✔️| The Gift of a Curse

CHAPTER NINE

I examine Nick’s necklace like it was an alien object. When I contemplated going to the Open Wound pack, I did not consider that I have never travelled through an enchanted necklace before. Thus, I have no clue how to use it. If anyone is to come into the room at this moment, I will most definitely get thrown in the pack’s prison.

A mental institution is a more suitable place if you ask me. Accalia mocks me.

Well, I did NOT ask you, so shut your hole! I snap at her. Although deep down, I know she is right.

I sit on the floor beside the bed with the back bag that Nick granted me on my back and I stare at the necklace like an old woman would stare at a phone or a modern watch.

At first, I say it out loud: ‘take me to the Open Wound Pack,’ when that did not work, I try saying it in a different way. ‘I wish to teleport to the Open Wound Pack’ or ‘my destination is the Open Wound Pack.’ When all my creative rephrasing does not work, I search for a button or anything unusual. Unfortunately, I come up with nothing. I huff and throw the stupid necklace on the bed.

Do not tell me you are giving up now. Accalia teases me. Her chuckle urges me to get up and punch one of the pillows.

If you are not going to help, then shut the hell up. I angrily snap at her. If I do not figure out how to use this necklace, then all my plans will get flushed down the toilet.

Well, I would mentally declare my intention to reach the Open Wound territory. I freeze at her suggestion; I do not know how I did not think of that on my own. I choose to blame it on stress.

Grudgingly, I pick the necklace and do as Accalia proposed. Sadly, it did not work. So, I try another method; I wrap my fingers around the damned thing and close my eyes. I picture in my mind what I imagine alpha Cresswell’s territory to be like; the trees, the houses, the magical barrier, even the soil. I draw an image of how I believe Alexander Cresswell looks like. I imagine being trapped inside their territory until the day I die.

Suddenly, I feel weird sensation travelling to every cell in my body; as if hundreds of ants are walking on my skin. I keep my eyes shut for a few more seconds while I wait for this horrible moment to pass. My plan, however, is ruined when I hear a deafening scream that causes my soul to jump out of my body.

“Who are you?” A woman who seems to be in her mid-forties stands before me with a confused-terrified look on her face.

“Who are you?” she whispers again, and I am tempted to ask her the same thing. However, I remind myself that I am the one who is invading her pack, her house, and her privacy. Thus, I am the one who owes her an explanation, not the other way around.

“My name is Shadow Prior; I am from the Red Eclipse pack…”

“That does not explain how you magically appeared in the middle of my house!” The older woman interrupts me. Even though she tries to show me that she is calm and uninitiated, I can tell that she is freaking out.

She is afraid for her child.

What child?

Focus on your hearing.

It takes me a few seconds, but I finally understand what Accalia is implying; there are three heart beats in the house. I take a closer look on the woman, and I notice her left hand covering her tummy in a protective way.

“I am not here to harm you or your child, I just want to talk.” My first mistake is mentioning her offspring. The second one is walking towards her. Thus, she grabs a kitchen knife from the counter, and she points it at me. What annoys me, however, is the fact that I just realized that we are in a kitchen.

I cannot believe that I am stuck with an idiot human like you until we die. It literally makes me want to cut off my tongue. I can feel Accalia’s anger and frustration at me.

Shut up Accalia!

You want me to shut up you freaking moron! You do not just break into someone’s home and tell them you are not intending to harm their child because it implies that you are a liar!

The hostile debate between my wolf and I is interrupted by the knife being thrown at me. I yelp in pain as it penetrates my left shoulder; I do not even want to understand how she managed to give me an actual injury using a kitchen knife or how I did not even hear her throw it.

I grab my bleeding shoulder with my right hand gritting my teeth in pain. I do not want to take the knife out simply because I do not know if that will cause even more damage.

“Look, I know how this looks, believe me I really do, and you do not even have to believe me but please hear me out.” I really should have thought about the possibility of not being transported to Alexander Cresswell himself. Although I doubt teleporting straight to him would have gone better than meeting this woman.

“Hear what? The werewolf community cannot leave this pack alone! It is not like we have communicated with anyone from outside the barrier!” A look of disgust and hatred paints her face. I can sense her love and devotion to her pack, and I can also sense her strong aura so she must be the mate of a werewolf of a high rank. I can also detect the desperation in her voice, not for mercy or life, but for freedom and peace. Because of this woman, I begin to consider the possibility that maybe not all the rumors about this pack are true.

“You are right werewolves all around the world will not leave you alone, and they are planning something big for your pack. I came here to warn you about…” I get interrupted by a large man who throws me into the wall, and twists the knife in my shoulder. My scream fills the silence as he continues to twist the knife.

“What are you doing here you filthy woman?” I can tell that his wolf is out, which means I am in deep trouble.

“Ethan, she said she is here to warn us about something.” The woman yells over my pained screams. I know she does not want who is assume to be her mate to kill me; I just cannot decide of it is because she wants to hear what I have to say or because she wants me to die in a much worse way. Just because I start to doubt the rumors, does not mean that maybe they are true.

“She broke into our home Jocelyn, if there is a danger then she is its source.” I start to lose focus; the loss of blood and the pain begin to take a toll on my body, but I do not think I will faint; at least that is what I hope.

“Regardless, you cannot kill her, not without Xander knowing that a rogue is in his territory.”

“I am his father, I can do whatever I see fit.”

“But he is the alpha of this pack, not you; not anymore. You will make the members question his authority if you do not wait for him to arrive.”

I may not be the smartest person in the world, but even I am able to put the pieces together. I broke into Alexander Cresswell’s parents’ house, and he is on his way to possibly kill or torture me.

Do not be over dramatic; once he arrives do what Nick instructed you to do.

I try to take a deep breath in order to relax and I let Accalia’s words sink in, but it is hard to do so when I am in so much pain.

“You mind-linked him?” The hand that is not twisting the knife in my flesh finds its way to my neck; choking me.

“Of course I did…” she rambles about her son and her mate but the lack of oxygen makes me less attached to my surroundings with each second that passes.

Suddenly, the weight of the man, who is apparently named Ethan, is lifted off of me, leaving the knife to swim in my body. I immediately collapse to the floor as I pant while I feel the air reenter my lungs. One of my hands goes to my neck while the other puts pressure on my wounded shoulder.

“Xander, are you standing against your father for this worthless rogue?” Ethan’s rage echoes in my ears, it causes me to look up at Ethan who glares at a blue eyed man young man who appears to be in his mid-twenties.

Are you seriously focusing on the color of Alexander Cresswell’s eyes? You really are stupid sometimes Shadow!

So now you show up? Where were you when I was getting the air knocked out of my lungs?

If I had taken over and attacked, then we would be in an even worse situation. Besides, this woman, Jocelyn, she is right, no alpha would disrespect their sons because it would affect the pack and his son’s title.

I am tempted to tell her that she is just making assumptions, but I simply do not have the energy. Therefore, I just block her and turn my attention to the three members of the Open Wound pack.

“I do not mean to interrupt this heated family deliberation, but I am not a rogue.” I remind the people in the room of my presence. I presume my statement sounds somewhat funny for them since I am still bleeding on the floor.

The notorious alpha grabs a towel from one of the drawers and kneels down before me. I take a moment to examine his face. He has grayish blue eyes; if you look into their depths you can see a peculiar spark of crystal blue in them. He also has light pink lips, and a thin beard. As for his hair, it is as black as a crow’s feather; it is supposed to be gelled back, but its length causes a strand to fall onto his forehead. His skin seems to be kissed by the sun. I will even venture and say, his features are soft. He clears his throat in an attempt to cut off my thoughts and have my attention.

“Hey, my name is Xander. What is yours beautiful?” His gentle tone takes me off guard. Nonetheless, I answer him.

“Shadow” I barely hear myself, but I know he hears me because of the little smile and nod he gives me.

“Okay Shadow, I know you are hurt, but I need to take the knife out, okay?” He looks straight into my eyes with an emotion that can only be adoration; which is something I find utterly confusing. Regardless, I nod at him giving him approval to pull the damn thing out.

Opposite to my expectation, he actually pulls it out so slowly and carefully. Then, he puts the towel back on the wound.

“Do you think you will be okay?” if I did not know better, I would say he is feeling my pain even though I can already feel the wound slowly healing.

“Yes, thank you.” My voice is a little hoarse because of the yelling I did earlier. Despite the fact that I am slightly uncomfortable with the way Alexander Creswell is acting towards me, I become officially freaked out by him when he places a hand on my right check and leans in. What is even creepier is he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in relief and content as his fingers softly rub my cheek.

“What are you doing?” I try to sound confident as I pull my face away from him. He looks deeply hurt and betrayed by my action. Therefore, I decide to question his bizarre behavior.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I try to decipher and understand him but he is extremely perplexing. The notorious alpha takes my right hand in his and looks me in the eye.

“You are acting as if you do not feel it.” His small smile dissolves once again when I pull away from him for a second time.

Maybe he is just crazy.

It pains me to say this, but I think you are right. I reply quickly before I force myself to stand up. My shoulder still hurts, but the bleeding stopped a few minutes ago, so I am slowly regaining my strength.

Another young man bursts into the kitchen in nothing but basketball shorts. He is African-American, has dark brown eyes, and sharp cheekbones. Even though he is wearing a hat, I can see that he is bald.

He looks around the room before he sees me, immediately his eyes light up. Jocelyn, Ethan and I are puzzled by his enthusiasm. Alexander, however, seems to understand the guy’s reaction. His smile, however, disappears when he and his alpha lock eyes. That is when I decide to speak up, I refuse to stand here and not understand what is going on.

“What are you talking about? What am I supposed to feel?” the annoyance is evident in my tone.

“Xander what is going on? I thought you said this woman is your…” The guy starts talking but gets interrupted.

“Not now Owen.” The alpha raises his finger at the guy; Owen; in warning. By the power that I can feel flowing from his body, I can tell that he is the head warrior; Clay has a similar aura.

“Listen…” The alpha takes a step towards me with determination and longing. His eyes are gradually becoming glassy; he is so close to crying. It is obvious that he is torn between his human side who wants to breakdown, and his wolf side who wants to break a chair or two.

“I need you to be honest with me. Do you seriously not feel anything when I touch you or look you in the eye? What about your wolf?” he is serious, but I just cannot seem to take him seriously. However, considering he has been kind to me in the fifteen minutes I knew him, I decide to be as polite as I can allow myself to be.

“I do not know what you expect me to feel, or what you want from me, but the only thing I am feeling right now is confusion.” I try to show him that I am sincere, but I still earn a growl in response.

“What is this about son?” Ethan asks Alexander as he glares at me.

This man hates us.

Tell me about it, and he has not met you yet! Accalia growls at me without bothering to reply. Alexander looks at both of his parents and a few seconds later, he speaks up.

“As long as Shadow is in this territory, she is under my protection. No one is allowed to harm her in any way.” All four people in the room stare at me as if waiting for me to do a back flip. I can see the different emotions that are consuming each and every one of them. Jocelyn is shocked, Ethan is angry, Owen is disappointed, and Alexander is heartbroken.

The one I am focusing on, however, is Alexander. I watch as a tear comes down his cheek. When he notices me tracing it with my eyes, his expression becomes cold and he turns to Owen.

“Take Shadow to my house, I will be right behind you.” And he just walks out of the room not waiting to hear a reply.

Owen’s hand is in front of me; waiting for me to shake it. But before he can say anything, the sounds of furniture getting smashed and destroyed echoes throughout the house. Ethan sighs as Alexander starts to scream as if his life depends on it.

The crashing and the screaming continues for a few minutes before the eastern wall starts to shake indicating that it is being repeatedly punched by a very strong alpha. At this point, Jocelyn breaks down and covers her face in her mate’s chest.

“Owen, do as your alpha ordered.” Ethan says over his son’s screams as he holds his mate tight. Owen nods before he looks at me and points at the door; silently asking me to follow him out of it. I am feeling aghast, thus I do as he pleases.

This is going to be awkward. I mutter to my wolf.

Yes it will be, so you should try and figure out what just happened. I mean, I do not see a way for this situation to get more complicated.