Page 90 of His Curse

The othercries out almost as if it’s in pain. It starts whimpering and yipping, wincing even as the pressure on my shoulders hits a solid thirteen on a scale of one to ten. After about a minute of this,the otherflops off of me and rolls to its side, and the second the pressure from my shoulders releases, it takes a deep breath and snorts. I tilt my head to watch it, but don’t move, not yet, and what I see leaves me fucking floored.

Still growling and angry,the othergets to its feet and waits, his silver eyes burning into mine. Slowly, I sit up and it barks, not loud and definitely not like a normal wolf, but it’s almost as if… as ifthe otheris waiting for me to tell it what to do? And because I’m a dumbass with a death wish apparently, I reach my hand out, only to jump sky high when Vok yells from the other end of the hall.

“Lark! What the fuck are you—”

Immediately,the otherturns to face him and Cora, that little outburst shifting focus entirely, and once again it starts prowling toward them like a predator with sights set on their prey.

“Stop!”The otherflinches but keeps going. “Stop. Right now, you fucking stop!” And I’ll be damned, itdoes.

There’s still no mind link, not like when Colt and I shift, but it’s clear this creature understands me, and for whatever reason, it’s listening to me.

“Do not move one inch.”The otherstays perfectly still, save for glancing at me over its shoulder to growl again. “Don’t give me any fucking sass either. Just because you didn’t try to kill me this time does not mean we’re good, so here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to quit threatening my friends”—I nod at Vok and Cora—“who should have gone into that bedroom at least ten minutes ago, and then you’re going to turn around, take one last look at the mission you failed over one hundred years ago, then you’re going to go back into hiding because I want my mate back.”

The otherhowls out a horrible sound, tossing its gigantic head back, its hackles raised, and when we hear the first crunch of breaking bones, silver fog starts to swirl around its paws. It continues to whine in pain, the shift back obviously not as enjoyable when it isn’t ready, probably even less since it seems that I’m somehow almost forcing the shift to happen. Seconds turn into minutes as we all watch this fog coverthe other, terrible sounds coming from it the entire time and when that warped demonic voice gives way to the unmistakable sound of my Colton crying out in pain, I rush over in time for him to collapse into me.

I pull him into my lap as I drop to my ass. “Colton, honey?Mahasani?”

He grunts something completely incoherent as his head lolls to the side, his face pressed to my stomach. His breathing is a little irregular and his entire body is coated in sweat, but I can feel how steady my mate’s heartbeat is through our bond and if it wasn’t for that, I’d be freaking the fuck out.

“Mahasani… “ My arms tighten around him as I drop a kiss to his hair. “I love you. We did it, Colton. We did it. I love you.”

“Uhm… “ Cora clears her throat and when I look up, I see Havok still standing in front of her protectively with a bewildered look on his face. “Lark, sweetheart? Do you think maybe you could fill us in on what the fuck just happened?”

And with an exhausted sigh, I do.

* * *

“So this is why our lone wolf ventures off so frequently?” Vok asks as he hands me a fresh cloth, one that has been soaking in whatever the hell tonic Cora whipped up a few minutes ago.

I nod as I press it to Cotlon’s forehead and neck.

“And… “ Cora chews her thumb. “Forgive me, but I’m going out on a limb and guessing that thing is what gave you the scars?”

“Yeah. Colton shifted into that the first time we met.”

She shivers as if she has a chill. “That was one hell of a first impression.” I chuckle as Cora slams her hands over her mouth. “I’m sorry, I just… when Colt and I walked out of the twin’s room and he… gods, the way he just dropped to the ground and writhed in pain…”

“It’s definitely not pretty. Did he say anything to you before it happened?”

She shakes her head as she plops down on their coffee table.

“Is Colt able to predict this sort of shift?” Vok asks as he lifts my mate’s legs, sits down on the other end of the couch, and rests them across his lap.

Which is a huge relief.

Seeing him that way, watching the waythe othertook complete control and was going after his mate? I wasn’t sure Havok would understand, and I really wasn’t expecting him to still be so caring right now, but he is. He and Cora both immediately went intonurse modeand while the very sweet vampire carried my mate down the stairs, his adorable fae counterpart scurried ahead to start brewing whatever elixir we’ve been using to ease the full body contractions Colt is experiencing. They didn’t think for one minute that was my beautiful alpha, and they’ve done nothing but reassure me with their actions ever since.

My mate is going to be pissed when he wakes up, though.

Shifting tothe otherin Vok and Cora’s home, right outside the twins’ room, and going after her? Gods, Colton is going to hate himself more than he did before, and when he finds out they accepted the super brief explanation I gave them, helped dress him, and make him comfortable on their couch, yeah, my mate is going to be downright furious. At himself, but still. Colt is going to hate every bit of that and it’ll be my job to convince him otherwise.

Yippee.

“Colton said it was getting easier to know whenthe otherwas coming since all that stuff went down with Zan and Frankie.”

Cora frowns. “What? Her dying and Zan saving her soul?”

Uh oh.

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