Chapter 54: Their Cursed

Cullen

I held Remi to me tightly, continually kissing the side of her head. She hadn’t said a word since Calder walked out. “Are you okay baby?” I asked her gently. Her head nodded a fraction.

“Please stop fighting with Gentry,” she linked me.

“Okay,” I agreed. “I won’t fight with him if you let me see those beautiful eyes.” She didn’t move at first but then she slowly leaned back. She blinked her large blue eyes at me, her face still distressed. I gave her a soft smile. She wasn’t crying anymore but her cheeks were tear stained and pink, the tip of her nose bright red. Her bloodshot eyes stared into mine.

“There's the girl I love,” I said softly, brushing her hair back from her face. I leaned forward and kissed her as softly as I could.

“You can’t be mad at Gentry, Cullen,” she said softly. I sighed. “How could he know that was going to happen?” she continued.

“No one gets to hurt you and get away with it, love. No one. Not even my Beta’s mate,” I told her.

“He doesn’t sound so happy with her either…” she pointed out. She was right but it didn’t stop my anger at the witch for her actions. Her hand came up to cup my cheek. “I can’t take it when you are angry.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m calm.” She gave me a nod. I leaned forward and kissed her again, deeper this time. She responded, kissing me back. I could feel her nerves finally calming a bit. She relaxed slightly over top of me. When I pulled away, her eyelashes fluttered back open. My poor mate looked so sad and small in my lap.

“Why don’t we go upstairs? We don’t have to stay here right now,” I suggested.

“But…” she started.

“No, love. We don’t have to talk about this now. I just want to take care of you,” I told her.

“I’m okay,” she said softly. I sighed.

The door opened quickly, and Calder came in. We locked eyes for a moment and Remi looked at him confused. “We have a problem,” he linked.

“Calder, what’s wrong?” she asked. She looked in between us, no one saying a word. Whatever he was talking about had to be serious and it had to be about Remi if her wouldn’t just say it. Someone behind Calder moved and I realized the witch was back. She stood next to Gentry. I stood immediately and set Remi on the couch. She looked shocked. “What is going on?” she asked.

I moved towards the door, but Calder stopped me, shaking his head. I shot the witch a murderous look over Calder’s shoulder. “We can’t just kill the warlock,” Calder linked as I stood there staring daggers at the witch.

“What do you mean?” I linked back.

“Sammy thinks that if we are able to kill the warlock, it won’t just end things. Remi will get pregnant and both her and the baby will die,” he explained. I couldn’t help the shock that overtook my features. My attention snapped to him. Calder nodded.

“Whatever you are trying to protect me from, just tell me,” Remi’s voice came from across the room. Calder and I had our eyes locked, both of us debating on how to approach this. She had just barely begun to calm down from earlier and now we could feel her frustration with us. Movement behind me told me Remi had gotten up from the couch. I turned slowly to her, not sure how to tell her this. My anger with the witch was only more now that this was coming to light.

“Remi?” the witch said from behind Calder. Remi’s eyes went a little wide. Calder shifted nervously. “Remi, I would like to apologize…” she continued. We both looked at our mate, waiting to take her cue. Remi looked unsure of herself but finally nodded at us. Calder hesitantly moved to the side. My fists clenched as I moved to stand next to my mate.

“Remi, I am really sorry. That was wrong of me. I was frustrated and took it out on you in the worst possible way,” the witch told Remi. She looked at Gentry for a moment before turning back to Remi. “It isn’t fair to demand you give up the ashes. I don’t want to make you do anything, but you have to know something else-”

“No,” I said, cutting her off.

Gentry gave me a hard look. “She deserves to know, Cullen,” he argued.

“Know what?” Remi asked angrily. She turned to me, crossing her arms.

“We can’t just kill the warlock to free you from the curse,” Calder said. She turned to him now, her expression dropping.

“What do you mean?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“I made a comment about killing the warlock to your mates so they assumed they could kill him and end the curse. But it's not that simple. I am not completely sure, but I strongly believe that if we do kill Voldigoad without breaking the curse, you will become pregnant but you and your child will both die,” the witch told Remi.

Remi

My breath hitched and I felt lightheaded. This couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. I shook my head as I stepped back away from everyone. “No… I....” I was struggling to find words for the second time today. Calder moved towards me. His eyes were so sad.

“Baby… take a breath…” he whispered. I realized that I wasn’t breathing, and my chest was tight. I just shook my head as I tried to get a breath. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get air to my lungs. “Baby, focus on me,” Calder said. I tried to listen but I was panicking, unable to catch my breath. I felt hands on the sides of my arms and Calder’s face took up my whole vision.

“Just breathe,” he said calmly. “Slowly. In and out.” He made a slow breathing motion and I tried to mimic him. “Good. Nice and slow, baby. Focus on me,” he coached. Soon, my chest felt less tight, and air was filling my lungs again. His hands came up to my cheeks and wiped away moisture I hadn’t known was there. “Feel better?” he asked me. I nodded my head.

“Gentry, Samantha, I think you two should leave us for now. We’ll speak later,” Calder said in a calm and commanding voice. He didn’t take his purple eyes off me. I just focused on his face, trying not to think about anything else. We just stood there like that for what felt like hours.

“We should go upstairs,” Cullen said from next to us.

“That’s a good idea,” Calder said. “What do you say baby?”

“Okay,” I whispered. Now that I was calm, my mind couldn’t focus on everything that was happening. Calli was sad in my head. The tips of my fingers felt numb. Calder let go of me and stepped back. Cullen and Calder held out their hands for me to grab. I held both tightly, wanting them close.

We left Calder’s office and went slowly to our room. By the time we got inside, my whole body felt heavy. I sat on the bed, Calder joining me. I leaned against him, closing my eyes for a moment. This whole day had been so much, and it wasn’t even lunch time yet. I felt warm arms come around me and under my legs lifting me up.

“Shhh. Just sleep, love,” Cullen whispered into my hair. I cuddled closer to him and let myself fall asleep in his arms, momentarily safe from the curse, the warlock, and the hard decision I had to make.