighed. Magnus being pouty did not help me right now. “If you boys are done working, we should go out and do something fun,” Amanda said as we reached the cars.

“I’m done. What do you have in mind Pip?” Gentry said.

“Remi, have you ever been bowling?” Amanda said.

“Yea, plenty of times,” she said with a smile.

“Let’s go bowling! There is that really cool space-themed place with all the glowing lanes and black lights everywhere on the other side of the city!” Amanda said excitedly.

“Yea, let’s go!” Gentry agreed. Remi smiled at them. Goddess her smile was a work of art.

“Sure, sounds like fun,” I said.

We all climbed into the car. Amanda tried to climb in the back with Remi but immediately changed her mind when I growled at her. Gentry and Remi both just laughed at us and Amanda huffed and got in the front seat. “You can’t keep us from being best friends Caldy,” she grumbled.

“She is my mate and you had her for hours. My turn,” I linked her.

Amanda turned around from the front seat and stuck her tongue out at me. Remi giggled. Amanda was always a tad spoiled. Because she always hung out with us growing up, she sort of had three big brothers instead of one and two of them were the future alphas. Cullen even had a soft spot for her even if he did not usually show it. I chuckled under my breath about what would happen when she cornered him about being mean to Remi.

“What is so funny?” Remi asked.

“Oh, it's nothing,” I said, giving her a smile.