Chapter 77: Their Cursed

When Cullen finally returned to the room, Calder and I were lying in bed. He had brought me to our room, helped me out of my dress, then held true to his promise and rubbed all the soreness from my limbs. I was laying against him, only wearing his shirt from the evening when Cullen came in with a nonplussed look on his face.

“Did you find him?” Calder asked him as he began to undress and throw his clothing aside. He shook his head. I was hoping he would find him, and Zeus would have some good reason for standing her up.

“What do we do?” I asked them. Cullen didn’t answer, just continued to undress before coming over to join us in bed. I looked at Calder. He shook his head, telling me he didn’t have an answer. Cullen climbed in bed and opened his arms for me. I kissed Calder on the cheek before climbing over to Cullen. He enveloped me in his arms, holding me close to him. I sighed as I relaxed against him, letting my fingers trace the skin of his muscular chest.

“Sleep now, love,” he murmured. “I want to take you home as soon as possible in the morning.”

“I’m worried about Pip,” I whispered.

“We will handle things in the morning. Pip is sleeping, and so should you,” he reasoned. I laid still in Cullen’s arms while he slowly fell asleep. I couldn’t help but worry about Pip as I laid in my mate’s arms. I thought things had been going well, and I couldn’t imagine what happened.

I snuggled impossibly closer to Cullen, and his arms tightened around me involuntarily. I always felt safe when they surrounded me. I couldn’t push away the worry in the back of my mind, though. Pip and Zeus. Carson and Maya. Gentry and Sammy. The curse. Shifting. Becoming Luna. My heart started to race with all the things swirling around in my head. This weekend had been the least of my worries, and now they were coming crashing back all at once. My breathing picked up, and I started to feel like I couldn’t get any air in my lungs. I no longer felt the comforting sparks in my hands as they laid against Cullen’s skin. My fingers were numb as I flexed them up and down. I couldn’t feel Calli in my head. Where was my wolf?

Cullen’s eyes opened and fell on me. The bed shifted behind me. “Remi, what’s wrong?” Calder’s voice said quietly.

“I-I don’t know….” I stammered. My head was getting dizzy as I tried to catch my breath.

“Calm down, love,” Cullen tried. His hands came to the sides of my face, focusing my attention on him. “Breathe,” he directed.

My eyes were wide, and I felt frantic. I tried to focus on my breathing, but I still wasn’t able to fill my lungs. “Why is she having a panic attack?” Calder asked his question clearly directed towards Cullen.

“Remi, love, count with me. One,” Cullen tried. His eyes stayed locked on mine.

“One,” I quickly mimicked. Cullen took a breath.

“Two,” he said in a calm tone.

“Two,” I copied again. Cullen took another breath.

“Three,” he said, again calmly. He repeated this process all the way through ten. When we hit six, I finally started feeling my lungs fill with air. By the time we got to ten, I could breathe normally again, and I felt less dizzy. The feeling was returning to my hands as I clutched Cullen’s arms.

“Better?” he asked, softer now. I nodded my head a fraction while I focused on the air coming into my body. My cheeks were wet, but I never noticed myself crying. Cullen had sat up during the course of my panic, and I was over top of him. His thumbs caressed my cheeks, wiping away the wetness.

“Come here, baby,” Calder said gently as his arms came around my waist. Cullen dropped his hands, and I turned to Calder, going to him. He pulled me into his chest, cradling the back of my head gently. I let his scent fill me, and my body finally calmed entirely. I felt Calli again. She was on edge, but she was there. Calder held me close for a few minutes. I didn’t notice that Cullen had gotten out of bed until he offered me a glass of water.

“Here, love,” he said gently. Calder let me pull away from him, and I grabbed the glass from Cullen. I took a slow sip, letting the cool liquid trickle down my throat. I let myself slump against Calder again, my body now feeling heavy.

“What are you worried about?” Calder questioned as he started to stroke my hair. I sighed.

“Just…” I trailed off.

“It’s alright. Just relax,” Calder comforted me. He took the glass from my hands and handed it to Cullen. I could feel both of their concern through our bond.

“Can we go to bed?” I asked, finally finding my voice. Calder’s eyes connected with Cullen’s for a moment before coming back to me. He nodded, and I laid against him again. I pressed my ear to his chest and tried to focus on his heartbeat. He stroked my hair and back gently. As Calli calmed down, I was able to drift off finally.

Pip

I woke up to Remi crawling in bed with me. As I blinked my eyes open and they landed on her face, she didn’t look that great either. “Hey,” she said softly, cuddling up to me. She opened her arms, and I let her pull me close to her, comforting me. I slept terribly, probably only passing out after crying so much that I was just exhausted. Remi just held me for a moment, rubbing soft circles in between my shoulder blades.

“Why didn’t he come?” I whispered in a croaky voice.

“I don’t know. But he had to have a good reason…” she said softly.

“Can we just go home? I don’t want to stay right now,” I asked her.

“Yea. The twins and Carson are getting everything ready to leave. I thought I would come help you,” she said. I pulled away from her and looked up at her concerned face. My eyes started to water again.

“I just don’t understand. I thought everything was going amazing. I didn’t let him mark me yet, but I really wanted to tell my parents and everything first…” I whispered, my lip quivering.

“Pip, I don’t think it’s you. I think this has to do with him or possibly even the Summit. Let’s get ready and head home. We still have to tell your parents and brother why you aren’t at school before we tell them you have a mate,” she said. I dropped my head back. I had completely forgotten about that. They were going to be so mad. Now I didn’t know if I wanted to go home or stay in Serenity Moon.

“Oh no, you are not going to play devil’s advocate here and try to pick the lesser of two evils,” she said, now pulling me to sit up with her. She gave me a stern look. “You promised Calder you would tell your parents about school after the Summit, and you need to tell them about Zeus even if you don’t tell them everything. After you tell them, we can figure out what to do about that moron. You leaving here will just be the first part of his punishment.”

I gave her a small smile. Goddess, Remi is the best. She is the most ride-or-die friend I have ever had, and we had barely met a couple of months ago. I reached forward, wrapping her in a big hug. “Thanks,” I muttered.

“Alright,” she said finally. “Let’s get you looking like you didn’t spend the whole night crying over him and get out of this packhouse. I am quite tired of all the politics.”

-

Thirty minutes later, Remi grabbed my bag and headed towards the sitting room towards the twins and Carson. I stood by the bed with the dress in my hands. It was so beautiful, and I was so elated he had sent it to me. I was so excited to dance with him and spend the whole night on his arm. The Summit would have concluded, and he would have been free of obligations, mostly. I would be lying if I were to say I hadn’t also thought about Zeus peeling me out of this dress. I sighed and laid the dress across the bed. I reached into the back pocket of my pants and pulled out the little note I wrote him, placing it on top of the dress. I wasn’t sure if he would be the first to find it specifically, but I was fairly certain the dress and note would quickly make it back to him.

I turned to see Cullen standing in the doorway. He gave me a soft look which was different for him. “I’m okay,” I told him. “Let’s just go back to Blue Moon. I want to see my family.” He gave me a gentle nod. I knew this was as good as him saying he was sorry for me. I approached him and grabbed hold of his arm, but he didn’t protest. Cullen and Calder were just as good of brothers as Gentry was, and I never really appreciated it until now. We walked out into the sitting room. The door was propped open, and our bags were nowhere to be seen. I guessed that they had already been taken down to our car. Calder stood with Remi in his arms, and Carson stood to the side, looking miserable as always. Remi turned her attention to us and gave me a small smile.

“I think we are all ready now,” Calder said. Cullen and I nodded. “Ready, baby?” he asked Remi. His face glowed with so much love as he looked down at her. It made my heart squeeze; she deserved it. Remi was nothing short of incredible in so many ways. I just wanted a fraction of what she had with the twins with Zeus. I swallowed the lump in my throat to keep myself from crying anymore. I am not the girl who cries over a boy.

Calder and Remi led the way out of the room, Cullen and I following. He let me hold onto his arm still, and it felt like we were kids again. Carson walked on the other side of me. As we got closer to the front doors of the packhouse, there were people from other packs heading that way too. Apparently, we were not the only ones ready to go first thing in the morning.

My heart skipped as we rounded the corner, and I laid eyes on Zeus standing by the front door. He immediately locked eyes with me, and I felt like I was going to unravel again. Cullen stiffened and stood up straighter beside me. Zeus began to walk our way, and Remi looked at me over her shoulder. “Want me to stop him?” she linked.

I didn’t know what to say. I felt numb seeing him. I felt Cullen’s eyes on me for a moment too. Zeus got closer, and Calder stopped, holding his arm out to halt Zeus. “Walk away,” he said firmly. We all stopped, and Zeus looked at me over Calder’s shoulder.

“She is my mate. You don’t decide anything,” he said. His voice was slightly strained. I couldn’t quite read the look on his face. “Amanda, please,” he said in a softer tone towards me.

“If you had something to say, it should have been said last night,” Calder said, raising his voice a little.

“I am sorry. Please let me explain,” Zeus said, not breaking eye contact with me and completely ignoring Calder. We were starting to attract attention now.

“She is coming back to Blue Moon with us. Step aside,” Cullen said through gritted teeth.

“I messed up, angel. Just hear me out,” he pleaded. Remi looked back at me. I caught her eye, silently pleading for help. I couldn’t talk to him right now.

“Zeus,” she said confidently. He turned his attention to her. “I am sorry, but now is not the time. It would be best if you let her leave right now. She will contact you when she is ready.” Remi is ten times the Luna I could ever be. He held her gaze for a moment before looking back at me and nodding.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered before he turned and walked away. I sucked in a shaky breath. Remi turned around, letting go of Calder, and stepped back towards me. Cullen let go of me, and Remi replaced him. I gave her a tight smile.

“Just get to the car. Don’t let him see you cry, okay?” she whispered. I nodded silently, and we all headed out the front door.

Once the car started moving, the tears fell silently down my face. No one said a word in the car for a while. I just stared out of the window as the landscape of Serenity Moon passed by, and the ache in my chest grew.