Cursed Vengeance (13 page)

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.

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 the 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.”

“Theresa, I’m sure she would love to get to know you better.”

“I’d like that. Now can you tell us more?” Sean looked nervous, but Theresa’s smile seemed to relax him enough to take the reins and explain what happened that morning and what Sierra was still trying to do.

“And for all of you who haven’t realized it,” he looked directly at Bradley, “my sister is mated to Dylan, which means she’s going to be around for a very long time.”

There was low muttering coming from the back of the room, none of it decipherable from where I was standing. Assholes were intentionally speaking too low for my hearing. Sean finished answering everyone’s questions and sent them home. We got in the car and I laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“To start with, Bradley’s going to challenge you for the Alpha spot during the next full moon.”

Sean glared at me. “Yeah, I figured that, though I don’t really see how that’s funny.”

“It’s not. The funny part is you’re going to have to fight at the full moon and Sierra is going to be pissed at you instead of me for once.”

“Fuck you.” He chuckled and started the car.

By the time we arrived back at Sean’s it was almost night. I wanted more than anything to get Sierra home and naked in my bed, but I knew there was a conversation we needed to have first.

“Hey,” she said as we walked through the door. “I heard you guys pull up. Let me grab my stuff.”

Sean flopped down on the couch.

She raised her brow. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Christian made him Alpha,” I answered.

“Is that a good or bad thing?”

“Both,” Sean said. “We can talk about that tomorrow, especially since I have a tomorrow.”

Sierra sat next to Sean and wrapped him in a huge hug. “I don’t know what I would have done without you. I love you, big bro.”

“I love you, too. Now go spend some time with your mate.”

She kissed him on the cheek and looked at me. “Ready?”

As I’ll ever be. “Yep.”

We left Sean’s and on the entire ride home, I planned out in my head exactly what I wanted to say to her. Unfortunately for me, the ride was too damn short and we were pulling in my drive before I was ready. I followed her into the house. Settling down on the couch, I ordered a pizza for dinner. Sierra had gone into the kitchen to grab drinks.

“Hey, Sierra? Can we talk while we’re waiting for the pizza?”

She poked her head out of the kitchen. “Sure. What do you want to talk about?”

“What we do when your week off is up? Mated pairs aren’t usually separated that long. I was wondering if you’d consider moving in here with me?”

I held my breath and waited.