Chapter 38: Their Cursed

Calder

I walked back from the training grounds towards the packhouse with Gentry. “Bring Remi down to breakfast,” I linked Cullen.

“When I am ready,” Cullen linked back. I rolled my eyes but knew he would bring her down shortly.

“You’re going to have to start pulling punches,” Gentry said, nursing his side. “Are you taking something?” he asked.

I laughed. “Uh, no. I’m mated,” I said.

“Goddess help us when you mark her,” he complained.

“Maybe we should find your mate so you can keep up,” I suggested.

“Haha...” he sighed halfheartedly. I knew he wanted to find his mate more than anything. He has wanted to find his mate since we were about 10 years old.

“We’ll find her, man,” I said, clapping his shoulders. I looked over at the back doors of the pack house to see my mother standing there waiting for us. She was smiling at us as we walked towards her.

“Hello, darling,” she said.

“Hello, mother. What are you doing out here?” I asked.

“I was looking for you. I am taking little Amanda and your mate shopping today,” she said.

“Okay,” I said in a measured tone. “Can I ask why?”

“The girl is under enough scrutiny as it is. And although I do not care what she looks like, there is still a certain perception that a Luna must put forward. I want to make sure we are doing everything we can to overcome any objections from the Council. I also want to start introducing her around the pack, let pack members see how delightful she is,” she explained.

“Alright. She is not going to be excited by it, though. I am sure she would be happier to help with pack duties than go shopping, mom,” I told her. She smiled at me.

“Well then she is already a wonderful Luna. Do not worry, darling, I will make it painless. And I am sure Amanda will help ease her discomfort,” she said.

“Okay, mom. I trust you,” I told her. I gave her a kiss on her cheek before going through the doors. I wanted my hands on my mate before breakfast.

Gentry and I sat at the table, waiting for Cullen and Remi to come down. I checked my phone to see a message from the witch asking when she would get to meet Remi so we could move forward with finding Voldigoad. I groaned internally and ignored it for now. I had no idea what to do about it yet. As if on cue, Jaime walked by the table.

“Ditch the little girl already?” she sneered with a mean look on her face.

“She’s only like 2 years younger than you, Jaime,” Gentry pointed out.

“You chose wrong, Calder,” she said.

“Jaime,” Cullen’s voice came from behind me. He was clearly angry. I turned in my chair to see Remi standing slightly behind him. Her face was uncertain.

“Shove off, Cullen,” she said. He let out a low growl. Remi’s hand came up and rested on his arm, calming him slightly. She went to step around him, but he tried to stop her. I watched her carefully. She looked up at Cullen as if telling him she was okay. He looked down at her. I could see the struggle on his features, but he let her step forward.

“Jaime, I am really sorry about how everything has worked out,” she said gently. “I’m sure the twins finding me was a huge disappointment. I really hope we can get past this.”

“Goddess, you’re kidding me, right?” Jaime said.

“No, I’m not. I really hope you find your mate too,” she said. I was absolutely amazed. Cullen’s face was its usual bored, neutral expression but I knew he was just as surprised as I was. I looked at Jaime who was fuming angry now.

“Enjoy it while you can. You won’t be here long,” she said darkly before walking away. Anger surged through me at her threat to Remi. But I turned to look at Remi. She looked a little pale, but she still stood there confidently. I stood up and she moved right into my arms.

“That was impressive, baby. Are you okay?” I asked softly. She nodded her head.

“It was just the truth,” she said looking up at me. Her clear blue eyes showed her sincerity. Goddess, I loved this woman.

“I know,” I said hugging her close. “I missed you this morning,” I told her.

“I missed you too,” she said, pulling away from me.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“You kind of smell,” she said scrunching her nose up. I laughed out loud at that. I bent down and kissed her perfect mouth before releasing her. Cullen stepped forward, wrapping an arm around her waist, and kissing the top of her head.

“Let’s eat,” I said. I saw my parents walking in and they were both smiling broadly. I wanted to be as happy as they were. I wanted to make Remi smile all the time.

Remi

After breakfast, Nicole asked me and Pip to meet her to go shopping. I went upstairs with the twins first. Calder tried to pull me into the shower with him, pouting that I showered with Cullen and not him. I promised to make it up to him, but his mom was going to be waiting for me. He finally, begrudgingly agreed. Pip was knocking on the door soon after.

I gave Calder one last kiss before going over to Cullen. He handed me a credit card. “Here, love,” he said. When I realized what he handed me I tried to give it back. “No arguments,” he said. He kissed me and pushed me towards the door. I decided not to argue with him. Calder and Cullen seemed to like it when I listened to them, just at vastly different times.

When we got downstairs, Nicole was saying goodbye to Cassius. “Hey, Luna, Alpha,” Pip said.

“Hello, girls,” Cassius greeted us.

“Ready to go?” Nicole asked.

“Have fun, dear,” Cassius said. He kissed his mate once more before leaving us.

Nicole looked at us. “I am surprised I am not having to pry my sons off of you to leave here,” she laughed. I knew I was blushing now.

“They are always on her like glue! Hopefully when I get another break at school, they will be less clingy, and we can have some girl time!” Pip whined.

Nicole giggled. “Oh, darling girl, they are just happy to have her. They have been waiting a long time for her to come along. And they are Alphas so they will always be particularly possessive over their mate. She just gets to manage two instead of one,” she laughed.

Pip crossed her arms. “Cullen was never good at sharing,” she huffed. That made me giggle.

“I’m all yours for now,” I told her.

“We should go,” Nicole said with a smile. She took us outside to an SUV waiting in the front drive. There was a guy leaning against the vehicle waiting for us. “Jonas, will you be joining us today?” she said. He looked up at us and stood up.

“Yes, Luna. I will be escorting you today,” he said formally.

“Jonas, you know Amanda, and this,” she said motioning to me, “is Remi. She is my eldest sons’ mate.”

“Hi,” I said.

“Good morning, Luna,” he said.

“Oh no. Please, call me Remi!” I said quickly. Pip laughed.

“You should probably get used to that,” she said. Jonas opened the door for us, and Pip and I climbed in the back while Nicole got in the passenger seat.

“So, why the escort?” I asked Pip.

“We are going over to neutral territory. There is a mall there. It is basically like a large city in the Ordinary Realm. But there is no singular race that dominates it. It is supposed to be a safe place where rivalries are not allowed but most races are still careful with their higher ranked members and send protection. Jonas is one of our more distinguished warriors, so he is escorting us because we have the Luna and the next Luna leaving the pack territory,” she explained.

“Oh. I didn’t realize…” I said. I guess I was going to have to get used stuff like this. I thought the Calder and Cullen were possessive and protective when I was with them.

“So, when do you head back to school?” I asked her, trying to change the subject.

“Tomorrow. But I think this is going to be my last semester,” she said.

“Oh really?” I said. She seemed to really enjoy school from how she talked about it.

“Don’t get me wrong, I like college. And I am not totally ready to settle down, but seeing you, Cully, and Caldy, it did make me realize that I basically have no chance of finding my mate if I hide out in the Ordinary Realm. I don’t think there is a single werewolf at my whole college, although I did find 2 witches and a vampire,” she said.

“Amanda, are you sure you want to come back to the pack?” Nicole asked, turning around to us.

“Yea, I think I am. I will wrap up my associates this semester and mom said I can come work with her at the pack daycare center. I know Mom and Dad want me to come back home anyway. Gen is always so busy working and Dad is always so busy training and such. I think Mom gets a little lonely,” she said.

“Oh no, maybe I should start dropping by to have coffee with her periodically,” Nicole said.

“I think she would love that Luna. You should bring Summer with you too, she always has the most fun with you two,” she told Nicole.

“Absolutely dear. And you should stay at school if that is what you want to do. I seem to remember one determined little girl chasing those boys around the pack house, begging them to be your models to dress,” she said with a smile.

“They did it too!” Pip said with a smile. I laughed at that.

“Oh, please tell me there is pictures?” I asked.

Nicole and Pip both nodded enthusiastically before breaking out into laughter themselves. Even Jonas cracked a smirk from the driver’s seat.

-

We spent almost five whole hours in the mall. For the most part, it was exactly like a normal mall. I did not notice much of a difference until a group of Fae walked past us. They were so tall and exceedingly beautiful. Pip explained that is how they all are, tall and drop-dead gorgeous. There were a couple stores that catered more specifically to certain races, but it was pretty much normal otherwise.

Pip made me try on about a hundred different things in every store we went to and Nicole encouraged her. Nicole finally broke down and explained that she wanted to make sure that I put forth a good impression towards those who may be siding with Jaime for the moment, and that unfortunately also included my appearance. I could tell she was a little worried about the whole thing, so I gave in a little. Luckily, Lunas were still allowed to wear jeans or leggings, just a bit nicer than my thrift shop finds.

Throughout the day, Nicole was really friendly. She asked me if I would want to start learning about being a Luna with her before I had the chance to ask her. I was relieved that she offered, and she seemed extremely excited to help. Pip told me that she was never very fond of Jaime and wished the twins had told the Council they would wait for me.

When we got back to the pack house, Calder was waiting outside. I smiled as he approached the car and opened the door for me. “Hello, beautiful,” he said happily.

“Hi,” I said. He held out a hand for me and helped me from the car. As soon as my feet touched the ground, he was wrapping me in his arms and pressing his lips to mine. I basked in his affection until he let me breathe.

“I missed you today,” he said.

I laughed. “I know, you texted Pip what 10 times?”

“Thirteen but who's counting? Also, your new phone will be here tomorrow. You need one that works in both realms,” he said with a smile.

“Of course. Because you need to be able to check on me every hour that we are apart, right?” I teased him. He gave me a sardonic look. I softened a bit. “I’m just teasing…” I said softly.

He sighed. He ran his fingers down my face, pushing my hair away from my face. “I just like knowing you are safe, okay?” he said sincerely.

“I know. Thank you,” I replied. He leaned forward and gave me another kiss. When he released me, I realized Nicole and Pip were watching us. Calder grabbed my hand and rested it in his elbow as he turned around. I blushed, realizing they saw all of that.

“Hello, darling,” Nicole said with a knowing smile. “Where is your brother?”

“Wrapped up in something,” Calder said with a shrug.

“Maybe you should take your mate up to see him as well,” she said. “Remi, darling, I had a lovely time today. We can talk more at dinner about Luna lessons. I should go find Cass.”

“Yea, I gotta finish packing for tomorrow. And I need to fit the new stuff in, so I am going to go,” Pip said. “Bye Rem!” Nicole and Pip left us and went inside the pack house.

“So, it went well?” he asked as we moved towards the staircase to the second floor.

“Yea, it was fun. Calder, why didn’t you or Cullen just tell me why your mom wanted to take me shopping?” I asked him. He gave me a wary look as we landed on the top of the stairs to the second floor. I stopped him. He looked down at me. “Calder, if I am your mate, shouldn’t you tell me these things?”

“You’re right. I am sorry. Cullen and I just do not want to overwhelm you. We know this is all new and kind of a lot. We don’t want you to worry about anything,” he said guiltily.

“I appreciate that but how am I supposed to be any help if you don’t tell me…”

He sighed. “We aren’t trying to keep things from you to hurt you…” He kissed my forehead softly. “Alright, no more secrets. Total honesty. Cullen and I won’t keep things from you anymore,” he promised. I nodded my head.

“Okay,” I said, giving him a small smile. “Thank you.”

“Let’s go find Cullen. I am not the only one who missed you and you might be the only person in the whole Realm that can pry him away from work,” he said gently.