Chapter 18

Alec I stared at the pages in the book, but nothing made any sense. For me, it's nothing but a blur of texts. and words that don't really give a f**g idea about what I'm dealing with. "So we still have nothing?" I asked as I stared at my beta and **a. For **g years, that s**d curse has been a thorn in my side. My father knew nothing of it, only what his father and the elders told him. The only one who could shed light on it-on what led to it or if there was a way to break it-was my great-grandfather, and he was long dead. My grandfather said that the curse was placed on us when his father was still Alpha of the pack. Unfortunately, when the curse was placed, he was still a baby, about a year or so old. So, of course, he didn't really know what went down, who cursed us, or why they did. The burden was placed on him after he bec Alpha and my great-grandfather had died. Then the burden was transferred to my dad and then to me. The burden of breaking this curse was a curse in itself, a burden that has been transferred from son to son for three generations and at this point I'm starting to think it will end with me- not that I'd be breaking it, but that my whole pack would be wiped out before the burden fell to my son. "Yes," Micah answered, pulling back to the present. "We still don't know how the whole thing started or why anyone would curse us" I stood up from my seat and moved to the window that oversaw the lush fields of my pack. Pack members were all about doing their thing. Children were playing, teenagers messing around, warriors were training and the others who didn't work within pack borders were just relaxing. My hands ball into fists. It wasn't f**g fair that we would all die if I couldn't break the d*n c*urse. All the kids, at least the few we had, wouldn't get to live to adulthood, and the sfate awaited the teens. I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't f**g allow that. We deserved better than to die at the hands of a plague no one understood. "What do we have so far?” I asked, turning away from the window, more determined than ever. We were in my office in the pack house. I took my seat again and focused on Jason and Micah. No one else knew about the curse except for the three of us and the elders. We decided to keep it quiet to avoid panic and words unintentionally landing in the wrong hands. "It was placed during your great granddad's tas alpha. No one knows much about it except that we are expected to start weakening physically, our sense diminishing and losing our wolves. Eventually we will die, either because we'll be too weak for our bodies to function or other packs will notice our weakness and attack," Jason answered, his eyes expressing the worry and fear of what's to come. It was already happening. We haven't had a birth in a decade. The youngest child is eight years old. There is also the fact that we've noticed how more and more pack members are easily getting sick and dying. Swarriors aren't as strong as they used to be. We also have a few members who have lost their wolves already and are nothing but a shadow of their former selver Of course, pack member have noticed these strange things, but no one so far has connected the pieces. No one has realized that these things are connected. The elders have encouraged them to pray to the goddess for favor and that's what they've been fervently doing if things continue to get worse, we'll have to tell them the d**n truth. "We also know the prophecy that your mate was meant to break the curse, but then shit happened. and Lola rejected you," Micah added, his eyes pointedly staring atin an accusatory manner. I glared at him, trying to ignore the pain that slashed through my chest at the reminder. I still hadn't gotten over the rejection, and I doubt I'll ever get over Lola. Micah continued as if he didn't just tear my f**g heart with the mention of Lola's name. “Don't you find it strange, though? The prophecy was clear; then how cin the few months you were with her, her presence here didn't improve anything?" I get what he was saying, but that was not possible. Micah, for sreason, had never liked Lola, and she, of course, never liked him back. "Are you trying to imply something?" I growled, not liking his tone of voice or what he was insinuating. He raises his arms in the air and givesa sardonic smile. “Nope," "Have you tried talking to her?" Jason cuts in. "Maybe you can talk her into helping even though you two aren't together." Sighing, I stand up and start pacing. “I tried, but I can't find her. Apparently she moved after she rejected me. No one has seen her since." "That's understandable. I get her need to escape the heartache," Jason muttered with an understanding look while Micah just scoffed. His attitude makes want to pummel the idiot into a **dy pulp. I was about to do exactly that when there was a knock on my office door. I sniffed the air, and my nose immediately picked up Piper's scent. I'm not worried that she would have listened in. The office was soundproof for obvious reasons. I crossed the short distance and opened the door. I was immediately tense after seeing her red and swollen eyes. "What is it, Buttercup?" I asked, pulling her into my arms and shutting the door. I walked her to the couch and sat her down. A few minutes later, she stands up and starts pacing, wearing the carpeted floor. She seemed tense and agitated, and she doesn't look like her normal, put- together self. It's been a week since she buried that traitorous b***h, and something seems off with her. "Piper?" She turned those bloodshot eyes toward me. "I want to leave the pack." "Absolutely not." I stood up and fired. "I am not going to allow my little sister, the only family I have, to leave the f**g pack. It's f**g dangerous out there on your own." Her eyes immediately shut down. "I wasn't really asking." "Neither was I. You aren't leaving, and that's a f**g command." She collapsed to the ground, crying, and it took a second to realize what had happened. I rush to her and pick her up, her s**bs tearing at my heart and soul. "Please, Alec," she pleaded, clutching my shirt, her voice broken and tears falling down her eyes. "I can't stay here. She's everywhere. In every nook and cranny I can't get her out of my head or get over the guilt I feel. She was my best friend since we were both in diapers; ninety percent of my memories have her. I just don't know how to deal now that she's gone. This entire place reminds of her and the plans we made." Her pain hurts me, but I am torn. I don't feel an ounce of pity that the woman who destroyed is dead, but that doesn't mean that I don't feel sorry for the f**g pain my sister is in. "Please, Alec. I just need taway. Everything is still so fresh, and everything here reminds of Sadie." F**k. I am torn. I don't want her to leave, but I also understand what she means. If I didn't have duty to my pack and company, I would have left because this place also contains memories of Lola, and it always kills knowing I have nothing but the memories of her. Someone cleared their throat, and it's only then that I realized that Jason and Micah were still in the room. "Okay. Fine" I concede. "Thank you," she mumbled over and over against my chest. I held her close and rubbed her back in comfort, trying to push down the resistance and restlessness! felt at her leaving.