Page 28 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

She doesn’t laugh like I expected her to, her brows knitting together. “You smell strange. Different, somehow.”

I cover her face with my hand, lightly shoving her away. “Okay, that’s enough. Stop sniffing me. You’re going to give me a complex. I don’t stink.”

“I never said you did,” comes her muffled voice, and she pushes my hand down. “You smell nice. I can’t explain it. It makes me want to rub against you.”

I quickly take a few steps back. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, I’m not going to, but”—she pauses, looking uneasy—“if I were in my wolf form, I think it would be hard for me to resist. You’re giving off this tantalizing aroma.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” I say warily.

“Go take a shower,” Mary suggests. “Maybe the scent will disappear.”

I don’t hesitate.

I head to my room, strip off my clothes, and hop into the shower. The water is nice and warm. I sniff myself, but I don’t smell anything out of the ordinary. As I wash up, though, I notice something strange near my ankle. I have to bend down to take a proper look at it.

With water rushing over me, I crouch in the shower stall, focusing on the odd mark. It doesn’t make sense to me. It looks like there’s a tattoo on my ankle, but I’ve never gotten a tattoo. The mark is in the shape of a half-moon with a unique pattern decorating the sides. I can’t make heads or tails of it.

When I touch it, nothing happens. It looks like a normal tattoo. Lifting my head, I stare at the tiled wall. Did I get drunk at some point and go to a tattoo parlor? No, I would remember that. Or at least, it would hurt a little bit.

As I stare at the mark, an unbidden memory comes to mind.

The lake. The witches at the bottom of the lake.

After Darian convinced me that the bodies of the dead witches had been removed from the water a long time ago, I figured it must have been a dream. Perhaps I had been so exhausted that I simply fell asleep on the shore. Weird choice to take off my shirt before I did so, but it’s possible.

Before I went to the lake, however, this tattoo was not on my ankle. Could it actually have happened, then? Did I really not imagine that whole thing?

A chill passes through me. I remember seeing several bodies lying peacefully at the bottom of the lake. Beautiful women. They looked like they were sleeping. But fear struck me when the eyes of the one closest to me flew open and she grabbed my wrist.

I get to my feet and turn off the shower.

There has to be another explanation. I have to have imagined that whole thing. Maybe I should go to the lake again. Maybe I should check…

But this time, I don’t want to. What am I even going to do if I find the bodies? I don’t want Darian to swim down there, and he seems to be the type who will want to double-check for himself.

I let out a breath. I’ll deal with this tattoo situation later. First, I have to get the mating gathering over with. I don’t know what Darian is thinking, but I want to trust him. It’s strange and terrifying to put my faith in someone in this way. I never believed I could ever be with anybody, and then Darian came along. Nobody has ever treated me the way he does. It’s like I’m invisible to the whole world but him.

I’m putting my hair up in a towel when my arms go still. I was looking in the mirror, and just for a moment, one brief moment, I thought I saw my eyes turn yellow.

Blinking hard, I lean a little closer to my reflection, but nothing seems to be different. Did I imagine it?

I keep staring at myself, but nothing changes.

“That’s it,” I mumble. “I’m going nuts. The crazies have gotten me. I must have dived into that lake and caught an infection or something. And now I’m seeing things.”

I look down at my ankle to check whether I imagined the tattoo, as well. It’s still there. I’m about to call for Mary to come and see, but something stops me.

The reason there is such little information about the dark witches, aside from their obvious evil nature, is because they are a sort of taboo topic in the Wolf Kingdom. If the whole thing in the lake did happen, and if this tattoo has something to do with that witch touching me, and if Mary sees it and recognizes the mark, she will be obligated to report it.

I sit down heavily on the toilet seat. In my head, I know I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill, but I just can’t take any chances right now. Not when freedom is so close that I can taste it.

I should keep this to myself. There’s definitely something strange about it, but before telling anybody, I’d better do some research. When I have time.

*****

Unfortunately, I don’t have a chance before it’s time for us to leave. Darian seems to be busy, too, as the days of the mating gathering get closer. To my surprise, he is true to his word, and neither Willow nor her father approach me. By the time Mary and I bring our bags down to the vehicle that her family sent to take us to the palace, I feel relieved.

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