Page 94 of His Curse

COLT

With an exhausted grunt, I drop back against the tree and survey the scene.

Several fallen logs full of knives, throwing stars, a couple hatchets and anything else sharp and pointy I could get my hands on. Dozens and dozens of tin cans and wooden figures blown to smithereens on the top and in front of most of them. Two different stumps from dead trees uprooted and thrown across the clearing, a few more I need to pull after my wolf knocked the trees down during our run.

I’m naked as the day I was born, covered in sweat and dirt, a little bit of dry blood from getting too carried away, and despite having just run for at least two hours after shooting and stabbing everything I possibly could, I’m still so goddamn pissed off I might just run again.

It’s been two days since I shifted tothe otherat Vok and Cora’s house.

Two days since I turned into that monstrosity right outside the twins’ bedroom.

Two dayssince I set foot anywhere on Dragovihk territory, and I’m still too angry to go back.

Finding out that I… fuck, I can’t even begin to wrap my head around what happened.

Never, not one fucking time in almost one-hundred-and-sixty years, have I shifted to that piece of shitinsidesomeone’s house. It’s always been outside, always been somewhere relatively open and harmless. Whatthe otherdoes is far from it, but I’ve never turned into that piece of shit in a place as confined as a fucking house before and I sure as hell haven’t done it with babies around.

Not that I thinkthe otherhas morals or some sort of conscience, but I can safely say he’s never gone after babies before, even when he wiped out the Wind Walkers because they hadn’t had any small children in at least ten years by the time we got to it and knowing that I could have hurt the twins or worse? That fucking guts me and it’s why I took off as soon as my Birdie told me what had happened.

“Goddamnit,” I growl as I push off the tree and start to pace.

How could they have been so understanding?

I came to on the couch in Vok and Cora’s living room, woke up to see the two of them, as well as my mate, snoozing around me, and at first I couldn’t remember anything after we put baby K and Dizzy down. Not until I sat up and realized I was wearing Havok’s clothes, anyway, then that shit came racing back to the forefront of my mind and there isn’t a word in any language I know that can accurately describe the horror I felt when I finally did remember.

And there was definitely no talking me down after that.

It didn’t matter that Cora said the twins never saw, that we made it out of their bedroom before anything happened, and it definitely didn’t matter that Vok attested to that as well as what Lark told me. Which is a mindfuck all on its own.

How the hell was she able to controlthe other?

That makes no fucking sense, not one bit, and while it has me baffled as hell, it also reminded me of how dangerous I am to the people I love, and that’s exactly why I took off.

I essentially turned off my mind link with Lark and Ronny, packed a bunch of weapons in the bed of my truck then I split to where I usually go whenthe otherdecides to make an appearance. And I’ve been here for two fucking days running and destroying things in hopes that my anger will pass long enough for me to get a handle on what the hell happened.

It hasn’t.

If anything, being out here all alone, replaying what I remember from the other night over in my head, it’s only pissed me off further, and I can’t help but jump to thewhat ifsof the entire thing because I could have easily killed five people that night. Five people I would sooner die for than harm in any way, and I never would have been able to live with myself if anything worse than what actually happened went down.

And yeah, I’ve definitely been considering going Rogue harder than I ever have because I can’t stop thinking about what would have undoubtedly happened if Lark hadn’t been able to getthe otherto stop.

My mate, the twins, Cora, and Havok.

They’d all be gone, and chances arethe otherwould have gone on a rampage right on clan territory, eliminating gods know who else before he decided he had enough. Which is exactly why not one single person on that land needs me around, why I should just go Rogue and be—

“Colton Paddock, you knock that shit off this instant.”

My eyes snap toward a small clearing just before the leveled portion of the forest and land onmy sisterof all people.Fucking great.

Mary scowls as she hikes her skirt to her knees, carefully stepping over tree limbs and debris. “And put some damn pants on. Wolf or not, I don’teverneed to see you naked unless we’re on a run.”

“Which we haven’t done in years,” I grunt as I roll my eyes and start looking for anything I can use to cover my junk. “Pretty sure it’s been since—”

“Before the Lunar Kings.” My sister sighs as she steps over a boulder and continues trekking toward me.

“Two packs before theirs, actually.”

Mary huffs, carefully walks along a fallen log, then sits on a stump a few feet away, averting her eyes while I keep looking for my clothes. “That’s right, two packs. Just before the alpha challenged Papa because he thought—“

---