Page 176 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

A strange surge of power from downstairs made my head spin a little. One look at Tinsley told me she felt the same.

“What’s wrong with you two?” Harley asked us, her eyes puffy from crying.

“What the hell was that?” Tinsley asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to check,” I said.

Fear that we were being attacked filled my chest as I took the stairs two at a time. What I found downstairs was possibly more surprising than if Eren had been there with his pack.

Stephanie and Flynn stood a few feet apart, staring at each other like nothing else in the world mattered. Stephanie had a look of abject happiness, while Flynn looked like he might rip her clothes off and have her right then and there, audience be damned.

“Uh, did I miss something?” I asked.

That broke whatever spell hung over the two. Flynn shook himself back to coherence and took a hesitant step back from Stephanie, keeping his eyes locked on her.

From where he sat on the couch, Jace shook his head. “This is all your fault,” he said to me.

“Excuse me?” I said, frowning.

Jace pointed at Stephanie and Flynn, then at Waylan. “All this? It’s your doing.”

I thought he was accusing me of something. A little flare of anger roared in my chest at the idea.

“I didn’t do a damn thing, thank you very much,” I snapped.

Jace held his hands up in surrender. “No, no, no. You don’t get it. This is a known thing that happens when packs have their own witch. You brought magic to Crestwood, and now everyone is finding their mates. You didn’t do anything wrong. In fact”—he raised an eyebrow at Flynn and Stephanie—“it looks like you’ve done something pretty right.”

I didn’t remember that bit of information from any of the books Tinsley had given me. Dumbfounded, I looked at Langston. Maybe he would talk sense.

“Is this real?” I asked him.

Langston nodded. “Yeah. Legends all say members of a pack with a witch find their fated mates much easier.”

“But Nana lived here,” I said. “Did this happen when she was at the cabin?”

“She was never the official pack witch,” Jace explained. “It only happens when someone decides they want to be the pack witch. The magic spreads over the pack lands and…” He snapped his fingers. “Poof. Fated mates. I always wondered if it was true or just an old rumor. I guess it’s true.”

“Well…” I had no clue what to do with the new information and new responsibility. I shrugged helplessly. “You’re all welcome, I suppose.”

Everyone laughed at that. Everyone except Stephanie and Flynn, who were again eyeing each other like they wanted a few minutes alone. I walked over and took a seat on Jace’s lap.

“Why did Stephanie stop by?” I asked. I didn’t care that she was there. We’d buried the hatchet, but Jace had said she was supposed to be confined to her house.

“Oh, shit,” Stephanie said, pulling herself out of the depths of Flynn’s blue eyes. “That’s right. Sorry.”

“You were going to say something about Eren being afraid,” Jace said. “Before you got interrupted.”

“Right.” She smoothed her hair down and sat. “Eren made me clear out his father’s office. He said there was a ton of stuff in there he’d been meaning to get rid of for years.” She shook her head in disgust. “I think he just wanted to see if I could follow orders before… before he asked more of me.” She shuddered.

Flynn growled, his brows knitting together, and a pulse of alpha energy radiated from him. The only thing that eased it was the look of discomfort on Stephanie’s face.

“I’m sorry,” Flynn grunted, and the energy dissipated. “Let’s not talk about that. I don’t want you to relive whatever that piece of shit made you do.”

He reached over and touched Steph’s thigh. She grinned back at him, blushing, but there was a sad look on her face. My heart hurt to see it. How close had I been to having Eren take advantage of me? Minutes? Seconds?

I didn’t want to pry. Eren had made it clear he’d taken advantage of Stephanie’s circumstances. He’d proven himself to be an awful person time and again.

“Anyway, I found a stack of files in a closet,” Steph said. “They hadn’t been touched in forever. I was bored and got curious, so I started going through them. It was interesting, but then Eren sent me home before I could really dive into it. When I left with you all that night, I stuffed as much as I could in my backpack, thinking something might be useful. I found a file that was dated the year Eren’s dad died. Inside was a photocopy of a will. It had been updated that year. In it, he said he’d been wrong in his assessment of Eren. There was also a letter to be read out along with the will. An apology to two people, a couple of shifters named Donna and Flynn Edgerton. In the will, he officially announced that upon his death, Eren’s alphaship was to be expunged, and Flynn Edgerton was to be named rightful heir and alpha of Scottsdale Pack.

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