Chapter 70: Their Cursed

Cullen eyed Pip carefully for a moment, but no one made a move. I knew it would just put him in a sour mood for the rest of the night, so I slid off the bed and came over to him, distracting him. His eyes stayed on her until I was right in front of him when he reluctantly looked down at me. The effect was instant, and his features softened.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” I said, giving him a warm smile. He wrapped his arms around me and turned, pulling me with him. Another pair of strong arms was soon around me and they both engulfed me. I melted into their embrace, relieved to finally be back in their arms.

“We missed you, baby,” Calder said behind me.

“I missed you both too,” I said.

“As adorable as you three are, get a room!” Pip called. Cullen gave her a growl as he let go of me. Calder pulled me back, heading away from Pip’s room and towards ours. I reached forward and grabbed Cullen, yanking him to come with us. I giggled as Calder hastily pulled us into our room.

We had barely crossed the threshold when his lips were on mine and my body was pulled flush to his. Not even a moment later, Cullen was behind me sweeping my hair away from neck to get to his mark. We quickly became a frantic mess of mouths, the twins tasting me as I tried to keep up with both of them.

I finally broke away from them, panting and hot all over. Calder’s eyes were dark. “Don’t we have to go to dinner soon?” I said breathing heavily. Cullen growled behind me, his face burying itself in my neck. I let out a little laugh. “Bad day?” I asked Calder.

“Only because we couldn’t come scoop you up,” he said, running his nose along mine. I smiled at their ardor. I loved being the object of their affection. “How was your day?” he asked carefully.

“Fine,” I said. I didn’t want to tell them about Snowy Peaks’ Luna and all the interest in Jaime being gone.

Calder gave me a measured look. His hand came up to cup my face. “You stayed by Carson’s side the whole time?” he prompted. I nodded my head. Cullen finally started to unwrap himself from me and moved away from us. He started undoing his tie as he moved towards the bathroom.

“The other Lunas didn’t give you a hard time, did they?” Calder asked, bringing my attention back to him.

I bit my lip. “Nothing I can’t handle…” I said. Calder sighed and kissed my forehead.

“I’m sorry about the other she-wolves,” he said.

“It’s okay. It’s almost over, right?” I said, trying to be optimistic. He nodded his head.

“Yes, tomorrow after breakfast we will have to return to the meeting until the afternoon. But we will be back well before the ball,” he said.

“Wait, ball? Carson said fancy dinner,” I said.

Calder chuckled. “It’s a little bit more like the charity Gala. But don’t worry. You won’t have to leave us for a moment,” he said softly.

“Always a reason to be dressing up,” I mumbled. I was really starting to miss the days of leggings and a t-shirt being acceptable wardrobe.

“That’s just our world, baby,” Calder said laughing at my grumbling. “Speaking of, we should probably get changed for dinner.”

I sighed and nodded. Our bags were now sitting open on luggage racks to the side of the room. I went over to mine and pulled out a new dress. The clothes in the bag were certainly arranged by Nicole because I didn’t recognize any of them from our little shopping excursion. This one was an A-line chiffon dress with a V-neck front as well as an asymmetrical skirt. It was the same light blue color of the dress I had worn all day but had some shimmering black threads coming up from the bottom of the skirt. It was definitely meant as more of an evening dress. It went beautifully with the sparkly short heels in my bag.

I loosely braided my hair to one side, letting it fall over one shoulder and pulling out some wavy tendrils to finish it off. When I came out of the bathroom to put on my shoes, Calder and Cullen were finishing as well. They again matched perfectly. They had discarded their jackets and opted for vests this time. Their shirts were still black along with their vests and pants but they both now wore light blue ties to complement my own attire. There was no way to stop my blood from heating up as I took them both in. I may hate dressing up and all this pageantry, but my mates sure looked mouthwatering. Cullen was typing on his phone while Calder was fixing his cuff links as I strolled over to the bed to sit down and pull on my shoes.

Cullen came over as I stood up. “I knew this would suit you perfectly,” he said as his hand came down to my waist and the other played with my braid.

“You picked this out?” I asked. He nodded, his eyes traveling down my body. “It’s beautiful. Thank you,” I said with a small smile. His eyes slowly came back up to mine, now dark grey. I reached up and adjusted his tie that was slightly askew, letting my hands linger over his chest. His lips came to mine in a surprisingly gentle kiss. Butterflies ignited in my stomach.

When he pulled away from me, he gave me a lingering look before saying, “Calder has something for you.” Cullen stepped away and was replaced by Calder before I could blink.

“Turn around,” he whispered, his purple eyes dancing with excitement.

A tiny giggle passed my lips, but I listened to him. “Close your eyes,” he said. I again obeyed his command and waited. I felt something small and cold touch my chest. I gasped as I felt a small chain settle on my neck. I opened my eyes and looked down to see a small silver necklace in the shape of a crescent moon with a small blue gemstone at its tip. I quickly turned to see Calder looking at me with hopeful eyes.

“Calder…” I started.

“You like it?” he asked eagerly.

I nodded my head zealously. “I love it,” I gushed. His face broke out into a beautiful grin. His arms wrapped around my waist and he kissed the tip of my nose. “Thank you,” I said softly. His eyes trailed down to look at my chest while he continued to smile. There was a knock at the door, breaking up our moment. I looked over to see Cullen opening the door and Carson standing there with a bored look.

“We’re going to be late,” he said monotonously.

“Time to go, baby,” Calder whispered in my ear before kissing me on the cheek.

“I guess I will have to thank you both properly later,” I linked him, giving him a sultry glance. His eyes darkened at my words.

“Goddess, I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too,” I said as he grabbed my hand and placed it in the crook of his elbow. We moved over to Cullen who was giving us a scowl. “I love you too, Cullen,” I said. Carson led us out to the sitting room where Pip was sitting on the couch. She looked up as we entered.

“Oh, Remi! Your dress is so much prettier than the one I stole from your closet!” she exclaimed. I giggled at her.

“Pip, you look pretty too,” I said. She really did. Her blonde hair fell in messy waves around her face, and she wore a green dress that came to her knees. It was one of the ones that was in the twins and I’s closet at the apartment.

“Let’s go,” Cullen said. As he pulled open the door, a shocked Zeus stood on the doorstep, his hand poised to knock. Cullen’s face dropped immediately.

“Well,” Zeus started. I saw Pip light up from the corner of my eye. I was happy that she was happy, but I still didn’t feel comfortable around Zeus. I tightened my grip on Calder’s arm slightly. Zeus’s eyes found Pip and there was a light in them that I knew all too well. It was the same light that Calder and Cullen had when their eyes found me.

Zeus stepped aside and Calder led me out of the room. Cullen joined me on the other side and they both silently led us to the banquet hall. There was a strange tension between the three Alphas, and I bet it had something to do with the Summit business.

When we entered the banquet hall, we were barely halfway to our table before someone approached us angrily. The man growled as he stopped in front of us, his bitter expression focused on me. Cullen tensed at his demeanor, immediately pushing me behind him. Calder followed suit and I was blocked by both of them. The solid presence behind me told Carson was with us. Cullen and Calder completely blocked my view of the man I did not recall meeting yet.

“Charles, what is the meaning of this?” Calder said in a dangerous tone.

“You are making decisions based on the whim of your naive little mate, now?” I heard the man almost growl at the twins.

“Watch your tone,” Cullen warned.

“What is the meaning of this?” came another voice. I was hopelessly trapped between the three Carlisle brothers, not allowing me to place the familiar voice that joined the conversation.

“These two are willing to break long standing peace agreements over childish whims of their newest mate,” the first man spat.

“What is he talking about?” said the second man.

“He may be referring to the official notice Blue Moon has given Snow Peaks denying their request for support. Without our backing, we can only assume that Serenity Moon may have denied any support as well seeing as Alpha Zeus seems to be rethinking the support, they will be giving smaller packs,” Cullen said coolly. I gasped.

“They let their decisions be swayed by a child who cannot handle her own in a civil conversation,” the first man growled. I never told Calder or Cullen what happened with the Snowy Peaks Luna earlier today. Clearly, she had told her mate a different version of events but that didn’t explain how Calder and Cullen knew or why they withdrew any support they were intending on granting.

“Charles, there is no need to insult their mate,” the second man scolded. “I’m sure there is just a misunderstanding.”

“They will just have another next Summit. They are weak if they are going to lead based on the whims of their latest trophy,” the first man growled. I could feel so much rage rolling off Calder and Cullen now. They weren’t going to tolerate this conversation much longer. My own temper was rising at the insinuations of the man. We were drawing attention now as well. I stood up as tall as I could, squaring my shoulders.

“Let me speak,” I linked my mates. Calder’s head turned just enough so that he could see me from the side of his eyes. I nodded to him. He stepped to the side just enough to bring me forward, his arm coming around my waist possessively.

“Alpha Charles, was it?” I said trying to make my tone modulated. “I think you are mistaken about things here. My mates and I have not communicated since breakfast this morning until they arrived back in our rooms. They were never informed of the… conversation between your mate and I earlier today. I assure you, I would never ask my mates to sway their decisions in such a way based on some simple misinformed gossip.” I held the man’s glare, trying not to back down. Calder’s armed tightened on me.

“You expect me to believe you didn’t go running to them as soon as you felt offense at my mate’s simple inquiry about their former mate?” he shot at me.

“There must be some misunderstanding,” I said. “After my conversation with your mate, I stepped out for some fresh air alongside my escort. I would never dream of interrupting my mates for petty gossip during such important business.”

“See now, it was all a misunderstanding. Now, if you wish to discuss Blue Moon’s decision, I suggest you do so under the appropriate circumstances and not moments before we served dinner,” said the second man. My eyes fell on him and I realized it was Arthur from this morning. Luke and Rachel stood behind him quietly.

“If that is all,” Cullen said, his voice murderous still. I delicately wrapped my hand around his arm, and he turned to lead us around the angry Alpha. I caught the eye of Kelly a few steps behind him, her face venomous. I can only assume she told her mate a skewed version of events from this morning. Those who were watching the altercation, quickly moved away scattering to their tables.

When we sat down, I looked at Cullen first. “How did you know?” I asked quietly. He gave me a measured look. I turned to Calder who looked at Carson then back at me. My eyes went wide before I scowled at him.

“Don’t scowl at me, brat,” he muttered.