Chapter 24: Their Cursed

Calder

Remi was in my room, getting ready to leave with Amanda. I went to Cullen’s to see how he planned to handle Jaime. He was on his phone when I got to his room. He looked up as I entered.

“I want to meet the witch with you,” he said.

“Okay,” I said. “What are you going to do about Jaime?”

“I will handle her after. I will have to go back to the packhouse to do so,” he said.

“We can’t take Remi over the boundary yet. We do not have a plan on how to do it without causing her pain. Hopefully, this witch can help with that too,” I told him. He nodded.

“I will be back tonight then,” he said simply.

“I don’t need to worry that you are going to change your mind again, right?” I said. He gave me a hard look. “Cullen, she is downright radiant this morning and I will not watch you hurt her. Even if she will not tell me, I know there is enough heartache in her past.”

“What do you mean?” he said.

“When I went to speak to her parents about why she was cloaked, it wasn’t exactly a warm welcome home. They kicked her out of the house at 16. She has been on her own since. They were about to slam the door in her face when I stopped them,” I said remembering having to take Remi there for answers. “Worst part was when we went inside. There was absolutely no sign they had a daughter at all. There were no photos or anything. It was like they tried to erase her from their life completely.”

Cullen let out a low growl. “Why would they kick their own pup out like that?”

“They didn’t say. And Remi will not tell me. I get the feeling she is ashamed of whatever happened. She gets cagey when asked about anything over the last couple years.” He nodded his head. His eyes moved to the doorway. I turned to see Remi standing there. She was smiling so I hoped she had not heard any of our conversation.

“We are about to leave,” she said softly. I opened my arms and she moved right into them, wrapping hers around my torso. I held her tight before leaning down to give her a kiss.

“Have fun with Pip,” I told her. She nodded “I’ll be back for dinner but call me if you need anything.” I gave her one more kiss before Cullen pulled her away from me.

I rolled my eyes at him. He held her face and also kissed her. I could see her smile under his touch making me very happy. “I won’t be back until after dinner,” he said softly to her.

“Okay,” she said.

“Be good with Pip today,” he told her.

“Okay,” she agreed. He kissed her again before hugging her to his chest. When they broke apart, she said goodbye to both of us and left them room. We both watched her leave the room before we spoke again.

“We need to get her over the boundary,” he said.

“Yea, let’s just hope she’s ready for it,” I said.

“And we need to know what her parents kicked her out for,” he said.

“She will tell us when she is ready,” I replied. “We're leaving in 15 minutes. Be ready,” I said as I turned to go.

I went downstairs where Gentry was sitting on the couch in the living room. “Girls are gone,” he said. “I let them take your car.” He gave me a s**thead smile.

“If Pip wrecks my car, you’re paying for it,” I said.

“Fat chance,” he said with a smirk.

“Cullen and I are going to meet with a witch to see if they can help with Remi at all,” I told him.

“I should probably hang out here in case the girls get themself into any trouble.”

“That is probably smart,” I said.

“So, is Cullen accepting her? They both seemed lighter this morning. I think he almost smiled at her,” Gentry said.

“Yea. I think she wore him down,” I said with a smirk.

“Whatever you did, it worked.” He smiled. I just shrugged at him, not admitting to anything. Cullen came into the room.

“Ready to go?” he said.

“Yea, let’s get out of here,” I said.

-

Cullen and I arrived at a small herbal remedy shop in a small town halfway between the city and the boundary. The building was old and was a clear cover for a witch. She more than likely peddled fake wares to unsuspecting humans. We went inside and a small bell rung over the door. We looked around the cramped shop that smelled like burning incense.

“Where is this witch we are meeting?” Cullen asked next to me. As if that alone was enough to summon her, a woman emerged from a curtain behind the sales counter. She appeared no older than 30 with her medium length wavy hair and average appearance.

“Samantha?” I asked as we walked towards the counter.

“Yea, are you Calder?” she asked.

“Yes, and this is my brother Cullen,” I said introducing us.

“Twins! Wow aren’t you rare?” she said in amazement.

“Uh, yea. Anyway, you said you may be able to help us with a curse?”

“Right, your mate. Did you bring her along?” she asked.

“No, we didn’t. She knows just about as much we do at this point,” I said.

“That is disappointing, isn’t it? Oh well. I would have very much liked to meet the she-wolf mated to two alphas. So, you said this curse was placed on her bloodline long ago?” she said. I was getting an odd vibe from her. Some witches were just eccentric, but this felt like something different. Cullen’s face remained impassive.

“Yea. Her parents told us that their ancestor was in love with a warlock until she found her mate. When she left the warlock, she got pregnant with her mate immediately. The warlock thought the child was his and demanded it be given over to him. When the girl refused, he cursed their bloodline until the next first-born child was given over,” I explained.

“And no member of her family has handed over their first born to the warlock?” she guessed.

“No. Her parents went as far to try to hide her here in the Ordinary Realm,” I said.

“And how did they expect to hide her?”

“They suppressed her wolf and kept her ignorant of everything. She was given a potion at birth and age 13 to keep her wolf dormant. They told her nothing of the Supernatural Realm and raised her like an ordinary human."

"Hmmm. How did you come to find her?"

"We noticed her lack of scent. Complete void. My brother took her beyond the boundary. She had a reaction but then we could smell that she is a werewolf."

"No scent at all? That is a powerful cloak," she said contemplatively. We both nodded.

"Do you have any idea how we can break this curse?" I asked.

She turned and walked over to a bookshelf on the far wall and began searching for something. Cullen and I looked at each other for a moment puzzled. We watched her carefully as she scanned the titles on the shelf. After a few minutes, she found what she was looking for. She pulled a large volume from the shelf. She carried it back over to the counter and dropped it with a loud thud on the counter. She flipped open its large cover and began flipping through pages. Cullen and I stood there waiting for her to find what she was looking for. Soon she stopped and began scanning the pages of the large volume.

“Do you know how to help us break the curse or not?” Cullen asked. His patience was wearing thin.

The witch simply held up a finger to us indicating that we needed to wait while she looked through the book. Cullen gave me an unimpressed look. He was clearly not a fan of the witch. Finally, a smile spread across her face. She looked up at us.

“So?” Cullen said expectantly.

“I think I know what warlock may have cursed your mate’s bloodline,” she said. The smile on her lips was almost cynical. “I think she may have been cursed by the Great Warlock Richard Voldigoad. This is a copy of one of his grimoires.” She indicated the large book in front of her.

“One of his grimoires?” I asked for clarification.

“Yes, one. You see, he is still alive, or at least is said to be. No witch or warlock has seen him in about 100 years. Any witch or warlock that has lived that long would have more than one grimoire,” she explained.

“So does the book tell us how to break the curse or not?” Cullen asked.

“No, it does not. You see, this grimoire only references the curse. But I also must tell you, from what I read here, your mate will not be safe until this curse is broken. You see, it was not as simple as you have been led to believe. Her ancestor, Rose Marie had two mates just like your mate does. Richard the Great was her mate as well as the wolf she found later. She made the decision to choose one mate instead of both. So, Richard punished her and her bloodline. And I believe that punishment will continue until a descendant with two mates is born.”

Cullen’s expression immediately grew hard. I could feel his anger rising and knew where his mind was going. “Her father said the warlock would come for her…” I said.

“Yes. I believe they were trying to hide her existence so that she had a chance at being cloaked from him. I think he will come for her by her 21st birthday. He will take her in place of Rose Marie,” the witch said.

Cullen growled. “That will not happen,” he said in a dangerous voice.

“Look, don’t wolf out in my shop. You came to me for help,” she said in a flat tone.

“Is there anything we can do to protect her? To break this curse?” I asked.

“Get her pregnant and hand over the pup,” the witch said shrugging. “He wants her first born pup. I would guess if he came to take her, he would impregnate her then kill her after the pup is born,” she said.

“That is sick,” I said in shock.

“He is an old and powerful warlock. He was scorned. Old ways of magic are much more dark than newer magic practices. Based on the little that I have read and what you have told me, that is just my best guess,” she said.

“And if we don’t hand over our pup?” I asked.

“I hope you are prepared to kill one of the most powerful warlocks to exist in either Realm,” she said in a serious tone. She closed the grimoire and looked at both of us. “If you will excuse me,” she said, gathering the book in her hands. She turned and disappeared through the curtain again.

Cullen turned on his heel and stomped out of the shop. I followed him, my mind reeling at all the new information. Cullen was seething as we got in the car. “No one is touching my mate…”

-

When we got back to the apartment, Cullen dropped me off and left again. He was still angry, but I knew it would not do me much good trying to calm him down. I hoped he was going to deal with Jaime, and I felt a little bad for her. Cullen in his current mood was going to be much harsher than she probably deserved.

I took the elevator up to the apartment. I found Gentry in the living room, watching TV. He looked over at me as I flopped down on the couch. “How did it go?” he asked, trying to sound disinterested.

“Bad,” I said. I think I needed to blow off some steam. I thought about working out before the girls got back.

“You going to elaborate?” he said.

“Not right now,” I said.

“Okay,” he said. He eyed me sideways before turning his attention back to the screen. I sighed and got up from the couch. I needed to go work off some of this frustration before Remi and Pip got back. I wanted to let Remi have a night with both her mates before we told her.