Cursed Vengeance

  Silence filled the room as I looked at Sean. His color was coming back, his chest rising and falling in even breaths. The last trace of the substance had disappeared. I didn’t feel any unnatural magic when I passed my hands over him, no negative energy left.

  “Sean, hey, talk to me?” My voice was hoarse, ragged. I didn’t care. Didn’t even mind feeling lightheaded. I needed a response. “Sean, wake up.”

  Nothing.

  I ran my fingers over his forehead. “Sean. Talk to me.” Tears started to form. He was breathing but not answering.

  Dylan’s hand closed over my shoulder. “Give him a minute. He looks better already.”

  Brushing Dylan’s hand off me, I gripped Sean’s shoulders and shook him hard. “Wake up, Sean!”

  He sucked in a breath, his eyes flying open. Then he wrapped me in his arms, pulling me on top of him. “You did it,” he whispered. “You really did it.”

  I relaxed against him, letting the tears come. “Couldn’t lose my big brother.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Pulled it out. Don’t touch that bag or the crystal for anything.”

  He pushed me back gently. “Why? What the hell did you do?”

  I managed to sit up. “Drew it from you and put it in the crystal. It changed it to black.”

  “I saw it,” Dylan admitted.

  I turned slowly but had to grab his arm to steady myself. “You saw the curse?”

  He nodded, a frown pulling at his face. “Like you said, black swirling goo. You pulled it out of him and trapped it in the crystal. The second it was out of his body, his color started coming back, his breathing evened out.”

  “How? I don’t understand,” Sean asked.

  I turned to him. His brow was furrowed as he looked at the bag, but he sat up on his own, and looked better already. “It was like a cancer or infection. I took it from you and got rid of it. We still need to find a way to stop the curse. It’s not over yet.”

  My heart squeezed tight. I need to figure out what the damned coven was doing and soon. Full moon was in a few more days and Mom said something about a ritual every full moon in her journal, which led me to believe they would be renewing the curse soon after the full moon. And now I didn’t have a crystal to spy on them.

  The buzzing started in my head and I rubbed at my temples. My eyes started to slide shut.

  “I knew you could do it, baby girl.” Mom smiled at me. Her auburn waves were loose, falling around her white dress.

  Staring at her, I shook my head. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Wanted to protect you as long as I could. My mother, your grandmother, she wanted to use my magic for her own plans. I never understood until it was too late.”

  “Understood what?” I pleaded, needing more than a few cryptic words.

  “You’ll find the answers in the books. You’re missing one piece. Find the wooden box Seamus carved for Sean.”

  “What?”

  “Your brother has it hidden. You’ll understand when you find it.”

  She faded away, leaving me alone in the swirling mist.

  “Wake up, baby. Wake up,” Dylan murmured, stroking my face with gentle fingers. I lay curled in his lap, warmth surrounding me, and so much concern it could drown me.

  I sat up, looking around. Sean’s living room. Breakfast was cooking.

  “He’s still okay?” I asked. My voice was stronger this time.

  “Yeah. You scared me, though.”

  “I told you, she used a lot of energy. She needs food, then we can figure out who goes in to take care of the project.”

  Dylan studied my face, his hand drifting down my neck, then collarbone, settling over my heart. He took a deep breath and finally smiled. “You okay, love?”

  “Better. Sorry. Guess I was drained. How long was I out?”

  “Half an hour. Long enough for Sean to shower and start breakfast.”

  “Okay.” I tried to climb out of his lap, but Dylan pulled me tighter. “What is it?”

  “Proud of you.” He kissed me softly, but it quickly turned hungry as his hand slid up my side, then over my breast.

  I pulled back, stilling his hands. Tempting as it was to get lost in Dylan, I needed to be sure Sean was okay. “Later, I promise. But Sean was just dying and I need to be sure he’s okay.”

  He nodded, his golden eyes lined with the color of his beast. “First, are you really okay?”

  “I am. But he’s right, I’m hungry. Tonight you can have me to yourself.”

  He stood, cradling me in his arms with a defiant smirk. “You took care of my best friend, let me take care of you.”

  Giggling, I dropped my head to his shoulder. “You going to feed me too?”

  He looked over at Sean and back. “No. Sean might kick my ass if I get carried away.”

  “You’re already there,” I teased. “Put me down, and I’ll prove I’m fine. Then you can both go to work, and I can try to figure out how to stop the curse once and for all.”

  Sean brought plates to the table and squeezed my shoulder. “Thank you, Sierra. I really thought it was over.”

  I squeezed his hand. “Teach you to doubt my awesomeness,” I jested and he leaned down to kiss my head and give me a quick squeeze.

  “So you can’t do that for everyone?” he asked.

  “I’m sure I could. I’d have to find something to trap the curse into, but I’m worried what would happen if it breaks, or something goes wrong.”

  “True. So what do you think is causing it?”

  I shifted in my seat and drew a breath. “While you two were gone, I looked into the crystal. They have this thing, I couldn’t see what it was, but they funnel dark energy into it. Seems like they are always adding to it. One of them said something about delivering it. And the journals mentioned a ritual every full moon. So, maybe they’re renewing the curse every month.”

  “How?”

  “Don’t know yet.” I wasn’t sure how to broach the subject of the dream I’d had. If they both left, I could search for the box. I could have sworn I’d seen something like that when I was growing up.

  Dylan’s eyes narrowed, concern clear on his face. “And if I don’t want to leave you alone?”

  I shrugged. “You both have work. Which reminds me, Monday I’m going to have to go back home.”

  Dylan stiffened, his gaze locking on mine. “You aren’t staying?”

  I shrugged. “We’ll figure that out, but I can’t quit, and I’m not going to stop working. I don’t know what you all think mating entails, but I still have my life, and I’m not walking away from it.”

  He nodded, looking away. “Yeah, I know. Maybe compromise because I can’t let you walk away for good.”

  “I won’t. Which is why I need to solve this curse for good. I’m not losing you any more than I’m losing my brother. You’re stuck with me, Dylan.”

  He smiled slightly. “We’ll figure it out.”

  I turned to Sean. “You two have something important at work. I’ll stay here, you guys go. I won’t go anywhere. You have my word.”

  “Not even to Mom’s altar,” he warned with narrowed eyes.

  “Nope, not even there. I’m staying right here.”

  “Not my house?” Dylan asked.

  “You can pick me up when you’re done. How about that?”

  “Can I ask why?”

  I nodded to the boxes of books. “Everything I need is right there. This will be easier, since I imagine you two are running out of time before you have to go do whatever it is you’re doing.”

  “Yeah, take her home afterward. I definitely don’t need you two going at it like bunnies in the next room.”

  I rolled my eyes. “We were good last night.”

  “A miracle, I’m sure. I know what you two got up to before you finally showed up yesterday.”

  I couldn’t help the blush. “Least it wasn’t in your driveway.”

  “Thank God for small favors,” he teased.
“Now eat. I know you need the fuel.”

  He was right. My stomach rumbled in agreement and I dove in.

  Chapter 16

  Dylan

  Sitting around the table eating breakfast seemed surreal. Hours ago the curse had its claws in Sean, all of the signs of his impending death filling the room. Now he sat acting as if it was just another morning, like nothing significant happened. He was the first of our kind to survive the curse in over fifty years. A dark spell that took both of our fathers and our best friend.

  I knew we were both still concerned about Sierra. The dark circles under her eyes testified to how much energy she lost healing Sean. Trying to keep me calm when she passed out, he assured me she’d be fine. She needed food and some more sleep. For the third or fourth time since we sat down, I found my gaze straying to Sean. Some part of my brain wanted to reassure myself he was indeed okay. His skin color had returned to normal. In fact, there was no trace of the curse anywhere on him.

  “Are you guys planning to stay all morning to keep your eyes on me?” Sierra asked, sitting back in her seat with her arms crossed over her chest.

  I noticed Sierra looked more refreshed since finishing her breakfast.

  “Can you blame me?” I asked. “Sean was at death’s door less than two hours ago and you passed out healing him. Do you really expect me to not be a little worried?”

  “I’m fine, man, there’s no need to worry about me,” Sean said, gesturing at himself.

  “I can see that, but don’t you realize you are the first of our kind to survive the curse? Everyone knows tomorrow is your birthday. When they see you walking around they’re going to want to know what the fuck happened.”

  He sighed. “I’m absolutely thrilled Sierra was able to find an answer in time, but I’m worried about how some of the pack are going to react. They’re already blaming her for what’s going on. Now, the day after Christian’s funeral, she’s able to save me. Forgive me if I’m not ready to bring more shit down on my sister.”

  “Fuck.” I dropped my head into my hands. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass what they think,” Sierra snapped.

  “You better, unless of course you want to deal with more of the fighting from the other day,” Sean argued.

  “There better not be any more of that bullshit.” She stood and took her plate to the sink.

  I followed her over and wrapped my arms around her. “Sometimes that’s part of pack life. Although usually only over a mate or an alpha challenge.”

  She threw her hands up in the air and stepped out of my embrace. “You know what? I know that being a wolf is a big part of who you are, but I don’t understand the fighting.” She turned to walk away.

  Grabbing her hand, I pulled her around to face me. “Please don’t be mad. All of that is normally handled at a full moon, not in the streets. We won’t let there be any fighting and neither will Theresa. But we need to let the pack know you can take the curse until we can find the permanent solution.”

  “I hate to admit it, but Dylan’s right,” Sean spoke up from somewhere behind me.

  “Thanks a lot, asshole.”

  “You know what I mean. Let’s go deal with the quote we’ve been putting off. It’s outside of town anyway. On our way we can call around and set up an impromptu pack meeting for later today to tell them about the temporary solution to the curse.”

  “Okay.” I looked over at Sean and mouthed ‘give me a minute.’ He nodded and left the room.

  “Sierra?” I knew she was still irritated when she didn’t come any closer to me than she had to.

  “What, Dylan?” Her words were sharp and to the point.

  “Sierra, I promise no fighting. Most of them, besides Bradley, will be happy we have a solution even if it is temporary.”

  She took a step closer. “Who’s next?”

  Staring straight into her eyes, I answered, “Me.”

  Finally, she stepped into my arms. “Then you better get to work, so I can find a permanent solution.”

  The three magic words were on the tip of my tongue, but I knew she wasn’t ready to hear them, and bit them back. Bending down, I slid my lips across her, savoring the sweet taste. My tongue slipped into her mouth, tangling with hers.

  “I’ll see you tonight,” I whispered.

  “Looking forward to it,” she sighed.

  I met Sean in the living room. “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “It is now. Are you driving or calling?”

  “I think you better call.”

  “Fine, but you owe me.”

  He laughed. “You mated my sister, I don’t owe you shit.”

  An idea occurred to me. I knew exactly how he could repay me for making the calls. Sierra’s comments about not giving up her life were playing on repeat in my head. Being that far apart was never good for a mated pair.

  Once we were in the truck on the way, I started the calls for the meeting with Theresa. As the former Alpha’s mate and with no Alpha named yet, she had the right to be the first notified. She offered to help me make calls. I knew it was a way to keep herself busy. She hadn’t asked about Sean, neither had any of the other pack members I contacted, but that wasn’t really a surprise.

  The pack usually left you alone to handle the curse with whomever you chose. No need for a rotating door of sorrow when we would all face the horror at some point in our lives. After making the last call, I turned in my seat to face Sean. “I need to talk to Sierra.”

  “I was wondering when you were going to bring that up.”

  “I know demanding she live here is only going to get my ass handed to me, but mates living over an hour away from each other are likely to go crazy. What does she expect, we’ll see each other on the weekends?”

  “I do not envy you right now, man. It will be just as hard on her, although she might be too stubborn to admit it. But you’re right. Demanding is going to get your ass set on fire, especially now that she knows how to do it with a flick of her wrist.”

  “Yeah, I can’t thank you enough for teaching her that one.” I let the sarcasm roll of my tongue.

  “You can’t expect her to live here surrounded by wolves and not have any protection from them.”

  “Fair enough, since I know she wouldn’t let me defend her,” I growled.

  “Hey, you can defend each other if this meeting goes down the shitter tonight.”

  “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. I’ll talk to her tonight when we go back to my place.”

  “Do we have a plan to keep that from happening?” Sean glanced over at me before turning his eyes back to the road.

  I shook my head. “No. I do think you should stay out of sight, otherwise we’ll have to explain what happened a billion times as the members show up.”

  “Okay, I get that. Then what?”

  “Then tell them the truth. What Sierra did and the fact she can save them all. At least when she’s here,” I grumbled.

  Sean pulled up in front of the building. He looked over at me. “Remember, discuss don’t demand, and you should be fine.”

  I held up my right hand. “Promise, Dad.”

  “Knock that shit off, especially now that you’re technically my brother-in-law.”

  We climbed out of the truck. “Yeah, I doubt Sierra would see it that way. At some point I’ll need to get her a ring and propose.” According to shifter laws, being mated was the same as marriage, but with Sierra growing up without magic I knew she expected and deserved all the traditions she was accustomed to.

  He clasped me on the shoulder. “I think you know Sierra better than you realize.”

  I smiled and followed him inside. The job was for a remodel and easier than either one of us had thought. We finished our survey and plans with the owner much earlier than we’d expected. To waste the time before the meeting, and to keep Sean out of the town’s eye until then, we stopped to grab lunch at a diner not far out of town.

  On th
e drive to the meeting spot, the fire hall, I noticed Sean fidgeting in his seat. I wanted to reassure him everything would be fine, but even I wasn’t sure how things would go. We got there early so Sean could stay out of sight until everyone was there. No use explaining it a hundred times.

  After about fifteen minutes, everyone was there except Bradley. Fucking ass couldn’t even be on time. Eventually he strolled in like we had all of the time in the world. One of these days, I was going to beat his ass into the ground, if he didn’t learn how to not be an asshole.

  “What did you call this meeting for, Dylan?” Randy called from the back.

  I gestured to the side. “I’ll let him explain.”

  The startled gasps and curses filled the space.

  “Tomorrow’s your birthday, how are you still standing?” Leah called from the back.

  “Everybody calm down,” Sean said. The room was instantly quiet.

  Weird.

  “My sister found a way to trap the curse. It’s not a permanent solution, but she can remove it once the curse takes effect.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Bradley yelled. “Christian dies but your bitch of a sister figures it out in time to save you. Well, isn’t that—”

  “Shut the fuck up,” Sean shouted.

  Bradley went quiet without a fight.

  “Holy shit,” I said, staring at Sean.

  He spun to face me. “What?”

  “You’re…you’re…”

  “The new Alpha,” Theresa filled in. “Christian named you the new Alpha before he died. I was coming to tell you today, before you called the meeting.”

  If Sean was Alpha, no one could disobey him unless they declared a challenge at the next full moon. Meaning, since Sean gave the order, Bradley would be compelled to follow it.

  “Why in holy hell would he make me Alpha when his birthday is only three days before mine?”

  “I think he always knew you’d figure it out. Who knew it would be your sister who did it. To think my boys won’t have to face this someday makes the pain in my heart a little less. Tell her thank you for me.”