Page 46 of Cursed
“I’m sorry. Were you not standing there when Ryland announced her as his Mate? People need to know her new status, Garek. He will absolutely rip a pack member apart if they touch her. And she cannot continue parading around in leggings and a t-shirt!”
Garek backs away, holding his hands up in surrender. “Fine, I’ll meet you for dinner. This is all still very suspicious to me.”
Adele’s eyes narrow, and she steps up to him with a finger pressing against his chest. “You need to get a handle on your attitude. Do not ruin this for Ryland! Oh, and don’t do anything stupid to upset her. It won’t matter that you are like a brother to him. The Mate Bond will trump Ryland’s fondness for you, and he will be super pissed.”
Adele turns toward the clinic, flipping her hair off her shoulder. “See you at 7:00 for dinner.”
Garek watches her disappear down the hall. Everything about this Nori situation feels off. As much as he wants Ryland’s curse to finally be broken, he can’t believe his real Mate simply showed up on their doorstep by sheer chance. He heads to his meeting, determined to find out more about Nori at dinner.
chapter twenty-nine
Reading another one of Ryland’s books on the history of wolf shifters, Nori is actively searching for anything about powers with golden lights. She’s so caught up in the book, she lets out a yelp when Adele breezes into the room.
Adele sighs, making a face. “Relax, Nori. I’ve brought dinner and Garek.”
Setting the book on the coffee table, Nori gets up to greet them. “I didn’t realize it had gotten so late. Thanks for bringing dinner.”
After the kitchen staff lays out the food and drinks, the three of them take their seats and fill their plates.
Nori looks at Adele and Garek with a slight smirk on her face. “So…let the inquisition begin.”
In between bites, Adele says, “Great! Did you actually kill your parents?”
Garek chokes on his food. “Damn, Adele! You told me not to upset her!”
Nori waves him off. “It’s fine; I’ll let you know if there’s something I don’t want to talk about.” She looks at Adele. “The short answer is I don’t really know because I don’t remember.”
She continues eating while talking. “What I can tell you is that I loved my parents, and I was heartbroken for many years following their deaths. I honestly can’t believe that, at ten years old, I could have possibly killed two such powerful wolves. But they had witnesses, so that was that.”
Garek takes his turn. “I don’t want to sound callous, but usually that kind of crime is a death sentence. Why did they let you live?”
“I don’t know that either. Draven has certainly killed pack members for lesser offenses.” Nori drums her fingers on the table. “I remember a trial, but it’s all very hazy. I remember when Draven was accepted as Alpha. He kicked me out of my room in the Packhouse. He told me I would suffer for my parents’ deaths for the rest of my life.”
Garek leans forward with his arms on the table. “Why didn’t you run away from that Pack sooner?”
Nori laughs, shaking her head. “Oh, I ran. This was my fifth and only successful attempt.” She puts her fork down and leans back in her chair. “How much detail would you like over dinner?”
Garek looks at her thoughtfully. “How bad is it?”
“Bad.”
“OK, I’ll take the glossed-over version during dinner.”
Nori nods. “The first time I ran, I was twelve. I never even made it past the boundary before the Guards caught me. They brought me before the Alpha, who knocked me to the ground and kicked me repeatedly. After the beating, he threw me in a jail cell for a week.”
Garek and Adele share shocked expressions. “This is the glossed-over version?” Garek asks.
“Yes. That was the least severe punishment. I tried again at fifteen, sixteen, and eighteen. Each time I was caught, and each time the penalty was worse than the time before. After the fourth time...” Nori swallows hard. “Well, let’s just say, I didn’t run anymore after that.”
She collects herself, trying not to succumb to the memories of those terrible beatings. “That is, until the whole Mate Bond rejection with the Starfall Beta. I had no choice but to run again after the Bond flared.”
“How did you kill those two Rogues by yourself?” Garek asks the question that’s been troubling him since she arrived.
“For the record, I have already discussed this with Ryland.” Nori looks at him pointedly. She crosses her arms, considering the best way to explain her ability to the Beta. “Although we haven’t had any formal fight training, Aylin and I have spent years reading body language. We are experts at being able to anticipate when and where someone is going to hit us.”
She lets that information sink in. “The Rogues we faced were easy to read. A shift in their weight told us when they were going to strike. The tensing of a shoulder muscle told us where they were going to strike. The two Rogues we killed were also not very fast, not nearly as fast as the Starfall Alpha or Luna.”
Nori notices Garek sitting frozen with his fork in mid-air. “Does that alleviate your suspicions, Beta Garek?”
