Chapter 35: Their Cursed

Calder

Cullen and I woke up before Remi. She seemed to be fidgeting in her sleep even while lying in both our arms. We took the opportunity to talk about when to move Remi. Today, we had a meeting with representatives of the nomadic Fae to discuss treaty terms. Even though my father is currently the Alpha, my brother and I were handling a good portion of the duties.

“We cannot miss the meeting,” Cullen said over link. Neither of us wanted to wake Remi. “And it would be a sign of disrespect for one of us not to be in attendance.”

“Agreed. Should we see if Pip will go with her? She is home from college for a few more days and they get along well,” I suggested.

“Do you think things will get done in a timely manner with Pip as her only assistance?” he countered.

“True. Maybe Gentry and Pip go with her. I trust Gentry to watch over Remi,” I said.

He nodded his head. “She does not have many things needing to be pack so it should only take the afternoon. We can come collect her after we are done for the day.”

“We should take her out afterwards. You haven’t taken her on a proper date, and it might distract her from the curse,” I suggested. He gave me a deadpan look.

“Would you like a repeat of the night we got her fired from her job?” he asked. My eyes went wide. I forgot about that. It seemed like so long ago. I looked down at Remi and thought for a moment. Now she feels the mate bond and probably will not care as much what other people think. On the other hand, she is still unsure of herself.

“I have an idea,” I told him, smiling.

-

Cullen left to go train before breakfast. I laid with Remi, waiting for her to wake up. I took care of some work from my phone and she slept curled up next to me. She finally stirred when it was getting close to breakfast time. I nuzzled her face with mine and pecked her lips to wake her up.

“Good morning, baby,” I said softly.

“Mmm,” she hummed softly. Her soft blue eyes fluttered open to meet mine.

“It’s almost breakfast time, you should get up,” I said. She nodded her head. I pulled her up with me, so we were sitting against the headboard.

“Where’s Cullen?” she asked softly looking around.

“Training. He is going to meet us at breakfast,” I told her.

“Okay,” she said. She climbed off the bed and I watched her soft legs walk slowly to the bathroom. I resisted the urge to follow her and bend her over the bathroom counter. The more time we spent together, the more I wanted to mark her and start putting pups in her. I sighed, reigning myself in. I got off the bed and went to the bathroom door. I knocked.

“Hey baby,” I called through the door. “I’ll be right back. You have clothes on the coffee table.”

“Okay,” her soft voice said.

I left to my own room to change quickly. When I got back, Remi was still in the bathroom, but the clothes were missing. She must have taken them into the bathroom to change. I looked around the room. Cullen and I only intended on expanding the room slightly as our rooms were already large. We mainly were looking to add closet space to accommodate three people.

Remi emerged from the bathroom. She looked adorable. Cullen had Pip get her a few things yesterday evening and drop them off. Remi was wearing some dark blue leggings and a large grey sweater that hung about halfway down her thighs. She had showered last night and put her hair up before bed. Now she wore it down, her soft loose curls hanging around her face.

I walked over to her and wrapped her in my arms. “You look beautiful, baby,” I told her. She blushed. I loved making her blush.

“Thank you,” she said. “Where did the clothes come from?” she asked.

“Pip brought you a few things,” I told her.

“I will have to thank her,” she said with a smile.

“What would you say about going back to your apartment to pack up with Gentry and Pip today? Cullen and I have some things we cannot push off. We can come collect you later this evening,” I offered.

“Okay. That would be great,” she said. She seemed slightly relieved.

“Let’s go down to breakfast. Cullen should be headed that way too,” I said.

Remi

I sat in the passenger seat with Gentry in the driver’s seat. Amanda sat in the back talking away like always. I was a little relieved that the twins were not coming to pack up my apartment. It gave me a chance to pack and sort things without them going through everything.

“So, when are you going to let them mark you?” Amanda asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Pip! You cannot just ask her that! She didn’t grow up with us!” Gentry chided.

“But they already mated! It's not that much of a stretch here!” she argued.

I giggled at them. Gentry gave me a worried look. “It’s okay, really,” I said between giggles. Amanda stuck her tongue out at Gentry, and he rolled his eyes.

“So…” she said looking at me.

“It’ll happen when it happens,” I said giving her a non-answer and a smile.

“That is not fair!” she said pouting.

“No gossip for you,” Gentry teased her. “So, Remi, were getting close to the boundary. Just be prepared, it might feel a little weird crossing back.”

“Okay,” I said.

“If it gets too uncomfortable, we can go straight back,” he said.

“Oh, stop fussing. Rem is going to be fine,” his sister jested. She gave me a thumbs up and a wink and I laughed at her again. We drove for a few more minutes before we were crossing the boundary. Gentry was right, it felt odd when we did. It was like the antenna was going out and my wolf could not come through clearly. It did not hurt; it just felt weird.

“Gramps thinks after you shift and adjust to your wolf, you won’t feel the effects when we cross as much,” Gentry told me after we crossed.

“How is your Grandpa?” I asked.

“He is great. He wants to see you in a couple days when you are more settled in,” he said.

“Okay,” I said.

We drove to my apartment and Gentry parked along the curb outside the building. We all hopped out and went upstairs. When we got inside Amanda started gushing.

“Rem, this place is adorable! Did you buy all this yourself?” she asked.

I looked at her like she was crazy. “Yea, uh… I pieced it all together over the last couple years…” I told her. Her attention turned to my couch and stacks of books.

“Goddess, you have so many books!” she said excitedly. She started looking through the stacks.

“Yea. I don’t have a TV, so I get a lot of them from the thrift shop a couple blocks from here,” I told her.

“Wait, so you don’t watch TV?”

“I did when I was younger, some. I always preferred to read more. And with having to support myself for a while now, it was always cheaper to not have a TV.”

She gave me quizzical look. “Hey Gentry,” she said. “Why don’t you go get us some moving boxes while we start sorting her stuff,” she suggested.

“Oh, sure. That is probably a good idea,” he said. He left us alone in the apartment. Amanda plopped down on the couch. I went over to the kitchen to get some water.

“Want anything to drink?” I asked her. Packing would not take too long. It would take longer to post everything up for sale or to giveaway. If I was moving in with Calder and Cullen, I wouldn’t exactly need my furniture anymore.

“No, I’m okay,” she said. “Rem, where are your parents?”

I froze with my fingers gripping a glass from the cupboard. I turned my head to her. “Um, not around. Why?”

“Because you are a werewolf. Wolves are fiercely protective of their pups. And you said you have been supporting yourself for a while now and had to buy all this stuff over a couple years…”

“Yea but why does that matter?”

“Werewolves don’t kick their pups out. Humans do. And I know they have lived over here and raised you as a human but the only time I have heard of a wolf disowning their own pup was if they committed some serious crime against their pack. But you didn’t grow up in a pack and you definitely don’t seem like the kind to do something really wrong…”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I continued getting a glass of water before saying anything. “We reached a point where we no longer agreed about things and parted ways,” I tried to say nonchalantly.

She came over to me. “It's more than that. You do not like to talk about it. You do not like to ever talk about specifics about high school and college even though we are barely out of high school. Most people our age have no problem telling stories and such. You just clam up. Then all this,” she said waving her arm around.

“It’s no big deal, really,” I tried to say.

“It is though. I can tell,” she said. I looked away from her, trying to keep myself from crying. I had already faced my parents with Calder and it just reinforced that they had meant it when they told me I was never welcome again. “Haven’t Calder or Cullen asked about your parents? I mean it was pretty strange to find a werewolf with no idea she is one on this side of the boundary,” she continued.

“It’s really complicated, okay?” I said hoping she would take the hint to drop it.

“As complicated as being a secret werewolf mated to twin Alphas, one determined to reject you only to come around, piss off his chosen mate so much so that it ignites a murderous vendetta against you resulting in a smear campaign beginning before you even cross the boundary?” she said.

My jaw dropped open. “What are you talking about? Who has a vendetta against me? What smear campaign?”

“Don’t change the subject! Remi, where are your parents? How long have you been on your own? Why are you on your own?” she asked with sincerity. I knew I could trust Amanda. She had quickly become the closest friend I may have ever had. I just was not prepared to talk about this at all. I sighed again. I walked over to the table and sat down. She followed.

“I am really not proud of this, okay?” I said trying to show her that this was completely serious. “The minute I turned 18 and was legally an adult, I told no one. Before then it was necessary but when it was not, no one ever knew again.” She nodded her head, listening intently. I took a deep breath. “I turned 16 during my sophomore year of high school. I had a steady boyfriend at the time as well. We had started dating at the beginning of Freshman year and I thought I was so in love. We did everything together.” I stood up and went over to my dresser. I opened one of my drawers and pulled out the photo frame I still had and grabbed my box before heading back over to the table. I handed Amanda the photo. “This is him. His name is Jeremy. He was a year older than me.” She looked over the photo.

“I don’t get it. Your parents kick you out because you had a boyfriend. Werewolves date before we find our mates. And a lot of them do a whole lot more than simple dating…” she said.

“Well, they didn’t like that I had a boyfriend. They said I should not waste my time and I was too young to know what love really was. But they did not kick me out because I had a boyfriend. They kicked me out because I got pregnant.” I admitted.

She looked up at me with huge eyes. Her mouth dropped open. “What?”

“Yea, I got pregnant. It was weird too because we used protection and only had sex a couple times. Although Jeremy really wanted to, like a lot, he respected my boundaries when I said no. When I found out, Jeremy was nice about it at first. He said we would figure it out together. But then my parents freaked out when I mustered up the courage to tell them. They were ashamed of me and wanted nothing to do with me ever again. My mom packed me a suitcase and they kicked me out…” I explained. “I didn’t know what else to do so I went to Jeremy’s and, suddenly, he was being a total a** about it. He told me I was trying to ruin his future. He told me I was too plain, and he never loved me. I was a mess. But I had no choice but to figure it out. So, I did.”

Amanda looked confused. “Remi, where is the baby?” she asked softly. I knew she was getting to this. I sighed and pushed the small ornate box across the table towards her. Her brow furrowed in confusion.

“Open it,” I whispered. She flipped the small latch and carefully opened the lid. She scanned the contents then looked up at me in realization.

“It makes sense…” she said quietly.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my voice small.

“Remi, werewolves rarely get pregnant if they are not having sex with their mate. It’s pretty much a one in a million thing. I do not know that anyone in our pack ever has. And even then, I think that it is supposed to be exceedingly difficult to bring the pup to term. Remi, you miscarried, didn’t you? These are your baby’s ashes…” I nodded my head at her with my eyes in my lap.

“Remi, have you told Calder or Cullen?” she asked softly. I shook my head no. She closed the box and replaced the latch. “I think you should. I think they should know about this part of you…”

“I can’t…” I said.

“Why not?” she asked.

My lip was quivering as I tried to reign in my emotions. “I couldn’t handle it if they left. I just could not. And I don’t want their pity…” I told her.

“Remi, they would never ever leave you. They would die before they left you. This will not upset them, but they should know. This is a huge thing, and you can’t keep a huge secret like this from your mates.”

“But how do you tell the most amazing guys you have ever met that you are a total screw up, got knocked up at 16, then killed your body killed your own baby? Amanda, the hospital told me that my cells were attacking the baby and that is why it died. They said I would probably never be able to conceive!”

“Rem, at 16 you didn’t know you were a werewolf! And this Jeremy guy was definitely not your mate because Calder and Cullen are. You somehow got pregnant on a fluke probably because your wolf was suppressed. Your biology is still that of a werewolf though and I bet you lost the baby because of it,” she said. Her eyes were earnest. She did not think this was my fault at all. She stood up and came around the table and wrapped her arms around me. “Rem, I don’t think any of this is your fault at all…”

Tears spilled over my eyelashes. I wanted to believe her. I knew nothing about wolf biology like she said. What if it was not my fault? What if I could have a baby with the twins? We sat there in silence with Amanda hugging me for a few minutes.

She finally broke the silence. “Gentry will be back soon. We should start getting things sorted. I am going to wrap the photo and the box in some of your clothes and put them in your suitcase. Go to the bathroom, clean yourself up, and take a deep breath, okay?” she said. I nodded. She pulled away and I gave her a small smile.

“Thanks,” I said.

She gave me a small smile back. “I do think you should tell Calder and Cullen when you’re ready. I think they will want to know. And I promise I will never tell anyone, okay?”

“You’re a really good friend Amanda,” I told her.

“My best friends call me Pip,” she said, smiling larger.

“Should I call you that as well?” She just shrugged and smiled at me.