Page 35 of Snow's Charming
“She’s a pure silver-white wolf, Zhang.” Said Sylus. He took a sip of his whiskey before continuing. “There aren’t any other streaks of colors in her fur.”
“And Sylus, you are a pure black wolf, correct?”
“Yes, I am. There’s no other colors in my ebony fur—why?”
“Then I’m afraid my visions are true.”
I shook my head as memories of Jackie and the battle ran through my mind.
Impossible! Only the rarest pure black Alpha and purest silver-white Luna can deflect my magic! They are the Moon Goddess’s Yin and Yang Fated Mates!
“So…We are the Moon Goddess’s Yin and Yang Fated Mates?”
I blurted it out as soon as I remembered Jackie’s words. “What does that mean?”
“It means you cannot become Sylus’s mate until we break the curse.” Said Zhang.
“Curse?”
My voice was but a whisper.
“A Nuri witch placed a curse on the werewolves long ago. They are mean fuckers who have no loyalties—they even vanquish their own.” Raine said, shaking his head before continuing. “They killed Obsidian in the Were Rebellion. That’s Alec’s mate. She’s been reincarnated, thank the gods. So that whole mess was righted.”
I placed my index and middle fingers on my temples and rubbed small circles, hoping the headache forming from all the info dump would subside, but I’d highly doubt that.
“Do I even want to know about reincarnation right now? I just learned I’m a werewolf. Can we slow it down a bit with the info? There’s only so much I can keep up with.”
“I’m sorry, Sesi. I forget that this is all new to you. So, let’s talk about the werewolves because their story with the Nuri is a little different. Keme isn’t the only first-made werewolf. His brother, Matchitehew, was also made into a were, but he couldn’t control his wolf so the tribe banished Matchitehew. They wanted to do the same thing to Keme, but Zhang stepped in.”
I nodded my head in response. Sylus had explained all of this to me and I felt grateful to know at least a little about the wolf side of me.
“In the 14th century, Zhang and I came across a quatrain about an Alpha and Luna who can save every shifter from the struggle with their animal side. This couple, the Yin and Yang Fated Mates will restore true balance for the human and animal side of every shifter. The quatrain further explained that The Moon Goddess would give this gift to the werewolves after the Civil Were War. But because Matchitehew still hadn’t controlled his animal side, he killed a Nuri witch while in mid-shift. This was after the truce and all magicals had ratified the 14th Century Peace Treaty. Immediately after Matchitehew killed the witch, the Nuri coven placed a curse on every werewolf. But because the Nuri clan was so bitter, they cursed the two of you instead of everyshifter, and if you…” Raine’s voice trailed off as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“What, Raine? What is it?” I asked.
Raine swallowed hard and paced the floor for several seconds, but the silence felt more like minutes had passed.
“Did I mention these witches are mean fuckers?”
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. Why was he stalling? Is it really that bad?
“If you mark each other, you will both die.” Said Zhang, breaking the long silence in the room. “But that’s not the worst of it.”
“Okay, great! Tell me more about us being star-crossed lovers and how we are sounding more and more like a Shakespearian tragedy.” Said Sylus as he hit the table with his fist.
Zhang placed a palm on Sylus’s shoulder.
“If you don’t mark each other, you will die.”
“Are you for real right now? What kind of bullshit is this? How the fuck do we get ourselves out of this mess, Raine?”
“Sesi, I’ve already called in a favor with Raven Thorne. She’s of Nuri Witch descent and also a vampire. Her grandmother’s Book of Shadows references the curse and has a spell to break it.”
“That’s great, Raine, but what do we do in the meantime? My wolf wants to mark Sylus. Even now I can feel the pull to mark him. How do we stop that from happening?”
“It means, my princess, that you and I should headback to the Snow Estate. You can’t live in the packhouse until we break the curse.”
My father’s eyes were soft when he delivered the blow, but that didn’t make hearing the news any less hurtful.
