Chapter 42: Their Cursed

I laid in bed savoring the lingering smell of Remi in the room. We had gone upstairs while Calder arranged dinner to be brought up. We all ate together while Remi asked us questions about all the laws she had learned all day. She was a fast learner and retained the information well; it was quite impressive. After we ate, we helped her put her things away in the closet. We could both feel her excitement through our bond. The night had ended with us both inside of her again. I could spend all day, every day getting lost in her.

Tomorrow was Sunday and thanks to our losing track of time, Calder and I did not have anything of such great importance that we couldn’t wait until Monday to do it. We could spend the whole day with Remi. Remi snuggled herself closer to me. I looked down at her soft features, letting my hands softly trace them. The corner of her mouth ticked up in a smile. I kissed the corner of her mouth before burying my nose in the pile of soft, dark locks on top of her head. I let her scrumptious apple scent lull me to sleep.

-

I woke up to Remi trying to wiggle out of my arms. I growled and held her tighter, and she started to giggle. “Cullen, I have to go,” she linked. I smiled.

“But I want you right here, love,” I linked back. She giggled again, squirming in my arms.

“Cullen, please,” she begged.

“You may be the only person I growl at that just giggles in response,” I told her, loosening my grip. She turned quickly and pecked me lips, giving me a giant smile. She climbed out of the bed and hurried to the bathroom. I groaned as I rolled over. I was hoping she would sleep a little longer.

Calder was still snoring softly next to me now that Remi was not in between us. I grabbed a pillow and smacked him with it, waking him up.

“What was that for?” he groaned.

“She woke me up, you can wake up too,” I said.

“You didn’t have to hit me,” he complained. The bathroom door opened and Remi came back to us. She climbed back onto the bed.

“Please don’t fight,” she said to us.

“We aren’t, baby,” Calder said.

“I could hear you in the bathroom,” she said looking at us both.

“Sorry,” we said at the same time. We both looked at each other before looking back at her. She just gave us a knowing smile. I grabbed her arms and pulled her onto me. She gave me a devious smile.

“What do you want, love?” I linked her.

She rubbed her nose along mine. “I want you,” she linked. Calder shifted next to us. I think she linked us both.

“And what should I do about that?”

Remi

When we finally emerged from the bedroom, I was all smiles. We had spent all morning rolling around together in bed. I could not get enough of them and they did not seem like they ever got enough of me. Calder had finally decided it was time to go out for the day. It was almost lunch time. Both of their stomachs were growling so we were going to have lunch before they had a surprise for me.

When we got down to the dining hall, we found Gentry. “Hey Cinderella,” he said jovially. “Long time no see. How are Prince Charming 1 and 2 treating you?” he asked.

I laughed at him. “Pretty well. No complaints,” I said with a smile.

“By the looks of those marks on your neck, I would have to say I believe you,” he laughed. I knew I was blushing. “You know Pip already misses you right? She was bugging me already wondering when you were going to text her.”

“Oh no! I feel so bad,” I said.

“Your new phone is in my office. We’ll grab it later,” Calder said.

“Let’s eat,” Cullen said. He sounded grumpy. I just wrapped my hand around his arm and smiled at him, making him relax. It was like I had a magic touch with them.

After lunch, Gentry left to see his parents while Calder and Cullen led me outside. We headed towards the woods on the side of the pack house. We hiked maybe 100yds into the woods when they both stopped. They both smiled at me while I just looked at both of them confused.

"What are we doing here?" I asked.

"We want to take you somewhere special but it's a long way," Calder said.

"Okay?"

"You also have not seen a wolf yet," Cullen said.

"We don't think you should try to shift yet so we thought we could shift and carry you there," Calder explained. My mouth dropped open in shock.

"We don't have to if you're scared, love," Cullen said gently.

I shook my head. "No, I just wasn't expecting this," I said.

"So, you want to go?" Calder asked excitedly. I nodded my head. He gave me a toothy grin and started stripping. Now I was really confused. He chuckled at me.

"If we shift with clothes on, they will tear," he said. Oh, that made sense. Cullen started stripping naked as well. Soon enough, they both stood in front of me completely bare. They had identical cocky grins on their faces. My cheeks were warm seeing them like this in the middle of the day, out in the open.

"Ready?" Calder asked. I nodded my head. They took a couple steps back. Quicker than I expected, both twins contorted. There was a deafening cracking sound. Almost instantly it seemed they sprouted hair and grew. Before I knew what was happening, two massive wolves stood in front of me. They were absolutely beautiful and almost identical. They were midnight black in color with a curious crescent moon shape near one eye. Cullen's was near his left eye while Calder's was near the right. They toward over me and their fur seemed to shimmer in the broken sunlight streaming down through the treetops.

"Wow," I said quietly. The wolf that had replaced Cullen came forward. He bowed his head to me. I reached my hand out and touched his nose. Calder came forward as well, mimicking his brother. I reached out, stroking him as well.

"What do you think, love?" Cullen linked me.

"Amazing," I told him. "I've never seen anything so beautiful."

Calder laid down on the ground. "Climb on, baby." He linked. I planted a gentle kiss on Cullen's nose before moving toward Calder. It took a minute, but I managed to climb on top of Calder. Before he stood, he said, "Wrap your arms around my neck and hold on tight."

I did as he instructed, and he stood up. They looked at each other before they took off into the woods. They moved at a slower pace at first. When Calder was sure I was not going to fall off, he picked up the pace. It was thrilling. The trees whipped past us and the wind was pulling apart the loose braid in my hair. Cullen ran alongside us. His grey eyes kept connecting with mine like he was trying to make sure I was okay.

We were moving so fast I could see why they wanted to run as wolves. Who knew they could run this fast? I wasn't sure how long we had been moving but soon we were slowing down. They broke through the trees into a big field. I looked around. The field had various patches of colorful flowers and there was one tree right in the middle. The tree also had a treehouse in it. Calder came to a stop and sat down so I could slide down. After I slid off his back, I walked around to face him. I gave him a soft kiss on his nose. "Thank you," I linked.

"It was my pleasure baby," he linked back. Cullen came over to us wearing a pair of shorts and carrying a spare. Calder stepped back and began to shift back. When he was done Cullen threw him the shorts.

"What is this place?" I asked them.

"This is our old hideout," Calder said. "We used to come here as kids all the time."

"Did you guys build the tree house?" I asked.

"Yep!" Calder said proudly.

"That is incredible. I could have never done that," I told them. We walked towards the tree while I admired their work from the outside.

"Do you want to go up there?" Calder asked.

"Can I?" I asked.

"As long as it's safe," Cullen said. "We haven't been up there in a long time. Let me check it first." I gave him a knowing smile but did not argue. It was incredibly sweet for him to want to make sure it was safe first. He carefully climbed the ladder attached to the trunk of the tree. I watched as he went up, his muscles flexing as he lifted his body weight higher and higher. Calder wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed my mark sending a pleasurable ripple through me. Cullen climbed inside the sizable tree house and out of view.

"Let's get you up there," Calder said. I looked over my shoulder at him.

"Cullen hasn't said it's fine yet," I said.

"So? I'm sure it's fine," he said with a smile.

"If he gets mad, it's your fault," I told him. He just smiled at me. His hands moved to my hips and he lifted me up, bringing me over to the ladder. I grabbed on to the rungs.

"Climb up, I'll be right behind you," he said. I nodded my head and focused on not looking down. Now that I had to actually climb up, I was way more nervous. I slowly and carefully pulled myself up the ladder. It was easier than I thought it would be considering I was not a very strong person. Calder followed closely behind me, one of his hands continually reaching up to make sure I would not fall. When I got to the entrance, Calder pointed out a handle I could grab to fully hoist myself inside. Cullen came to the entrance quickly, giving me a stern look.

"You should have waited," he said.

"Don't blame me," I giggled. He looked past me and down to Calder. He helped pull me into the treehouse. He held me close for a moment. The treehouse was pretty large inside. Calder climbed in as well and stood next to us.

“What do you think?” he asked eagerly.

“It’s huge!” I gushed. “How did you guys do this?”

“There were four of us. Gentry and Pip helped,” Cullen explained.

“Well, Pip decided on the ‘interior design’ more than anything,” Calder laughed.

“How long did this take?” I asked as I stepped away from them and further inside. It looked like there were two rooms off the main cabin of the treehouse.

“About 6 months or so,” Cullen said. He too was looking around like he was inspecting how well it had held up all these years that they had not been here.

“This is really cool,” I said, genuinely impressed.

“I’m glad you like it,” Calder said proudly. He came over to me and wrapped his arms around me. I leaned into his embrace.

“So why did you bring me here?” I asked them.

Cullen’s face was impassive as usual, but Calder chuckled. “We built this when we were about 8, I think? And when we finished, we promised that we would bring our mates here. Whoever found their mate first got to live in the treehouse with them,” Calder explained. I looked at Cullen and smiled.

“That is really sweet. I guess you guys beat Gentry, huh?” I said. Cullen nodded and gave me the smallest smile. Calder was smiling brightly. “So what? Do we live out here, happily ever after now?” I laughed.

“No, but we thought you might still like to see it,” Calder said sweetly.

“I did. This is amazing. Your mom and Pip never said anything about this when they told me about you two growing up,” I said.

“Our mother told you about us?” Cullen asked.

I nodded and gave him a small smile. “She and Pip told me a lot of stuff. And your mom promised to track down the fashion show pictures,” I laughed.

Cullen’s face went hard. “No, she will not,” he said definitively.

“Yea, that isn’t happening,” Calder agreed. I giggled at both of them.

“I like learning about little Calder and little Cullen. It makes me feel closer to you,” I said softly. Cullen came over now and they both held me. They both kissed my cheeks. They made me feel so loved.

“So, what do you want to know about the little Carlisle twins?” Calder asked.

-

Calder

We spent another hour or so in the tree house. Remi asked lots of questions about us and we told her stories about growing up in the Supernatural Realm. This was by far the most talkative she has ever been, and it warmed my heart to see her so happy.

We brought her back to the pack house, getting dressed in the trees before we emerged from them so as to not trigger any jealousy from her. Cullen and I both checked our phones as we walked out of the woods. I had a missed call from Samantha and Cullen had multiple messages from the office and his assistant.

“I should handle this,” Cullen said to both of us.

“Go ahead,” Remi smiled at him. He gave her a chaste kiss before hurrying off to the pack house. Remi and I walked a little more slowly, her arm wrapped around mine.

“That was really fun,” she said happily.

“I am glad you liked it,” I told her. I bent my neck down and kissed the top of her head. I could feel her giddiness through the bond. We walked over to the back patio and sat down in one of the swings. I tucked her under my arm, and we sat there watching the soccer game happening on the lawn. My phone rang in my pocket. I tapped it to silence it, only to hear the ringer again a minute later. I sighed pulling it from my pocket. It was Samantha again. I was supposed to have a docket on the author Remi found on my desk by the morning, so I have been putting the witch off.

“You can take that. I’ll be okay,” Remi said softly.

“I don’t want to leave you alone,” I said.

“Calder, I’m okay. No one is around except the kids playing soccer. Go ahead, answer your phone. I need to text Pip anyway,” she said. Goddess, this woman was too good for us. She had to be the most go-with-the-flow she-wolf ever. I gave her a quick kiss.

“Two minutes,” I said quickly before getting up and walking towards the woods once more. I didn’t want to stray far from her, but I didn’t want her to hear something to upset her. “Hello,” I answered when I was a fair distance away.

“You are a hard man to get a hold of,” she said.

“Samantha,” I said flatly.

“Yes, the witch trying to help you find the super powerful warlock that cursed your mate’s bloodline,” she said sarcastically.

“No need for an attitude. What do you want?” I asked.

“I want to know just when you two are going to get your identical heads out of each other’s asses and let me help you find Voldigoad!”

“We haven’t decided how to proceed,” I said.

“I am not sure what you are still thinking about,” she said. She was clearly agitated.

“You want honesty? We are still trying to discern your motives,” I said.

“This again. Clearly I couldn’t just want to help because I am a good person?”

Before I could respond I heard a slap and felt pain through the mate bond. I turned around to see Remi holding her face and Jaime storming away. I hung up immediately and sprinted over to Remi who had tears streaming down her face. I stopped in front of her, kneeling to check on her.

“Remi, what happened?” I asked her, panicked. She shook her head, refusing to tell me. “Baby, tell me what just happened,” I said gently. I pulled her hand from her face and there was a pink handprint on it. I held my own hand over it. She shook her head again and buried her face in my chest. I wrapped my arms around her.

“What the hell just happened?” Cullen linked.