Chapter 68

I was pissed off by this new development. In fact, I was way more than pissed off. I was downright furious. "Did you know this?" I turn to Alec with a glare. "Did you know that they had no idea how to break the curse?" The thought of staying in this pack for more than a week was making my skin crawl. After everything they did to me, I just don't see myself comfortably staying here. The memories still haunt me, even now, while we are in this room. His jaw locks, and he stares at me with intense green eyes that are so similar to my daughter's. "Did you fucking know, Alec?" I repeat the question. My hands fist, and the overwhelming need to bang on the table washes over me. I was angry, and I was frustrated. "Yes," the answer seems to be forced out of his lips. "And you didn't think to tell me this before we got on your private jet to come here?" Maybe I would have changed my mind had I known I would be required to stay more than a few days. Maybe we would have reached some kind of compromise. There are a lot of maybes, but I know for damn sure that a little heads-up would have been welcomed. Instead, he kept quiet and chose to blindside me. "Well, it looks like we are done here," I fume, standing up. “My family and I will be leaving on the next available flight." Quicker than I can move, he grabs my hand in a tight hold. I try shaking him off, but he holds on. "Let go of me before I lose my fucking control," I snap. I can feel the telltale signs of my power rising to the surface. With everything that has happened in the last few days, I haven't been able to train with Nyx. I realize, though, that I mainly lose control when I'm feeling angry or scared. "I'm not letting you go; we had a fucking deal, Sadie," he fires back, his eyes now blazing. Rolling my eyes, I face him. "Yes, but you didn't give me all the details to make an informed decision, did you? I came here thinking I wouldn't stay more than a week, but that isn't the case." It pissed me off that he stood there with that unreadable mask on his face, with an air of arrogance acting like I owed him something. I didn't. In fact, he needed me more than I needed him. I could get rid of the bond by marking someone else. I should do that, but then I don't want to. My life is already messy without adding more complications to it. The day I mark and let a man mark me will be out of love for each other—not because I was trying to get rid of my bond with my fated mate. "It doesn't matter; you promised to help, and right now my pack needs your help. Your presence here will be what helps them recover. We can figure out what to do with the curse later." I can read between the lines. As an Alpha, right now the curse doesn't matter as much as the survival of his people. As long as they are in danger of losing their lives, nothing else will take top priority. "Were there any children hurt?" I sigh. Like I said, I have a soft spot for kids. Always have, and probably always will. "Yes, it was an ambush, so we didn't manage to get them all to safety in time," someone speaks, but my attention is on Alec. "I'm only doing this for them," I stare directly into his green orbs. "If it wasn't for them, I would have let all of you crumble and watched you die for what you did to me. Now let go of my hand." That tick in his jaw hardens more at my words. He doesn't say anything, but he does let go of my hand. With a tired breath, I take my seat once again and face the Elders. "Have you ever come across anything that might help? Anything at all?" I ask, my voice pleading for a ray of light. "No. As you were informed, this curse has been there since Alec's grandfather was the Alpha. We believe that a witch placed the curse on us, but we are not sure why, if that's the case. With each year that goes by, the curse keeps sucking the life out of the pack and our members. It's only recently that things have really gone downhill." What he says tells me nothing. Absolutely nothing. It could be a witch. That is the most logical answer. Witches are vindictive creatures. Mess with them and you'd be paying the price for your mistakes for years to come. It could be Alec's grandfather messed with one, but something deep down tells me that's not the case. Too bad I can't go on just feelings alone. "Have you ever thought that it might not be a witch that cursed you?" I ask, and they all look at me as if I've lost my marbles. "Then who would?" Jason fires. "It's the only plausible explanation." "Think about it," I begin. "It would take copious amounts of power to pull off such a curse. Sure, witches and warlocks can curse an individual person, and the curse can run for years, but an entire pack? And then that curse to run for close to a century? Yeah, I don't think a witch cursed you." Raven picks up from where I left off. "Sadie is right. Witches and warlocks don't have that kind of power, even if they practice dark magic. If you were really cursed by one of my kind, then the curse would have started to weaken by now. We age slowly, but we do age, and as we age, our power starts to dwindle a bit. If you were cursed that long ago, then your pack would be getting better, not worse." There is pin-drop silence as they absorb the food for thought we just gave them. There is fear in their eyes at this new insight. I get it. Holding on to the notion that a witch cursed them is better than accepting that someone else, someone more powerful, cursed them. "My father and the Elders always assumed that my granddad offended a witch. Warlocks aren't as vindictive as witches, but witches are, and so we all went with that. Now, to know we had been wrong the whole time is a big blow," Alec grumbles in the seat next to me. "It would explain why we never got a solution," Micah jumps in. “We were looking for answers in the wrong direction with the wrong information. I don't know why we never thought of it along those lines.” Elder Martin turns to me with a smile. "This is really amazing; you've been here less than a few hours, and already you're helping just like the texts hinted. We would have continued to run in circles had you not come and pointed us in a different direction. Now we know what to look for." I don't return the smile. My head is spinning, trying to find a way to deal with everything. I just want a breather, but I know I can't have that until this damn meeting is over. "What you should be focusing on is who is strong enough to curse you in such a manner. Did your pack somehow offend the goddess or something?" I say instead. They gasp in shock and look at me as if I killed a precious little puppy. "No. We would never do anything to offend the goddess. We have always walked in her way and worshiped her in truth and spirit," another Elder says, his eyes portraying his shock that I would even ask that. "Look, I'm just throwing around ideas at this point, okay? All I know is that this curse needs lots of power—not only to place it but to maintain it. It needed someone really powerful to cast it, and if not the deities, then who?" My hunch is on the deities. They've been known to curse their people as punishment for wrongdoing. So yes, it could be the goddess who cursed them or one of the other deities. Unless... it was someone else. Someone not as powerful as the goddess, but powerful nonetheless. It couldn't be her, could it?