Rumor monger
Killian
Alejandro was the first to arrive in my study. He looked bored, as he normally did. On him was a scent distinctly belonging to the one whom the goddess had given me. Oh, so everyone was touching her now, I thought. I shook my head. Jealousy was supposed to be beyond me.
“What did he do with her?” my beast would ask, like the devil on my shoulder. “Do you think he touched her? Do you think he kissed her?”
I slammed my hand down on the table. “Quiet,” I said out loud , the only way to still him from talking. He retreated into the shadows. With the little control I had recently, I was surprised he didn’t just tear out of my skin.
Alejandro cocked his head to one side. Instead of the boredom of before, he was clearly worried , his eyebrows furrowed and his lips slightly parted.
“Should I leave, Alpha?”
“No,” I shook my head. “It’s one of those things,” I said.
He frowned slightly. “The matters of your heart then? It might be better for you, for your beast, to keep the beast tamed,” he said. “Why not give in just a little bit?”
Slowly, I felt myself sinking into what felt like the softest of pillows. If I could just close my eyes and let go of the little slip of control I had over myself, maybe I would feel a tad bit of relief. But that wasn’t important , I knew it. It was not for relief. The pack would be safe.
My eyes snapped open. Duty, I thought to myself. I had a duty to the pack.
“No,” I said, my voice stronger than I intended. “I have a duty to fulfill, and I will die trying if I need to.”
He pressed his lips together but said nothing on the subject.
“I have a task for you,” I said. I leaned forward in my chair. “Come.”
He stretched out his hand and took the little folded piece of parchment I held. He stood up straight and unfolded it, his eyes scanning the contents until finally they lifted to meet mine. Then he tore the paper into what seemed like a million shreds.
“Understood,” he said. “I will take your assignment with my life.”
He placed a hand on his chest and made a solemn oath. At that moment, I felt the magic of the oath build between us, sealing his commitment.
“You may leave,” I said.
He turned to go, but he didn’t leave entirely. He stopped and turned toward me.
“She grows stronger every day,” he said. “You might want to look into that. I do not think she is what she seems to be.”
My eyes lifted slightly, but I didn’t look at him. I kept my gaze fixed on the desk and tried my best to forget about her for the moment. But my beast refused, whispering her name to me like a spell he’d been enchanted by.
“One more thing,” he said, causing me to look up this time. “There are rumors, Alpha. Terrible rumors. They say she’s cursed , that’s why you are broken.”
I frowned. “The what?” I asked. A mixture of confusion and disbelief was only the least of what I felt.
He lowered his eyes, then slowly raised them again. “They say you are cursed. That she is cursed. That she has cursed you. They say that’s why you’ve lost control. The rumors about what happened in that council meeting have spread as well. It’s clear enough that those who were to remain loyal to your faction might not.”
I shook my head. It was to be expected that the happenings of that day in the council would have come out sooner or later , that, I expected. But this business about being cursed was new to me.
“What’s the source?” I asked.
“You know rumors, Alpha,” he said. “They are like the wind , they blow, they make noise, but you can never tell where they come from.”
My hands clenched into fists so tight that blood began to flow from my wounds.
“Find the source,” I said. “Every rumor has a source. This one will too. It will be someone who knows about her existence. Someone who hates her. Someone…”
And then it occurred to me. There was only one person who hated her with enough passion to start a rumor this terrible. Perhaps the person didn’t think the rumor would spread , that it would twist into this cursed business, that I had been cursed.
But rumors were like avalanches. Once you pushed down the smallest snowball, the rest would grow bigger and bigger until it buried everything , including the person who started it.
They might as well be ambush fires, flames that eventually burned the one who set them.
“You know who it is,” Alejandro said. He hadn’t asked, but perhaps he knew.
“You’re going to question her, aren’t you?”
I shook my head. “No,” I said. “Leave it. I’ll go to her myself.”
Selena was surrounded by friends when I found her , or what I liked to call lackeys. They were those who agreed with everything she said, never questioning her, taking her word as gospel truth.
Of course, she gushed and ran to me with a smile stretched across her pretty face , at least, a face I once thought was beautiful. I had once thought she was the epitome of grace, the only drawback being that I simply wasn’t attracted to her.
With her perfect face, painted lips, and intoxicating scent, any male could be easily drawn to her , and for good reason. She had a way of making males feel as if they were the center of her world.
But not me. Perhaps because my wolf simply didn’t give a damn about her. In fact, given the chance, he would have pushed her aside, roared in her face, and told her to leave us alone , to tell her we were not interested.
“You’re here,” she smiled, reaching up to touch my face.
I smiled , a clipped one , and turned my face from her hand. I took one step back, her hands still following, gripping my arm.
“How was your trip? And how was the meeting?”
Her eyebrows furrowed, anxiety shining on her features, but I knew it was just for show. I could smell it , the pride, the fucking hubris of it all.
“I’m well, thank you, Selena.”
“Of course,” I said, taking her arm and leading her somewhere private until I couldn’t hear any heartbeats or smell any scents. Relaxing in one place, it was good.
“Did something terrible happen at the meeting?” The voice came from behind me.
I turned around just as I closed the door, shutting out all sound from the padded room. “What is this rumor I hear about myself being cursed?”
She blinked several times, surprise , and the best performance I had seen for being awake , but then nothing came along after that.
“I don’t follow, Alpha. What do you mean by rumor?”
“It’s very clear you do not lack a rumor, Selena,” I said. “And I, in turn, have been well-behaved enough to stay away from those I know who like to have a serpent’s tongue. So what is this business?”
I stepped away, removing myself from her breath. Her hands fell limply along the way as gravity pulled them back to her sides. Her shoulders slumped.
She stood up suddenly, a smile on her face. “Alas, I should have expected this. You have seen your true mate , despite the fact that she’s human. Of course, you cannot help but feel your obvious distaste for me,” she said, grace perhaps bleeding through an extent of truth in her words.
“I don’t have time for this bullshit, Selena,” I said, feeling a rise of anger. “I know it’s you. There are only so many women, only so many themes, and only so many who love me that we can narrow it down. The conclusion is too specific. The human is cursed, therefore I was cursed , doesn’t make any sense.”
She looked up, her bottom lip trembling together, and for what I had seen twice, tears gathered in her eyes. The Selena I knew didn’t cry. She straightened her back and walked it off. But this time, she would make it different. The tears certainly came, bursting forth and spilling down either side of her face, flowing down her cheeks, causing streaks in her otherwise pretty get-up.