Chapter 44: Their Cursed

I sat in Nicole’s office again, studying the book she gave me on werewolf laws. I had spent most of the day studying it. We had stopped for lunch where we went downstairs and ate together. She had let me ask questions about the things I was reading and clarified some of the finer points for me. I was learning that werewolf packs were almost monarchal in nature and the women were held in high regard even if most of the important positions were held by men.

I was currently reading about Elder Councils and their roles within a pack. I had thought that the Alpha’s word was resolute, and although it was mostly true, the council was supposed to help in guiding the Alpha to make the best decisions possible. It also had the power to remove and Alpha they thought was not beneficial to the pack. Nicole told me that had only ever happened a couple times in history.

We had only been back from lunch for about an hour when Calder knocked on the door and came in the office. I was seated on the couch again with a book in my lap taking notes like they had found me the other day. I smiled brightly when I saw him come in.

“Good afternoon, mother,” he said to her before turning to me. “Hello, beautiful,” he said sweetly.

“Hi,” I said happily. He came over to me, bending down to kiss me.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“Great!” I said.

“Can I steal you away now?” he asked, batting his eyelashes at me. I laughed and nodded my head. He picked up my book from my lap and set it next to me. He pulled me up and right into his arms. We turned to Nicole. “Do you need her for anything else?” Calder asked politely.

“No darling. She is all yours,” she said with a smile on her face. “Have fun.” He bent down and kissed me again before dragging me out of the office. I waved to Nicole as I was pulled away.

Calder led me right to his office. When we went inside, he shut the door before pouncing on me. I backed away jokingly until I hit his desk. He trapped me by putting his arms on either side of me on the desk. “What am I going to do with you all alone?” he smirked. I laughed and shrugged.

“I don’t know. But I think you do,” I said trying to antagonize him a little. He was in a great mood.

“I don’t think you would be so mouthy if you did know what was on my mind,” he said running his nose along mine. A shiver ran down my spine. His words were exciting and unnerving at the same time. He bent down and started to tenderly kiss my neck all around my marking spot. My breathing picked up. He smiled over his mark. “This will have to wait until later,” he said as the door swung open. Cullen’s scent hit my nose and it just aroused me more.

His steps paused momentarily before he continued toward us. “Is this your idea of discussing things with her?” he asked dully.

Calder stood up and smiled. He shrugged saying, “We would have gotten to it eventually.” He winked at me.

I looked away from them, trying to calm down. Cullen leaned forward and turned my face to his. His eyes were dark grey, and I knew he was wanting me almost as much as I wanted them. “Business first, sex later,” he whispered. I nodded slightly blushing.

“I told you, I’m the fun one,” Calder said sitting down in one of the chairs. Cullen just rolled his eyes.

I cleared my throat. “Business first?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Cullen. “We wanted to talk to you about how you felt about meeting the witch?” he asked.

“What about the author?” I asked.

“Well, we weren’t able to turn up much unfortunately,” Calder said. “A lot of his information is under some serious lock and key that even our resources couldn't get through.”

“So, what did we find out?” I asked. I was nervous about the witch thing. I wanted to trust her, but I felt like Calder and Cullen didn’t which made me second guess myself.

“Really nothing that is actionable. We have the location from which he submits things to his publisher, but it is an internet cafe in the Ordinary Realm. Other than that, we have information about his professional achievements but nothing more personal,” Cullen explained.

“So, we can keep looking for more leads or we can entertain using the witch to help us,” Calder said simply.

“If you are not comfortable in any way, we won’t bring her here. We will tell her she needs to forget about you completely,” Cullen tried to reassure me. I chewed my lip as I thought about it. I was not sure how I was supposed to make this decision when I knew next to nothing about witches. I had barely learned about werewolves. Both of them watched me carefully until Cullen stepped in front of me. His thumb came up and tugged my lip from my teeth.

“You do not need to worry about Calder and I’s feelings on the matter. We will break this curse no matter what and we will protect you no matter what. How do you feel about meeting the witch?” he implored gently.

“I don’t know…” I told them honestly. I started to grasp just how big of a deal this was, and panic invaded my senses. Calder stood and came next to Cullen. They both grabbed one of my hands.

“Baby, breathe,” Calder said gingerly.

“What is worrying you, love?” Cullen asked.

I took a deep breath. “It's just that I really don’t know. I don’t know anything about witches. I barely know anything about werewolves. And you are both clearly hesitant about it. What if I say no and we cannot find him? What if I say yes and the witch is double crossing us?” I gushed.

They both brought a hand up and cupped the sides of my face. “Nothing is going to happen to you. We won’t allow it,” Cullen said.

“If we can’t find this warlock first, we will kill him when he comes for you,” Calder said.

“No matter how we play this, we will put an end to this. We prefer to find him before he comes to find you. But if you do not want to meet the witch and see what she has to say, we won’t. We will find something else,” Cullen said.

My eyes brimmed with tears. Calder reached down and kissed my lips. “Do you want to think about it?” he asked quietly. I looked into his sweet purple eyes. This was not fair to them. They were working so hard to figure out how to break this curse on top of everything else they did. If this witch can help us find him and kill him, I need to meet her. I could not hide from this. I shook my head at them.

“No. I will meet her. If she can help, we need her….” I said faintly. Cullen nodded and Calder gave me a soft ok. They both pulled me into a hug, comforting me. “When?” I asked into their embrace.

“Soon,” Calder said.

-

I was not expecting ‘soon’ to be a few hours. Cullen and I had gone back to his office and I sat with him while he worked. He seemed to be more relaxed that way. We sat on his couch with his never-ending files around us. I sat on his lap. He let me look through some more things concerning the Summit while he worked some things for the business. Calder came in a while later to tell us the witch was on her way to the packhouse.

Now we were waiting in the front with Gentry for her arrival. I tried to keep myself calm, telling myself that Calder and Cullen wouldn’t let anything happen. There was no reason to think she was going to try anything to hurt me. She wanted to help us. Calder and Gentry were discussing something while I stood with Cullen trying to be calm. He rested his hand on my lower back.

There was a knock at the door, drawing everyone’s attention. Calder went to the door first, opening it wide. Gentry froze as he stared at the woman standing in the doorway. Cullen had a confused look on his face until we all heard it.

“Mate.”

My mouth dropped open in surprise. I looked at the woman standing in the doorway and she just stood there frozen and wide-eyed. Gentry stalked towards her; his eyes were darkening. Calder stepped back from the door and the witch standing in the doorway.

Cullen cleared his throat. “Let’s give them a moment,” he said. “Meet us in my office, Gentry.” He grabbed my hand. Gentry made no move just hovered over the witch. I looked back at Calder who was following us with a smile on his face.

“Is that possible?” I asked as we walked back upstairs.

“Uncommon but yes possible,” Cullen said. He did not seem too thrilled by the situation. I could sense something from him. Maybe reticence?

“So, does she feel the bond the same as we do?” I asked.

“She should feel some version of it, yes. All supernatural races have their own version or forms of mates. And occasionally, races cross,” Calder explained.

We entered Cullen’s office and he went to his desk chair. Calder sat down in one of the chairs opposite him and pulled me onto his lap. He played with my hair gently. Cullen sat back in his chair, deep in thought.

“What is he thinking about?” I linked Calder. He gave me a small smile.

“Obviously now that our best friend is mates with the witch, it changes everything,” he linked. I just gave him a quizzical look. “We had reason to be distrustful of her before now, doubting her intentions. Now it is a little more difficult to question her when she is Gentry’s mate. He will be protective of her just as we are of you. He will not be happy if we question her intentions and keep her at arm’s length. He will want us to trust her as much as we trust him.”

That made sense. The council’s distrust of me due to the curse always set the twins on edge. Calder was about ready to hit someone when I first got here. “But what if she has ill intent before she arrived? Will that change simply becoming mates with Gentry?” I asked him.

He gave me a small smile and poked my nose. “That is the dilemma, Luna.” I climbed off Calder’s lap and walked around to Cullen. He shook himself from his thoughts and opened his arms for me. I climbed onto his lap.

“Maybe we don’t have to worry,” I whispered. He stroked my cheek lightly with his fingers before tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Why do you think that?” he asked.

“Well, werewolves believe in fate, right? The Moon Goddess, destiny, fated mates…” I trailed off. He nodded with skeptical look on his face. “I would like to believe that the Moon Goddess would not make Gentry’s fated mate someone who is destined to work against us. I don’t think she would be so cruel as to put him in that position or hurt us. I hope that her helping us was supposed to bring them together,” I said.

He gave me a warm smile before leaning forward and giving me a soft kiss. “You are not to be underestimated, love,” he said more to himself than me. I kissed him back. “Let’s hope you are right.”

There was a knock at the door. It swung open and Gentry stood in the doorway with the witch next to him. Her cheeks were flushed red, and she looked more timid than earlier. Gentry looked giddy. Cullen lifted me up from him and we stood up. Gentry nodded at Calder and Cullen and I gave him a bright smile.

“Glad you could join us,” Calder said. “And I guess congratulations is in order.”

“Thank you,” the witch said. Her eyes locked onto me. “Is this her?”

Cullen put his arm around my waist, protectively holding me. I looked up at him before meeting her eyes again. I was incredibly nervous all of a sudden. “Samantha, this is Remi, our mate. Remi, this is the witch we spoke to you about, Samantha,” Calder introduced us.

“Freaky…” she whispered as she stepped forward into the room. Cullen held me tighter.

“Excuse me?” he said defensively.

“She looks exactly like the drawings in the grimoire. She looks like Rose Marie…” Samantha said. At first, she did not take her eyes off of me. When she didn’t get any verbal response from the twins, she looked between them. They were eyeing me and each other, bewilderment on their features.

“Her resemblance to her ancestor should have no bearing on the situation,” Cullen said.

“That isn’t exactly true when it comes to witchcraft. Recurrences in nature like this can be omens. Whether that omen is good or bad is harder to tell,” she said swinging her head back and forth.

I took a deep breath. I could feel anxiety pouring out of Cullen which was not helping my nerves at all. “Can you help us find him?” I asked, my voice betraying my mock confidence.

She gave me a wry smile. “Straight to the point. I like it. We are going to get along well, little wolf girl. To answer your question: yes, I believe I have enough information about him to help your twin Alphas find him,” she said.

“How do we know we can trust you?” I asked looking at my mates. Gentry growled lowly at me. Calder shot him a deadly glare.

“Besides the obvious?” she said peeking over her shoulder at Gentry. “I can’t convince you of that. You are going to have to decide if you trust me or not. I am interested in seeing him gone. Maybe not as much as you should be, but I am none the less. I will tell you that you have intrigued me since your twins came to see me the first time.”

“I intrigue you?” I asked.

She nodded her head. “Witches search for answers and magical logic behind all occurrences in the Supernatural Realm. Magic has rules; we just do not know them all. Twins like your mates are already a rarity but a she-wolf mated to both? Then mix in a centuries old curse and a repressed wolf, and you are just a barrel of interesting.” Her words held some honest curiosity and excitement. I observed her for a moment.

“I think we can trust her,” Calli said.

“Why?” I asked her.

“She isn’t lying at all. If you listen to her heartbeat, it hasn’t faltered or sped up at all. And she is calm and confident despite standing in front of your mates and hers,” Calli observed. “Plus, she just looks like a person we can trust.”

“What if you’re wrong?”

“Then Calder and Cullen rip her head off? Or maybe we can shift, and you can let me at her! Oh, how I can’t wait to get my paws on the ground!” Now she was getting off topic. I looked up at Cullen who was looking down at me. His face was impassive as usual, but I knew better. He was worried. He did not know what I was going to do.

“What do you think, love?” he whispered. I nodded my head at him.

He turned his head to Calder and the witch. He gave Calder a nod and he locked eyes with me. “Alright. We will proceed. But head my warning witch: I do not care who’s mate you are; if you harm a single hair on my mate’s head or she sheds a single tear, I will not hesitate to end you,” Cullen threatened.

“Can that start after I get a couple of her hairs? Just for, you know, witch stuff? Then I promise I will not hurt her,” Samantha said with complete seriousness. I had to suppress a laugh at that. She was bold. Cullen was clearly used to people having a healthy fear and respect for him, but I guess she was either not afraid of him or not afraid of her own death. I looked at Gentry still standing near the door. His face was a mixture of emotions that I couldn’t quite figure out. He was probably mad about the threat to his mate while also admiring her spunk and feeling elated at finding her.

“If Remi is okay with it, we can discuss particulars late. For now, I think we should end this here. I believe you and our Beta have some things to discuss,” Calder said breaking the tension. Cullen just nodded. “Why don’t you stay and join us for dinner? We can begin work tomorrow if that is amenable?”

She smiled and nodded her head. “Finally, we are getting somewhere. It was nice to meet you Remi,” her attention turning to me. Cullen gripped my waist tighter. “Once your twins learn to trust me a bit more, I think we’ll get along great!” She turned and walked towards Gentry. His face calmed and he smiled at her. He opened the door and silently led her out.