Page 55 of Curses and Casualties
“It looked it.”
“It was fucking dangerous,” Ethan corrects, heading back to the car. “They’ll report back. The whole pack will know which way we’re headed.”
“Let them come,” Scarlett says as we all pile back inside. There’s something different in her voice now. Stronger. “I’m done running from men who think they can choose for me. I’m tired of being in constant pain because one wolf wants what he can’t have, and the other one doesn’t want what the goddess has chosen for him—forus. Fuck that!” She swipes at her cheeks furiously, refusing to let her tears fall. “Fuck him. Fuck the Alpha and the Elders. Fuck everyone who thinks they can make choices for me!” Scarlett’s voice cracks like a whip, years of suppressed rage finally finding its target. “The Alpha thinks he owns me because of some bullshit mark I never asked for. The Elders think they can dictate my entire fucking life because I’m female and unmated. And now some broken lone wolf with storm-gray eyes and a death wish thinks he can just—” She stops herself, breathing hard, her hands trembling with fury.
“Storm-gray eyes, huh?” Georgia teases very gently.
Scarlett’s laugh is bitter, almost hysterical. “Yeah. They’re like, in my dreams now. Isn’t that just perfect? The universe’s idea of a cosmic joke. I finally meet my supposed ‘destined mate’ and he can’t get me out of his sight fast enough. Had me escorted off his property like I was some kind of threat.”
“Scarlett—” I start, but she whirls on me.
“No! Don’t you dare try to comfort me right now, Ryan. I’m tired of being handled. I’m tired of being managed and protected and told what’s best for me.” Her voice breaks on the last words, but the fire in her eyes only burns brighter. “I’ve spent my entire adult life fighting off an Alpha who thinks I belong to him, and now I find out there’s another wolf out there who’s supposed to be mine but wants nothing to do with me? Well, FUCK THAT!”
She kicks at the footwell of the car, so hard I worry her foot might go through it.
“You know what the worst part is?” she continues, her voice dropping to a whisper that somehow sounds more dangerous than her shouting. “I can still feel him. Right here.” She presses her hand to her chest, over her heart. “Like there’s a hook buried in my ribs, pulling to where he is. And I hate it. I hate that some cosmic force thinks it knows better than I do. I hate that my body is betraying me. And I hate that part of me—the stupid, weak part—actually wants to turn around and go back to him.”
Tears are streaming down her face now, but she wipes them away angrily.
“I’m done,” she says with finality. “Done with all of it. Done with mates and bonds and destiny. We find this witch, we break Georgia’s curse, and then I’m going to figure out how to break my own. Even if it kills me.”
The silence that follows her outburst is heavy, broken only by the sound of her ragged breathing. Georgia reaches for her, and this time Scarlett doesn’t pull away. She lets Georgia pull her into a fierce hug, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
“We’ll figure it out,” Georgia murmurs. “All of it. We’ll set you free.”
I exchange a look with Ethan over their heads. His expression mirrors my own concern. The mate bond isn’t something you can just break—not without severe consequences. But Scarlett doesn’t need to hear that right now.
Suddenly, Scarlett pulls back, her face going pale. “Oh fuck.”
“What?” Georgia asks.
“The fight. I shifted. I got emotional and I—” Her eyes widen with horror. “Jules said every time I get emotional or shift, it sends a signal through the Alpha’s mark. That’s how they keep finding us. It’s me. I’m the reason they always know where we are.”
Georgia blanches. “Oh, shit. She said it acts like a flare if your emotions spike. Rage, grief… even shifting. They feel it.”
“Fuck.” Scarlett scrambles for the door handle. “I need to go. I’m putting you all in danger?—”
“No.” Ethan’s voice is firm as he hits the locks. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Didn’t you hear me? I’m a fucking beacon! Every time I lose control?—”
“Then we deal with it,” I interrupt. “Together. Like pack.”
“But—”
“No buts,” Georgia says firmly. “We’re not leaving you. Not until we talk to Evanora. She might be able to help with the mark, remember?”
Scarlett slumps in her seat, looking defeated. “And if she can’t?”
“Then we figure out another way,” I say. “But you’re pack, Scarlett. We don’t abandon pack.”
She’s quiet for a long moment, then nods. “OK. But we need to hurry. The longer this takes, the more danger you’re all in.”
“We should keep moving then,” Ethan says gently, starting the engine. “Put some distance between us and this place.”
As we pull back onto the mountain road, I notice Georgia keeps glancing in the side mirror with a frown.
“What is it?”
