Ray of Hope: The Cursed Elements Series Book 1

by K. Mawhood

No, there’s no way I’m this Power of Five. No freaking way. He must be mistaken.

  I start shaking my head no, but he cuts me off when I open my mouth to speak.

  “It is said that The Power of Five would possess the powers of all five elements.”

  “Well, there you go. I don’t have all five of the powers you mentioned. I’ve never experienced the spirit power… whatever that entails.”

  “Have you ever read someone’s thoughts, had a dream that you knew was not your own, or felt an emotion of someone close to you? Maybe you have a very close connection with someone. It feels intense, correct? That would be because you are also feeling their spirit’s attraction to you along with your own to them.”

  I quickly glance over at Cayden. The dream. I had the exact dream he was having of his brothers’ deaths. Shit. No, no, no, no. I was hoping he could perform some voodoo ritual to get rid of these powers and now he’s sitting here telling me I’m their damn saviour? No, just no.

  Looking back at Cecil he gives me a small smile. “I’m assuming you know what I’m talking about.”

  “I might have accidentally jumped into someone else's dream once,” I say glancing at Cayden once more.

  Cayden stands abruptly. “Mine? What the fuck? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even know it was your dream until the other day when you told me about it. How do you break that news to someone? Oh hey, Cayden, I saw your worst nightmare, that really sucks. I mean, really, it was better I kept it quiet.”

  He moves behind our chairs and paces while he’s taking a deep breath and clenching and unclenching his fists. I turn back to Cecil to give him the semblance of privacy. I understand his freak out. I wouldn’t want someone to witness one of the worst moments of my life either.

  “Wouldn’t The Power of Five, whoever she is, have to be supernatural or mated or something to even be strong enough to break a curse? I haven’t even found a mate yet.”

  “It is said that she will have mates that are descendants from each power. Mating with them will enhance her powers, which will enable her to break the curse.”

  The boys look around at each other at this new development. Five mates? That seems a bit excessive, poor girl.

  “So, that’s why we all feel a mate bond with her then?” Liam asks, shocking the fuck out of me and causing the other guys to glare daggers at him.

  I stand up fast, causing my chair to fall backwards. “What do you mean you all feel a mate bond?” I ask slowly.

  They all meet my eyes, and I see guilt all over their faces.

  Wyatt stretches his arm out to me, but I quickly step out of his grasp. “Princess, we didn’t want to freak you out. You just learned you weren’t human. We thought telling you that you were our mate would be too much.”

  “We didn’t know if it was true or not. None of us have ever heard about a mate bond with five people,” Barrett adds.

  “Six, actually,” Cecil interjects, not helping the situation at all.

  I’m standing there, immobile, with the blood rushing in my ears, barely paying attention to the conversation around me.

  “So, she’s going to have another mate outside the four of us?” Cayden asks.

  “There’s another wolf out there representing the fifth element, and I’m assuming she’s been near him recently if she’s been able to use all five of the gifts,” Cecil says.

  “Ok, so someone from one of your guys’ packs,” Liam says to Cayden and Barrett.

  “I would guess so. That’s the only thing that makes sense,” Wyatt adds in.

  I’m about to lose my shit. How can they just sit there calmly, asking all these stupid fucking questions? I need to get out of here before I lose control or something. I feel like the walls are closing in and I can’t breathe.

  I start breathing heavily and backing up towards the door.

  “I can’t believe y’all hid this from me. I even asked you guys if you felt anything weird, that was the perfect opportunity to tell me and you didn’t. You just made stupid jokes, and then spewed some dumb shit about honesty. Ha! What a joke.”

  I look over at Barrett’s guilt-stricken face. “So much for hating liars, huh? You hypocritical ass. This is too much. I can’t be here anymore.”

  I turn and run from the office and down the hall towards the front door. I can hear the guys behind me calling for me to stop and wait. There’s no way I’m stopping. I need to get the heck away from them right now. I can hear their footsteps getting closer.

  I whip around as I reach the foyer and throw my arm out. “Back off! I don’t want to hear shit from any of you.”

  A gust of wind blows through the room, throwing them back on their asses and into the living room.

  Running out the door, I head straight for the truck. Thank the Lord they left the keys in the ignition. Hopping in, I start it up and take off down the road back to Barrett’s cabin. I grab my phone and order an Uber to pick me up and try not to kill myself at the same time.

  My heart aches a little at the thought of leaving, but I can’t stay here. That’s some major shit to keep hidden from me and honestly, I don’t think I trust them anymore. I try not to think of all of the fun I’ve had the past week: the dates, games, and BBQs, but I do, and I begin to cry. I feel like they are each an extension of myself now, and leaving them is going to kill me.

  I start to hyperventilate while trying to drive the truck, causing me to drive slower than I should. I can’t have them catch up to me because I won’t be able to leave if I see their faces. I have to push through. I take deep breaths and try to focus on seeing Kelsey again instead. I’ve missed her, and I need her by my side right now.

  Pulling into the driveway, I jump from the driver's seat and run to the front door, letting myself in. I head straight to Barrett’s room and throw my clothes haphazardly into my suitcase while ugly crying. I’m out the door not even five minutes later, and running up the road that leads to the pack lands’ gate.

  I spot a silver Camry waiting for me right outside. The driver gets out and opens his trunk for me to put my bags in. Climbing in the backseat, I get on my phone to buy a plane ticket home. My savings account is going to take a hit booking a last-minute flight, but I don’t care.

  I’m wiping away the few tears from my face that escaped as I call up Kelsey to tell her I’m coming home. Screw being The Power of Five.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Liam

  “I’m getting tired of these powers,” I say as I get to my feet.

  “We have to go after her. She doesn’t need to be alone right now,” Cayden says.

  “Wait! Before you go, it’s imperative you keep this to yourselves. This information doesn’t need to be in the hands of anyone yet, especially not the Vampires,” Cecil says to us.

  “Why?” Wyatt asks.

  “Because if they know she’s The Power of Five, they will take her and break their own curse.”

  “We won’t say anything to anyone,” Barrett assures him.

  We all nod to him in thanks and all race to the door.

  Cayden is out before anyone else and realizes she took the truck. He shifts, and we all follow suit. We take off and head towards the house, hoping she’s there.

  I shift back, slam open the door, and in all my naked glory, I shout, “Brayleigh!!” I can still smell apples. She’s been here. I run to the back door, open it, and shout her name again. No answer.

  “All of her clothes are gone. She left.” Wyatt says, clearly distraught.

  “But the truck was in the driveway. Did she just start walking?” Cayden asks.

  “I don’t know, but we need to find out. She doesn’t need to be walking alone,” Barrett adds.

  “Let’s go,” I say as I exit the house, and we all start running towards the gate, butt ass naked.

  We get to the gate and look left and right, but there is no sign of her.

  “She must’ve ordered an Uber or somet
hing,” I say.

  “I’m going to get the truck and come pick y’all up. Figure out which way you think she would’ve gone.” Cayden tells us.

  “I’ll go with you so I can grab us some clothes,” Wyatt tells him.

  “Barrett, shift and see if you can smell gasoline to the left, I’ll do the same this way,” I say as I head to the right.

  “She went to the left,” Barrett says once he has shifted back.

  Cayden pulls up and slams on the breaks. “Get in.”

  We pile in and tell him she went left.

  “What if we can’t find her? What do we do?” Cayden asks.

  “We will just head back to Texas and try and find her,” Barrett says while shaking his leg, moving the whole truck.

  “Do we really think she could be The Power of Five?” I ask.

  “It makes sense. Whenever she was alone with each of us, especially when each of us was intimate with her, something always happened,” Wyatt says.

  “With me, she caught a bush on fire,” Cayden says absently, focusing on driving.

  “The sink sprayed us the first time we almost kissed,” Wyatt declares.

  “She made a whole garden of flowers grow with me,” Barrett says proudly.

  “Shut up,” we all say in unison.

  “What happened when she was with me?” I ask, feeling left out.

  There is complete silence for a moment. Great, I’m broken.

  “Didn’t we see a tornado on the news a few miles down from Cayden’s house the night of the BBQ?” Wyatt asks.

  “Ha! A tornado is better than a garden of flowers,” I say jokingly.

  That sounded better in my head.

  “So, what? Cayden has the power of fire, Wyatt is water, Barrett is earth, and I am wind?” I ask slowly, trying not to sound crazy.

  “I guess so, I don’t know. It’s a lot to take in,” Barrett says.

  I rub my hands up and down my thighs anxiously. “Just think of how she’s feeling. No wonder she left. I told all of you we shouldn’t have kept the mate bond a secret.”

  There’s more silence as Cayden continues to speed the truck down the road. I always love a good I told you so moment.

  “You’re right,” Barrett stammers out.

  “Can I hear that again and louder?” I snap back.

  “Why are we doing this right now? We should be focusing on looking for her,” Cayden growls.

  “That’s if we even can find her,” Wyatt says dejectedly.

  Brayleigh

  “So you’re The Power of Five and the savior of the supernaturals?” Kelsey screams into the phone.

  “I don’t fucking know. All I know is they didn’t tell me everything, and it was just too much at once. I had to get out of there. For the first time in the last week, I just want to be in my bed with some ice cream and a movie,” I cry.

  By now, the Uber driver is looking at me like I’m fucking crazy and probably escaped from a nut-house. I don’t care. I know we are almost to the airport, and once I get on that plane, I’ll feel ten times better.

  “Ma’am, we are here. Do you need help getting in with your bag?” he asks.

  “No, I’ll manage. Thanks for the ride,” I say while getting out of the car and going around to the trunk. I open it, get my bag and tell Kelsey I’m here.

  “Stay on the phone for a bit. I’m sure you’ll have to wait for your flight. You need to talk this out,” she tells me with concern in her voice.

  I close the trunk and sling my bag over my shoulder. “Yeah, you’re right, Kels. I’m going to sit outside, so no one looks at me like the Uber driver just did.” I laugh.

  “See, you’re already laughing. Everything will be fine,” she says with a giggle.

  I sit down on a bench and put my bag on the ground. “Yeah, I know. I just don’t know how I even got here. Like, I had sex with a werewolf.”

  “What the fuck! Really? Spill. The. Tea!”

  “Girl, it was amazing. It felt like we were connecting on a whole other level. I orgasmed three fucking times and made a bunch of flowers grow,” I blurt out.

  “Wait! What? Oh, like your powers went crazy again?”

  “Yeah, it was…” I go silent. I feel a sensation, it’s familiar, but I can’t place it. I feel anger, but I can tell it’s not mine.

  No, this is not good. The only other time I’ve felt an emotion that wasn’t mine was at the hotel.

  I begin to look around while grabbing my bag. I need to be prepared to run.

  “What’s going on?” Kelsey says in my ear.

  “I don’t know. I think someone is here. I can’t explain it but it’s just a feeling in my gut.”

  “Can you see anyone? Go inside where there are other people,” she says urgently.

  “Yeah, I’m heading to the—”

  The phone falls to the ground as I’m grabbed from behind, a hand covering my mouth.

  Kieran

  “Yes, sir, I’m sure she’s here. I can feel her,” I say to my father on the phone.

  “No fuck ups this time. We need her. Don’t let anything stop you. If someone gets in your way, deal with it,” he says with a harsh tone, and the line goes dead.

  I put the phone on my dash and start to plan what I should do. I’ll never make it out with her if I’m against four other wolves. I’m going to have to wait for her to be alone.

  “Back off! I don’t want to hear shit from any of you,” I hear from far away.

  Well, that was fucking easy.

  The sounds of a car door shutting and an engine starting grabs my attention. Now is my chance; I can hear the car approaching from where I’m parked. I gather my things and turn off my car, waiting for her to come closer.

  I get out of the car but just as I go to close my door, the engine shuts off. I can hear her crying as she goes into a house. I get back in my car and continue to listen to her begin to sob.

  This is torture. What the fuck happened?

  I shouldn’t fucking care. She’s nothing to me, this is just a job.

  Just as I turn my car back on, another car passes me and parks right next to the gates up ahead. She ordered a car. She’s leaving.

  I see her come up to the gate and meet the driver. I forgot how sexy she is. My dick instantly gets hard thinking about what I would do to her.

  She gets in and the car begins to drive off. I continue to follow as they head to what I’m assuming is either an airport or a bus station.

  After a bit, they stop at the local airport. She gets out and is on the phone, talking to someone named Kels. It must be the other girl on the camping trip. She goes to sit down at a bench with her stuff as the car drives away.

  “Yeah, I know. I just don’t know how I even got here. Like, I had sex with a werewolf.”

  What the fuck. She slept with one of those dogs? I feel my rage bubbling up, but I bury that shit down. If she wants to sleep with one of those fleabags, have at it. Not my problem.

  Now that I’m fucking pissed off, this is going to be easy, I think to myself as I begin to walk towards the bench from behind.

  She stops talking and begins to look around. How the fuck does she know I’m here? Does she hear me?

  She gets up and gathers her things just as I reach her. I grab her from behind, put my hand over her mouth, flash us back to my car, and pin her against the bumper.

  “Miss me? I definitely missed you,” I say as I maneuver a zip tie around her wrists, turn her around and open the trunk. Because after last time, I had my trunk lined with metal, hoping this will help with any kind of powers she tries to use.

  I caress her face with my free hand, feeling high off the contact. “No escaping this time and you’re going to pay for what you did to the last car.”

  Her eyes widen in fear as she begins to try and speak beneath my hand while I move my other hand to her outer thigh, right where her dress ends.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you,” I taunt as I go to whisper in her ear. “Did you
say something, beautiful?” I continue feeling my way up her thigh to her hip, bringing her dress up with it.

  She begins to squirm to try and get away from my touch, but she has no chance, I’m too strong. I’m immediately offended; no woman has ever pulled away from my touch before.

  “Save your breath. You’ll talk plenty when the council gets ahold of you. And if you don’t, you might not be so beautiful anymore,” I say as I push her into the trunk and close it.

  I get into the car and start it as I hear her screams and pleas from the trunk. I pause, thinking I might be too harsh, but then I recall how I failed the last time and how weak I looked in my father’s eyes.

  It is going to be a long drive to New York City.

  Pulling out my phone as I get on the freeway, I dial my dad.

  “What?” he answers.

  “I have her.”

  Acknowledgments

  First of all, we’d like to thank Sarah Jones. She’s been with us since the beginning. Always letting us know if something was shit or amazeballs. She kept us going and made us write, like a physical trainer for our minds. But way more aggressive and we love her for it.

  Secondly, we want to thank Barbara G. for helping us out with our initial round of editing. You helped us elevate our book to the next level so thank you so much!!

  Thanks to all our Betas!

  Amanda, Becky, Elizabeth, Heather, Jessica, Kayleigh, Melissa, Meredith, and Sam.

  We could not have done this without y’all!

  We would also like to thank everyone that helped us get our book ready to be out in the world.

  Editor: Quell T. Fox

  Cover Designer: JJ King

  Formatter: Ashton Lee Abbott

  Oh, and I suppose we should give a shout out to our hubbies for helping us get to this point. Giving us inspiration for some of our characters’ traits, listening to our thoughts and ideas, and answering the random as hell questions we had about “guy” things. We love y’all!!!

  B’s dad attempted the cover. It was a close call but we decided to go with the other option.