Page 13 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

“Calm down,” I said, patting the air with my hands.

“Calm down? You interrogated me last night. Treated me like I’m some criminal, and you don’t even know me. And now you’re out here in the woods, spying on me, and the sun’s barely up.”

Good point. Good fucking point. This did look bad, but I was still the alpha of Crestwood, and even if the cabin wasn’t directly on my pack lands, I still had the right to check in on it since it was so close.

“Sorry,” I said. “It’s just that, uh… well, every morning, I do an inspection of my territory. Part of my alpha duties.” A small white lie. “This morning, I decided to come check on you and the cabin. No harm meant.”

Kirsten rolled her eyes. “Things are all good here. Thanks for your concern,” she said, sarcasm dripping from her words. “You can go now.”

Ignoring that, I nodded toward the house. “So, uh, your great-grandmother is sort of famous around here. What do you know about her?”

Kirsten blinked at me several times before answering. “Famous, how?”

“Oh, she was sort of a hermit. Never came out much. Also, living so close to a shifter town isn’t something most humans do.” I put a bit of emphasis on humans to see if she would react.

She didn’t hesitate or even frown at the shift in my tone. “That’s what a lot of the women in my family did. We tend to be loners. I guess I’m an anomaly. All I know about my great-grandmother is that she lived here and passed the house down to my nana. Not that any of this is any of your business.”

“Did she—your grandmother, I mean—ever tell you any stories about this place? The stuff your great-grandmother did here?”

“Holy shit,” Kirsten huffed. “Jace, I don’t have time for this. I need to get to the store to buy more cleaning supplies.”

Fear and panic surged within me as she turned to walk back to her car. I couldn’t let her go to town without learning more. I couldn’t risk the rest of the pack finding out there was a witch in town. Kirsten had no clue what she was, so she couldn’t mask her powers the way her grandmother must have done.

There was too much risk. If members of the pack found out, they would panic. We all knew the history—shifters and witches despised each other. Some would be terrified that she was here to destroy them all. They might run, or worse, try to attack her themselves.

“You can’t go to town,” I blurted before I could stop myself.

Kirsten stopped dead, but didn’t turn around to face me again for several seconds. When she finally did, the look on her face made my inner wolf whine.

“What do you mean I can’t go to town?”

“I changed my mind. You aren’t allowed to go to town. I’ll have Waylan bring whatever you need.”

Kirsten took two heavy steps back toward me and jammed her fists into her sides. “You told me, you promised me last night that I had permission. Are you going back on your word? Your alpha honor, or whatever the hell only lasts less than twelve hours? What kind of an example are you to the rest of your pack if you can’t be trusted to keep your word?”

Low blow. That hurt. I’d spent decades doing my best to be a fair and honorable alpha. Unlike that shithead Eren Miller, my pack respected me rather than feared me. If anyone thought they could question my honor, I’d be damned if it was going to be some witch.

“Look,” I said, feeling heat rise inside me, “I don’t have to justify myself to you. I’m the alpha here.” I jammed my thumb into my chest. “What I say goes. You’ll do as I say, or you can head back to wherever the hell you came from, got it? You need to understand—right here, right now—that I’m in charge. If you want to live in this cabin this summer, you better get that through your head.”

Kirsten’s eyes went wide. “Oh. It’s like that, is it? Mister Alpha doesn’t like getting called out over his bullshit? Did he get his poor little feelings hurt? Fine.” She spun on her heel and stomped toward her car. “If you have such a crappy way of doing things, then I’ll just go shop in Scottsdale. The extra gas and time is worth it if it means I don’t have to deal with you.”

Scottsdale? Eren? Shit, shit, shit.

I took two quick steps forward, desperate to take back what I’d said, to try and make it right. Before I got more than a yard, however, pain surged through my body, sending nausea and agony spurting through me. I grimaced and retreated reluctantly, watching as Kirsten got into her car, slammed the door, and pulled out of her driveway.

I stood there, powerless, as she drove away. I’d totally fucked up. I’d just made the problem way worse. What would Eren Miller do if he knew a witch was in his town? My panic, my anger at the curse, had made me do something that I shouldn’t have. Between having my pack knowing about Kirsten versus Eren’s pack, the choice was obvious. Now what was I going to do?

“I really fucked this up,” I muttered to myself, and my inner wolf growled his agreement.

Chapter 5

Kirsten

“Ugh.” I smacked my hand on the steering wheel.

What a dick. As I sped down my driveway, I glanced in the rearview mirror. Jace was still standing at the edge of my property. I couldn’t believe the sheer audacity of the man to not only sneak on my property without approval, but also to tell me I was basically a prisoner in my own house? Who the fuck was he to tell me I couldn’t go shopping? Ridiculous.

On the main road, I turned right toward Scottsdale rather than left toward Crestwood. The farther I got from the cabin, the more my anger dissipated, leaving only frustration in its wake. Now I would have to deal with a whole new pack of shifters. I didn’t know if what Waylan and Jace had said was true about needing to meet an alpha to get permission to shop, but I didn’t want to run into issues. The last thing I wanted was to get there and piss off another alpha, so I’d need to meet the guy to make sure I was good to go.

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