Page 100 of Cursed Beasts

He was shaking violently, with fur sprouting along his arm. Fear made me stay still, even though I knew I needed to move.

“Run!” Lucien roared when I turned around to exit the room and the sound of bones breaking echoed from the room.

40

ZEV

They had both turned their backs on me. We had been together for over two hundred years, and they abandoned me in less than four months for a woman. I had stayed in my wolf form for too long, and I knew if I continued like that, I would lose myself. But what if doing so, would be a gift?

After speaking to Aeon that night, I had conflicted feelings. She was Lucien’s mate and no matter the amount of hatred I had for her, I would never kill her. Losing your mate was one of the single worst things that could happen to a wolf. It was like dying with them but being left here to live your life in nothing but sorrow.

It was one of the reasons we mated more than one person, or we had sub packs. During war and strife, it made sense to keep our numbers strong, and we did so much better when we had sub packs to keep our larger pack healthy as a whole. Many wolves loved having multiple partners and as we evolved, our goddess blessed us with more than one mate.

Our elders built the pack to be predominately with families that had multiple fathers, mothers or a combination of both. My father had always said it took a village to raise a child, and our children were the most precious things in our pack. Children were our future and if we didn’t nurture that, we had no future. Thinking about children threw me into a memory.

“Zev, if they find out, they will kill my baby,” she pleaded with me.

“Vivienne, what do you expect me to do?” I growled, hating that she was putting me in this position. I didn’t love her, but I cared for her.

“I don’t know,” she said, looking up at me with those big blue eyes of hers full of tears. “You can’t be mad at me for doing something I know you and Aeon do. I know you sleep with women and men in Aeon’s case.”

“Yes, but I make sure a baby will not come out of it and I don’t fall in love with them. Sleep around for all I care, but do it responsibly.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I know this isn’t an ideal situation, and you have made your feelings clear, but did you do this out of spite?”

“You think I did this because you rejected me?”

“Why else would this happen?” I sneered.

“You're such a brute!” she yelled at me. “I did this because I didn’t want to be the only virgin when we had to complete the bond. I didn’t want to be that woman who waited for you to find out in the end that you did not want me. I did this because I wanted to live a little before I had to shackle myself to you, to a man who doesn’t love me and his friends who can’t even speak to me.”

“You think this is only hard on you?” I roared. “Aeon has always talked about having a mate, experiencing that connection his family has. Lucien was twelve when they decided his fate for him. He is just doing his duty, and he is shy. You’ve never given him a chance.”

We stared at each other with hatred in our eyes and I wished we didn’t have to complete the bond. It was eating at us, and we hadn’t even started our lives together. The more time the bond was put off, the more I hated having to be with her. The more I hated life and the pressure that came with it.

Long gone was the girl and young man who thought they were doing something great with their union. We were a mess, and I knew I was also to blame for that. I knew I had a duty to her as her future husband, mate, and friend.

“Vi,” I said, still seeing the innocent girl I met almost ten years ago.

I pulled her in for a hug and she held on to me like I was her lifeline.

“Go home, don’t tell anyone anything. I’ll speak with my father, and I’ll tell him it’s mine.” I said, hugging her a little tighter.

“What?” she asked in disbelief, pulling away.

“We will say it’s my child, but that means we will need to bond as soon as possible and you can never see that guy again.” I said, thinking this was the only way for us to get away with her keeping the baby.

“Zev… ” She threw herself at me and sobbed into my neck.

I rubbed her back, giving her all the soothing feelings I could. A child was a blessing, and once I told the guys, I knew they would understand why I was doing what I was doing.

“I love you,” she cried, and I knew I had to give us a chance because she and this baby were about to be my everything.

The memory always made me furious and heartbroken. I was doing the right thing. I was going to take care of her and the baby like it was my own. What happened after she left? I’ve spent the last two hundred years combing over every detail, wondering what made her change her mind? Was it because I didn’t love her?

All these questions constantly haunted me while I spied on Katarina who was perusing Vivienne’s journal. She looked excited, like she finally found something, and I wondered if she either cracked the code or figured out the spell that was hiding the real contents of the grimoire.

The need for some answers was more important than my hate right now, but Aeon was also right. I was drawn to her. My wolf wanted nothing more than for me to go up to her, push her up against the bookshelf, and have my way with her.

Katarina made my heart stop when I looked at her. She was the sun in my endless dark lights, and I wanted nothing more than to bask in her light, to feel the warmth of the sun one more time. But my experiences came flooding into that daydream, reminding me I wasn’t capable of that.

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