Page 27 of Cursed By Fate

I nodded, the memory of the attack still vivid—wolves circling, snarls in the dark. Alaric's unmistakable scent. “Had to take the long way back to lose them.”

Ewan frowned, but there was something wrong in his expression. His surprise felt forced, rehearsed. I didn't like the way he looked at Serena, as if she were a puzzle he needed to solve.

“And you're both... fine?” He said it like a challenge, daring us to admit we weren't.

“Yeah,” I replied. “Tired, but fine.”

He stepped closer, eyes narrowing. “You sure you're not leaving anything out?”

Serena smiled, but there was no warmth in it. “Don't worry, Ewan. We wouldn't want to distract you from whatever important business you were tending to while we were getting chased.”

Her sarcasm hung in the air, and I almost laughed. Ewan didn't.

“I'm just making sure you didn't lead them back here,” he said, casting a nervous glance around the compound. The restlessness in him was unmistakable, like he couldn't wait to be done with us and move on to something else. “Tristan, we need to talk.”

Serena raised an eyebrow at me, the challenge clear in her eyes. I hesitated, the words sticking in my throat. Everything in me screamed not to trust what I was seeing, but I pushed it down. Old habits.

“You’ve said enough,” I told him. My voice was low, final. “I’ll call you when I need your opinion.”

Ewan gave me a hard look, the lines around his mouth tightening. “Fine,” he said finally. “But don't wait too long. You might not like what you hear.”

I watched him turn and walk away, his movements stiff and hurried. I tried to tell myself that my suspicions were just the product of too little sleep and too many surprises. That the unease gnawing at me would pass if I let it. But I couldn't shake the image of Ewan's face, the way he'd almost smiled at Serena's mention of the attack.

“We can't stay out here,” Serena said, her voice pulling me back. “They're all watching.”

I glanced around at the compound, at the pack who depended on me to make the right decisions. I needed to get a grip. For them, if not for myself.

“Let's go inside,” I said, trying to sound more certain than I felt. Serena's eyes lingered on me a moment longer, filled with questions I wasn't ready to answer. Then she nodded, and together we walked past the gates, leaving Ewan's shadow behind.

The old library whispered with ancient secrets as I slipped inside, the heavy wooden door groaning in protest. Candlelight danced along the stone walls, breathing life into the forgotten symbols etched by wolves long dead. Serena stood by the window, silhouetted against the night sky, an alluring mystery I couldn't unravel. The room hummed with something deeper than silence—a tension that echoed the beat of my own heart. She turned as I approached, and the way her eyes met mine stirred the storm inside me.

I closed the distance between us, drawn by a force I didn't fully understand. “Couldn't sleep either?” I asked, my voice softer than I'd intended.

“Not when there's so much to unravel,” she said, gesturing to the scattered papers and books. Her eyes were watchful, as if gauging how much she could trust me.

The weight of yesterday’s ambush still clung to us, a shadow in every word we shared. I took a seat beside her, letting ourshoulders touch—a simple gesture, but it sent a rush through me that I couldn't ignore.

“We're getting closer to the truth,” I said, trying to focus on the task at hand, not the way her nearness scrambled my thoughts. “But the more we find, the more dangerous it gets.”

“That's never stopped me before,” Serena replied with a hint of defiance, her lips curving in a way that made it hard to look away.

We bent over the table, the flickering candlelight casting a circle of warmth around us. It felt like the rest of the world had faded, leaving only the two of us and the questions that lay between.

“The celestial stones,” I began, choosing my words carefully. “They're not just powerful. They're the heart of what binds my pack to this place.”

Serena's gaze was steady, drawing the truth out of me like a lure. “So what happens if we break the curse?”

I hesitated, the answer clawing at me. “I don’t know yet, but I have a feeling it would have major consequences for my pack. This mountain.”

Her silence was more profound than any response, filling the room with the gravity of what I'd said. I watched her, waiting for a sign of what she thought. What she felt.

“Then why help me?” she asked, her voice a careful blend of challenge and vulnerability.

Because I'm already in too deep, I thought, but the words stayed lodged inside. I ran a hand through my hair, frustration gnawing at me. “I need to show you something,” I said instead, rising to retrieve the manuscript.

The stone walls seemed to watch us, a presence that felt both protective and ominous. I found the loose rock in the far corner, the manuscript tucked away like a forbidden secret.

“It's old,” I said, handing it to her, our fingers brushing for an electric moment. “Very old.”

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