Word Count: 1582
~Meara
I keep my head down, grimacing.
"This is absolutely miserable," I mutter, swatting at the giant leaves and stiff branches that slap back in my face as Sire passes through the bush in front of me.
He doesn't look over his shoulder. "You want a cure, right?"
I roll my eyes. Obviously, but why do we have to do this in the pouring rain, in the middle of a forest bordering the Pack territory alone?
We are traversing into the forest looking for yet another witch. They are almost impossible to track, and I wouldn't have known to come here if Sire didn't know almost everything about the witches in this area.
"Do you know the entire witch population or something?" I grumble, lurching forward a little as I stumble over a thick root protruding from the damp dirt.
"Actually, Hazel told me about this." His voice sounds a little muffled as he walks a few steps in front of me.
I frown. "When have you been talking to Hazel?"
"At that lunch you took me to, you went to the bathroom and she told me about a witch she knows through her father that may be able to help," he explains, pulling up a particularly large branch, letting me duck underneath it.
"Why wouldn't she have told me?" I question, shuddering at the droplets of rain that keep landing on the back of my neck, right at the collar of my jacket.
"She didn't want to get your hopes up." He shrugs.
I sigh. That's typical of Hazel. She has withheld information from me before because she has been worried about keeping me safe, but I do wish she would have told me about this.
I would have insisted we came here much earlier if this witch has a chance of helping us end this curse.
"Why can't you just transport us right to her door?" I question, narrowing my eyes on his back.
He may be traversing this terrain with no problem, but I'm suffering. We have been walking for a couple hours now and I have several blisters, aching hips and my lungs burn with exhaustion.
"Magic. She has secured this whole area." He gestures around, as if to encompass the entire scope of her magical protection. "She probably knows we are here already."
"Whatever." I want to be more optimistic about this, but it's hard when I'm in the presence of a man I want to be very far away from.
He's made it clear to me he is going to get his revenge. Whether I want to or not.
"Is something wrong?" He asks, glancing back over his shoulder. For most of the walk this far we have been in silence, feeling the weight of our conversation from a new night's ago.
This is the most we have talked in hours.
"I'm just irritated," I mutter.
"Why is that?"
"You know why."
His shoulders sag a little. I know he feels bad about it, and I'm glad he has some regret, but it hurts knowing he won't decide otherwise. I want him to get what he wants, but not at the cost of the lives of all my fellow Pack members.
"If you had everything you cared about taken from you, you too would want to get revenge," he tells me, shaking his wet hair a little.
"I'm not saying you don't deserve revenge," I exclaim calmly, ignoring the suddenly cramp gripping the back of my thigh. "I'm saying you should go about it differently."
I want my own personal revenge on Carran, I just have to be smart about how I get it.
His voice lowers. "I want my Pack back."
"How many people will have to die for you to achieve this?" I demand.
Sometimes I worry that Sire doesn't actually care about the members of my Pack, he just wants the power. I know that's a ridiculous thought, but it does feel like he is looking for the cure only because I want it gone, and because he doesn't want me dead.
"None, hopefully."
"Well, a lot of people have died already," I bring up, eyeing a spider perched on a tree trunk that I pass by. "And Carran will be willing to go to war with you, and so will anyone who comes after them."
Carran would kill everyone in that Pack if he had too. He's hungry for power, and irritatingly stubborn.
"Then I eliminate Carran," Sire mutters.
I sigh. This isn't as simple as he is making it out to be. I suppose this is the consequence of Sire being underground for so long; he has no idea what is going on in this Pack.
"You won't win loyal Pack members that way," I exclaim. People don't like change, and they won't take well to him after the amount he has been slandered by Carran and his family members.
Plus, the thought of having an Alpha who spent centuries underground is a lot for people to wrap their head around.
"Then I will have to remind them about the truth of their history," Sire says flatly.
I shake my head. "Let's just focus on this curse for now."
We walk for a while longer in silence, which isn't too hard to do. It's getting harder to ignore all the body aches that remind me of how unfit I really am.
"I've been struggling to sleep recently," Sire says suddenly, not turning back to look at me. "I can't get the thought of you being hurt by this curse out of my head."
"I'll be okay. Don't worry," I mumble lowly. I don't know that for a fact, but there's not much point worrying about it.
His hair tosses around his fingers as he runs them through it. "And I can't get Carran out of my head either. The fact that he touched you..."
I shudder. He's not alone in that.
"Trust me, that won't be happening again," I assure him, my stomach rolling at the thought.
It's not that Carran is repulsive. I actually used to think he was quite handsome, but now, I don't trust him, and that's ruined him in my eyes.
"No. It won't," Sire comments darkly.
I open my mouth to warn him not to mention revenge again, but a gentle sound of rustling from right behind me has me stopping in my tracks.
"Do you hear that?" I ask warily, wiping at the rain gathering on my lashes as I look back into the bush.
Shadows darken between the leaves, making it impossible to tell if there is an animal taking refuge in its shelter. It could be nothing, but at the same time, I haven't heard anything behind me until now, it's making me uneasy.
Sire stops, looking back at me. "Hmm?"
"Something is following us," I state, taking a few cautious steps back.
"I don't hear anything."
My throat suddenly tightens. I cough, touching my neck as the sensation of being choked closes around me. All too quickly I can't breath, strangled gasps forcing past my lips.
Sire is at my side in an instant. "Meara, what's going on?"
"I can't breathe," I force out.
Sire straightens, focusing all his attention back into the forest. A moment later a garbled shriek emerges from the shadows, followed by a stumbling woman that falls to her knees in front of us, controlled by what must be Sire's magic.
The chokehold on my neck immediately loosens and I can breathe again. I cough, the black dots in my vision subsiding.
The woman glares at Sire. "It's true."
"What's true?" Sire questions.
"You have risen," she hisses, struggling against the hold Sire's magic has on her.
She doesn't seem much older than me, but she has a feral look in her eyes. Her hair is short, her clothes are askew and her face is smudged with dirt like she's been tracking us since we got here.
"Did you need to strangle my mate to figure that out?" Sire growls, looming over her as if he's contemplating how he wants to kill her.
The girl looks between Sire and I, bright hazel eyes flaring. "She has unleashed the curse. I should kill her."
"Another word like that I kill you," Sire snaps. "We came here to speak peacefully."
I blink. Of course, I was too busy trying to regain my breath that I didn't realise she is the witch we came to see. I mean of course she is, she strangled me with magic.
"Hazel told me we could trust you," I jump, figuring my friend's name may elicit some trust.
Her expression shifts, her jaw tightens.
"Fine. Say what you need to say." She stands, Sire having released her from his hold. If she weren't so important, he probably would have killed her.
"Is there somewhere we can talk out of the rain?" I ask, wiping at my face.
"Follow me," she mutters, pushing past us. "I know why you're here, and you're not going to like what I have to say."
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"...I've never had an orgasm before!" I blurt out, backing away a few steps.
He sits up, dark hair ruffled and messy from the fingers I ran through it. His eyes, once wide, slowly darken.
"You what?" He breathes.
~Midika 💜🐼