Page 67 of The Alpha's Heir

I contact my mother who confirms she has arranged all the flowers and food. My father will meet me in the morning to go to the tailor’s and he has the rings I commissioned.

I will be meeting with the Pack Shaman tomorrow morning to confirm our vows and to take instructions from him.

I am so busy overseeing all the little details that it takes me a while to realise that the room is cold. A movement outside catches my attention, and with a start, I realize that in the shrubs just outside my window are two people.

When I open the window, Nikki’s scent, mixed with someone else's, quickly travels in. How the fuck has she got on our lands again? I mindlink Aiden and Billy but as soon as I open the window, Nikki hears me and runs away, but not before she shouts a reminder.

“Your pups will be cursed. Remember that. You will never be free and happy. Amber will pay for what she did. You will all pay for what she did.” I shake with both anger and realisation. In the whirl of everything else happening, I had forgotten about the curse Nikki placed on my future pups with Amber. It was right after Eva confronted her and we found she had a dire wolf. How could I have been so reckless and forgetful?

By the time the trackers get around to their hiding spot, there is no sign of Nikki or Junior. I wake Amber and tell her I am going to Aiden; I need to talk to them both about what happened, and about the curse.

“What curse, Preston? You never said anything about a curse.” She sounds perplexed as she wipes the sleep from her eyes.

As I explain to Amber the curse that Nikki had placed on our pups, her hand goes to her tummy, and I have never felt so guilty. “Preston, our pup could be growing inside me right now. Why didn’t you tell me?”

It’s a valid question: why didn’t I? I can only surmise that with everything else that happened, I had simply forgotten. Had I really taken it seriously? No, maybe I hadn’t, but I did sincerely push it to the back of my mind when Eva transformed into a ferocious Dire Wolf.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t remember until she just shouted through the window, reminding me.” Amber sits with her head in her hands. “Red, please talk to me, tell me what to do. I am so sorry.”

“How do you break a curse? Did she say what the conditions were, Preston? Did she say what the get-out clause was?!” I rack my brains trying to remember what she said. I don’t remember any conditions.

In the end, I shake my head at her. “I don’t remember, Amber, I’m sorry. She cursed us, Eva transformed and scared the shit out of us all and Nikki ran away while we were all distracted. I don’t remember anything else she said. I just remember her saying that she placed a curse on all pups that come from our union.”

I thought that Aiden was answering my earlier mindlink when he sent a message to meet him in the packhouse lobby. I take Amber’s hand and we rush down to meet our Alpha.

However, such is life in our little quiet pack at the moment, another incident has happened with the Mafia, and Aiden had actually called to brief me as the pack Beta.

“So Dominga is dead? Well, that explains why Junior is now in cahoots with Nikki.”

Amber punches me in the arm. “Really, Preston? Have you forgotten again already? Nikki placed a curse on our future pups, Aiden, and there is a possibility I could already be pregnant.” I cringe at the last line and I tense in anticipation. Just as I thought, Aiden smacks me across the other shoulder.

“You got her pregnant while there was a curse on you both? What the fuck is wrong with you, Preston? You are supposed to be the clever, level-headed one. I wish everyone would FUCK OFF!”

I can see that Aiden is being pushed to the edge. It has been a challenging time for him since he met his mate. I get it.

“Look, I’m sorry. I fucked up. You go and deal with Alejandro and the Mafia, and Amber and I will wake the Elders and get advice from them. We’ll speak to you tomorrow.”

Aiden pulls his sister back to him. “No more shifting in case you are carrying, Amber. That’s my little niece or nephew in there. Let us all look after you now.”

I am hopeful that Aiden can persuade Amber to take a step back, but she pushes her brother. “Piss off, will you, I might not be, and it’s only been a couple of days. I’m not disabled if I have a pup, it's not an illness. Goddess, you two are imbeciles.” Aiden and I grin at each other; there is the strong and sassy Amber we both know.

We alert the Elders and wait for them to join us in the conference room. While we wait, I tease Amber about what Aiden said.

“No more shifting, and we might insist on bedrest for you, Red. You will be carrying valuable cargo.” Her eyes flash in annoyance until a little glimmer of mischief kicks in too.

“I’ll have you waiting on me hand and foot, fluff my pillows, rub my feet, peel my grapes. I will have you whipped.” She giggles as she teases me back.

“I would do all those things and more, Amber. I would do anything for you, for us and for our future pups. I promise that.” Our foreheads touch as we think of the promise of the future, despite the curse and the threat it poses. Our own child, mine and Amber’s, would simply be out-of-this-world phenomenal. It would be the best thing to ever, ever happen to me.

“What is the meaning of this, Beta Preston? Do you realise it's 4.50am? This had better be important.” Elder Joshua is always so grumpy, getting him up out of bed in the middle of the night only adds to his irritability.

I explain to the Elders, who grumble and whine about missing their beds and being cold. “So, this Nikki, her father, was a Red-Mage?” Elder Joshua asks. “What exactly were the words she used, Beta Preston?”

I close my eyes and try my best to remember.

“She said Amber was a whore and had killed her mate, and now she is going to destroy her and every other werewolf who tries to protect her. She’ll never stop until she avenges her lover. She said that Amber took everything from her, and now she is going to take everything from her and burn it to the ground and she won’t stop until Amber screams for death.”

Amber shudders at the side of me, but I haven’t finished yet. As soon as I remember the beginning of Nikki’s rant, the rest just blooms in front of me.

“Then she cursed us, she said ‘you could have had some semblance of a future with me, Beta Preston, if you had just submitted and done as I asked, but now you will also pay. Any pups that come from your union will be subjected to my curse. A curse to avenge my lost lover. Your pups will never find theirs, they will not feel the bond of the mate. All pups born into your pack from now on will be subject to my curse. This is the cost your mate will pay for killing mine. I place a curse upon you all and your offspring. May you know what it is to be alone’.”

My eyes go wide as I realise what I’ve just said.

“Holy shit, she didn’t just curse Amber and me. She cursed us all.”

The Elders look equally concerned. “Then there is nothing else for her: this Red-Mage must die as soon as possible. The Alpha’s Heir is in jeopardy too. To stop a Red-Mage curse, you need to kill the host and take their heart. The heart must then be burned to ash. The ash then needs to be kept with the Alpha.”

Simple as that, then. We need to trap the Red-Mage and kill her before she causes any more damage.

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