Chapter 56: Their Cursed

Cullen

“We need to save Remi,” Maximus ranted in my head. He was on edge now after the witch’s revelation. She misled us and neither of us was happy about it.

“We will. The warlock won’t touch her,” I promised.

“We need to find a way to break the curse and not hurt Remi,” he pointed out.

“We will stop her suffering. She isn’t going to hurt anymore,” I told him. I didn’t have all the answers right now, but I would find them. There were other powerful witches in this Realm. Surely, someone would know of Voldigoad. I kissed the top of Remi’s head as she slept soundly on top of me. The door opened across the room. I looked up to see Gentry coming in carrying a tray.

“I brought you guys lunch,” he linked. “I didn’t think she would want to come downstairs…” I just nodded my head. He set the tray down on the table and went to leave. “We will find another way. Remi is too nice to be hurt like that,” he linked again before departing.

I was still angry with his mate for the deception and her treatment of my mate. Rationally, I knew he had no idea about any of it. That did not stop my anger though. Remi’s pain felt like unbearable pressure on my chest, like I was being crushed by her tears alone. Last night I had been so consumed by my own fury that I had ignored her pain momentarily. But I haven't been able to ignore it since the witch attacked her.

She was calm now as she slept. After Calder had calmed her down, all I could feel from her was numbness. Maybe we should leave tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow. We could take her to the Ordinary Realm for a night and get her away from all of this. Cullen entered the room with a scowl. “What happened?”

“Father,” he replied. He walked over to the couch and noticed the tray of lunch food. He gave me an inquisitive look.

“Gentry’s way of apology,” I linked him. He nodded, picking up one of the sandwich halves on the tray. “What did father say?” Calder was the much calmer one between us and usually it took a lot for father to rile him up.

“I had to tell them the whole truth,” he explained. “He sees that there is only one choice in the matter. He told us to make her use the loophole then kill the warlock if we wish.” I growled, immediately angry. Remi stirred, stopping me. I held her tighter, and she calmed down again.

“We aren’t making her do anything,” I linked. Calder nodded as he chewed his sandwich.

“And there is more,” he continued. “He wants us to drag Carson to the Summit. Told me to have him watch Remi.”

“Why would we entertain that?”

“I don’t think he wants to deal with him anymore. And we haven’t exactly been ideal brothers for a long time now. We were so busy training with father to take over the pack and the business…” he trailed off. He probably felt guilty.

“I guess we have no choice, then. Let’s leave tonight. We can take Remi to the apartment tonight, get her mind off of this,” I suggested.

“That isn’t a bad idea. The apartment renovation is already done as well. We can leave tomorrow from there to the Summit,” he agreed.

Remi

I woke up lying in our bed. The pillow I was on smelled like Cullen, but he wasn’t with me. I didn’t want to move at first. The bed was warm and smelled like my mates. I felt a bit better now that I had slept but I knew the curse was still looming over me. Until this morning, this curse had not felt fully real. Cullen and Calder were always so reassured they would stop the warlock and keep me safe. I had believed them so explicitly. When Sammy told me that we cannot just kill Voldigoad, I felt their helplessness. My strong, confident mates stared at me with dimming hope in their eyes because everything just became so impossible.

I opened my eyes and sat up slowly. I was still dressed from earlier, but I am sure my face and hair were a mess now. There were 3 suitcases next to the door. Calder came out of the closet and smiled at me. “Hi, baby,” he said softly. I gave him a small smile. He walked towards me, sitting on the bed next to me. “How did you sleep?” he asked.

“Okay,” I said. He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Are you hungry? We saved you some lunch,” he said.

“No, I’m okay,” I told him. After the emotional roller coaster earlier, my stomach wasn’t up for anything.

“We have a surprise for you,” he said, smiling wider. My eyebrows knitted together. “We’re going to the Ordinary Realm tonight.” He sounded excited and I could tell he was a little less anxious than earlier.

“Why?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t take any offense.

“Because we all need a break,” he said. “Cullen and I have been so busy with the Summit and you have been working so hard with our mother. We are just going to get away tonight and we can head to the Summit tomorrow from there.”

“Alright,” I said, feeling a little relieved. “That sounds nice.” Calder gave me a smile; clearly happy I was willing to go along with his plan. I wondered how Cullen felt about this.

“Do you want to change before we go?” he asked. I nodded my head. He gave me a sweet kiss before I got up and went to the closet to get dressed.

-

We met Cullen downstairs and he was with Carson to my surprise. When we came down the hall his attention turned to me, although his face stayed passive. Carson looked irritable and shot us a glare.

“We didn’t choose this. Take it up with father,” Calder said to him.

“Choose what?” I asked him. We stopped walking and I was momentarily distracted by Cullen pulling me towards him.

“Carson will be joining us this weekend. He will be staying with you all weekend to make sure you are safe,” Calder said.

“Oh,” I said. I looked at Carson who wouldn’t make eye contact with me. “Um, thanks,” I said to him. He rolled his eyes.

“Can we go?” he said impatiently. Cullen turned and just pulled me with him towards the door. We went outside to the driveway where there was a car waiting. Cullen opened the passenger door for me, and I got in. Calder and Carson sat in the backseat while Cullen got into the driver’s seat. As we left the driveway, Cullen reached over and grabbed my hand. The car was silent with an awkward tension. Carson clearly did not want to be going with us and I got the feeling the Calder and Cullen didn’t want him tagging along.

I didn’t have the courage to break the silence, so I linked Calder, “Is Gentry still coming with us?”

“He will meet us there tomorrow,” he said.

“Will, uh, Sammy be coming along as well?” I asked him hesitantly. I wasn’t sure how I felt about her coming or not.

“That is to be determined still,” he said. I really wished Pip was still here. She had quickly become a close friend and we hadn’t been able to text much with all the work that I was putting into Luna training.

It felt like an eternity before we were crossing the boundary. This time, I didn’t feel as strange crossing the Boundary, but I still felt Calli going fuzzy in my mind. Cullen squeezed my hand as we crossed and kept looking over at me for the few minutes after.

“I’m okay, Cullen,” I whispered with a small smile on my lips. I wondered if he felt guilty about bringing me across the boundary the first time. I looked out the window at the passing trees and wondered why the Carlisle brothers seemed so at odds with each other. Cullen and Calder are 23 and Carson is only 16. That was a large age gap, but it felt like something more than that. I hoped everything wouldn’t be awkward this weekend when I was left alone with Carson.

When we finally pulled into the garage of the apartment building that the twins stayed in when in the Ordinary Realm, Carson was out of the car before anyone else. Cullen got out of the car and growled, warning him to wait. Calder opened my door, and I grabbed his hand. We all got on the elevator, Cullen and Carson holding the bags. When the door opened, Calder and Cullen tensed. Calder pulled me behind him, and I realized there was sound coming from the living room. Cullen stepped out of the elevator and went towards the living room, moving almost silently. Calder looked at Carson.

“Keep her here,” he said sharply. Carson obviously understood not to argue. We heard a squeal from inside and Calder ran out of the elevator. Carson stepped into the doorway of the elevator but kept his eyes trained on the inside of the apartment.

The next thing I knew Carson grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me into the apartment. I was utterly confused until we rounded the corner into the living room and Pip was standing there.