Chapter 52: Their Cursed

Everyone in the room was staring at me. Sammy’s eyes were wide like she was going through clues in her head and connecting dots the rest of us couldn't see. Gentry was staring at me with his mouth gaping open, confusion clear on his features. Calder and Cullen had concern on their faces, not knowing how I was going to react. I looked between the four of them, not knowing exactly what to say. I started to shake my head as my mouth opened and closed aimlessly, unable to form speech.

“Cinderella, what does she mean?” Gentry finally asked. This was not happening. I couldn’t just tell even more people. My skin was crawling and my stomach flipping.

"I… I…." I couldn't figure out what to say.

“Where are the ashes?” Sammy asked. I blanched. No. This wasn't happening. How could she even ask me that? Cullen growled and I felt arms come around me, pulling me from the floor and away from the witch.

"Woah. Sam, what the hell are you talking about?" Gentry said, now worried. Calder held me protectively against him and Cullen was on my other side. Sammy stood up and looked at me with an irritated expression.

"You just decided to leave out this crucial little piece of information? It was buried deep too. I barely caught any of that before I got to the end there. I get it's sensitive for you but we're talking about the most powerful warlock to ever exist just biding his time waiting for you and you leave this out?" She said almost angrily.

"Watch your tone witch!" Cullen threatened her.

"How could that possibly help? The warlock wants her firstborn, that is not nearly the same thing!" Calder shouted.

"Someone needs to explain what is going on right now!" Gentry yelled from behind Sammy. She turned to him and crossed her arms.

"Your best friends and their mate have been less than honest. Remi did have a child. She hid the fact that she has already conceived a child when that little piece of information could very well save her ass while the rest of us are running around, risking our lives to break this curse," she told Gentry. I began to shake. I hid my face in Calder’s side as tears threatened to flow. How could she be angry about something so personal not being broadcast to everyone?

"Enough, we are done here," Calder said, gripping me tighter.

"You realize this is precisely the magical loophole we can use to break this damn curse, right? As much as I would love to see him gone for good, we are looking at fighting a losing battle. We aren't likely to kill him ourselves. But if you want the curse broken, those ashes are the ticket!" She said to Calder furiously.

"What damn ashes? The warlock wants a baby…" Gentry voice trailed off as he finally put together what was being said. "Oh Goddess…"

"We shouldn’t have ever let you inside this pack house let alone near our mate. Leave now, witch," Cullen said darkly.

"Wait a second," Gentry said. "She may not be approaching this in the most sensitive manner, but Remi did hide this from us!"

"Are you saying she was obligated to tell everyone? That it was anyone's business but her own? That the witch she just met a couple days ago was entitled to know every detail of her life?" Calder argued.

"It's not that simple. No, I don't think she owed any of us an explanation but it is also something that could help us! You clearly knew and didn't think to share," Gentry said.

"We are her mates!" Cullen roared. His anger made me cower further.

"They only found out yesterday because she was worried about getting pregnant and if they wanted kids," Sammy chimed in. I heard her let out a deep breath. "Look I'm sorry that it seems as if I'm being insensitive here. I'm really sorry you had to deal with that at such a young age and all by yourself, Remi. I can't even imagine what that feels like. But magic, spells, curses, they all have loopholes. But I have tried to find one in this. Voldigoad is too smart and too powerful. I can't find anything. But you had a baby. Even if it died, you had a baby. " Her voice was softer now, and a little remorseful. I knew she was looking at this practically. But this wasn't a simple, practical matter.

"I think we are done for now," Calder said. I could feel his pity and Cullen’s rage through our bond, and it was making me feel even worse.

"Sam, let's give them some space, okay?" Gentry tried to coax his mate.

"Fine, but we now have a key to break your curse. Even if Voldigoad does not die, this will stop any magical bind on her. You need to decide if holding onto that little box is worth your life, the lives of the people in this room trying to help you, and the life of the child he will force you to bear," she said.

Everyone was quiet while they shuffled around. When the door closed, Cullen turned punching the wall next to him. Calder pulled me forward to face him. I buried my face in my hands. I just needed this all to stop. I couldn’t take the pity or the anger.

After a few tense moments, Cullen started to calm down. Calder’s pity was being replaced by worry. He stroked my hair softly. "Baby…" he said softly. I shook my head. "I'm so sorry that happened like that. That wasn't fair to you at all…"

"We should have never allowed the witch in her head," Cullen said next to me. He turned me to him, pulling me close and resting his chin on top of my head. "I don't care how powerful he is, we will stop him."

I thought I was going to be sick. Calli whined in my head. How could I give up the only thing I had to remember my baby? I had barely managed to pay for the cremation and the box took me months to save up for. The shop woman engraved it for free when she figured out what it was for, taking pity on me. But I could never ask my mates or anyone else to die fighting this warlock because I was being selfish.

Sammy

When the office door closed, Gentry stomped off towards the stairs. I hurried to follow him.

“Gen, wait!” I called.

He ignored me and continued down the steps. His shoulders were tense under his shirt and his fists clenched. When we got downstairs, he showed no signs of stopping as he moved towards the back door. “Where are you going?” I called after him. The people we passed gave us strange looks. He swung the door wide open and continued straight through it. I scurried after him. Was he mad that I called the girl out? He moved quickly across the grass and towards the woods on the side of the pack house. His hands came up to his front and I realized he was unbuttoning his shirt. Was he about to shift into his wolf?

“Gen, please stop!” I called as he neared the tree line. He finally slowed down and came to a stop. He turned around to me, his dress shirt untucked and hanging open. His eyes were glaring at me.

“Go back to my room, Sam,” he said.

“Why are you so mad?” I asked.

“That was wrong. You shouldn’t have done that,” he said.

“You weren’t this mad 10 minutes ago,” I retorted.

“Yes, I was! But you put me in a shitty position! Those are my best friends and their mate! Remi is a nice girl who got the shit end of this! She has only known she is damn werewolf for a couple weeks. And you just went all righteous on her about something you had no business broadcasting!” he fumed. I cringed a little at his words.

“I’m sorry alright, but nothing I said wasn’t the truth! She isn’t just risking her own life or her mates. You are tangled in this too and you said you weren’t going to let them run off to fight the warlock on their own!” I argued.

“That doesn’t matter, Sam. You hurt her. A lot! That was worse than watching her come across the Boundary! She’s not even my mate and I could feel the utter terror coming from her! She lost a child Sam! At 16! Did you see that her parents kicked her out too? I’m going to go ahead and guess that was the reason. Seeing as she has nothing to do with them now, I am going to say it’s safe to assume she had to deal with all of that on her own. Do you get any of that?” He was breathing heavy now, his chest moving up and down.

“I’m sorry, okay? It was insensitive…” I tried to apologize.

“It was brutal. Cullen and Calder are already hesitant to trust you. Remi is the only reason they brought you here. She told them to do it! You tell her you think you are going to be great friends and then you walk in and do that! You just absolutely destroyed one of the most innocent people in all of this! She is probably up there trying to figure out if she is too selfish to have not told anyone or not want to hand over those ashes. Her baby’s ashes, Sam!”

My eyes watered a little. I knew it was wrong when it happened, I just couldn’t help it. I was so frustrated when I saw that in her mind. I managed to track down two more volumes of Voldigoad’s Grimoire since meeting the twins and it wasn’t easy. They hadn’t contained anything helpful that I could use as a work around to break this curse. When I saw that in her mind, I was so angry that there was such a simple solution right there this whole time and I was contemplating confronting Voldigoad. I was never a very emotionally intelligent person thanks to my mother, and I had clearly mishandled all of this.

“Gen, I’m really sorry…” I whispered.

“You can apologize to me all you want but the person who deserves your repentance is Remi. Did you not believe me that she was under a lot of pressure? She has to become Luna when she has been cognizant of her race for all of 2 seconds of her entire life. She is learning everything: our culture, our beliefs, our laws. She has to not only fit into all this coming from her human life that turns out wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, but also lead alongside not one but two mates!”

We were both silent for a moment. I felt awful; I really hadn’t intended on hurting her. Gentry finally broke the silence. “I need to go right now. I will be back later. You should go back to my room for now. I will figure out how to fix this when Calder and Cullen will even speak to me again,” he said. With that he turned around and stormed off into the trees. I heard clothes ripping and bones cracking seconds later and knew he was shifting into his wolf. I knew I would have to tell them all soon.