The Curse Of An Alpha *MATURE*

Chapter 18; canoodling

She'd never forget what Elliot had done, the heartache he had caused and the way she had been broken. No matter what, Alice would never be able to run away from her past. And Colden would need to understand.

She caught Belle watching her with a look in her eyes that had her heart pounding. Something was off and she smelt it in the air- it was dark and sad, almost as if all the life had been sucked out of the air. There was a quiet stillness around her that made her gnaw at her lips. 

"Why hadn't you come?" Alice asked,  tugging her hand from her disgruntled hair. It most likely resembled a birds nest and she knew that she smelled thickly of sex. She had no room for embarrassment, though. "I had told Dale_"

"We were ambushed. Some of the Lycan's from the diner had stayed behind and tracked us, there were two of them but they still managed to do some damage," Belle's eyes cast towards the window, her face shadowed with grief and sadness that she barely caught a glimpse off before her face became expressionless, "seven are dead. We killed one Lycan and captured the other."

Alice processed the information. It explained why Colden was missing and why she had woken up alone. She knew that rationally it wasn't her fault- they were acting on command from Lucien and she hadn't asked for any of this. But there was a part of her that was vulnerable and used to self-hatred and blame that wondered whether all those lives tainted her soul. How many had died in the time that she had been here? How many more would lose their family and friends? She hadn't cared once, in fact, she had wanted to contribute to those deaths. Yet now after she had witnessed their kindness- Colden's kindness- she no longer thought or felt that.

When she looked up, Belle's eyes were trained on her. "It's not your fault, you know. The Lycan's had always hated our kind and Lucien had long since lost his plot, for whatever reason that is. You were just a small catalyst that set him off. The war," she didn't like that word, "was a long thing coming."

Alice sighed, "I can't help but feel responsible for..." the words lodged in her throat. She had briefly opened up to Colden a few days ago but she had never told him the true extent of her thoughts and feelings. Alice wasn't sure Belle was the right person to do that to.

"If he wasn't after me then you wouldn't be so affected," Alice stated with finality. Her eyes focused on the bookshelf in front of her bed rather than her inquisitive gaze. 

"If it wasn't us it'd be someone else," Belle's words were a quiet murmur. There was a momentary bleakness to her eyes that had Alice's throat clogged. She couldn't level her gaze this time knowing that a dam would break out of her if she did. Colden's sister stood, her knees cracked in protest.

Alice thought that the grin on her face was more for her than for Belle but she bathed in it anyway. She felt too dark and heavy this morning and the last thing that she wanted was for it to set the darkness off. 

"Come on, we're having breakfast and we'll discuss the plans for our trip to India," Belle nodded in the direction of the bathroom, "I'll wait outside."

The bed squeaked underneath her weight as she shuffled off the moment the door closed. Her body ached with tension from the full moon, though admittedly not as bad as she expected. Alice wouldn't admit that to Colden though since he already knew he had been correct. The memories of his face between her legs had heat trailing up her neck. 

How would she ever face him without getting embarrassed? He had been the second man she had slept with and that had taken some getting over the past year. But now that they've come close to it again...Alice wasn't sure she'd ever forget about it. The groans and purrs he made as he licked and tugged and bit at her, or the way he stared at her when she came and came and came.