Page 51 of Cursed Beasts

“You fight dirty, Mr. Potter,” I said, with a small smile.

This man deserved a fucking award for everything he did for all of us. I knew I wasn’t the only one he took care of. I had seen him occasionally coming from the top floors and I knew their rooms were up there.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” he smirked, looking down at the books I brought. “Are these your books?”

“Yeah, my sister—” before I could finish my sentence, Mr. Potter disappeared.

It wasn’t unusual for him to do that, but the look before he left was a little odd. The bread was hard to resist so I grabbed a roll and put butter on it. It was whipped cinnamon butter that made me feral. The rolls were still warm, making them much more delicious.

“Here.” He materialized right next to me, scaring the crap out of me. I almost choked. “I knew one of these books looked familiar.”

He laid down a book and slid out the book I had on the bottom to lie right next to it. It was the same book I had a feeling about and it almost matched perfectly with the book that was delivered to me at the bookstore.

“Holy shit, Mr. Potter,” I said, running a hand over both of the books and felt a shock course through my body.

My eyes grew wide, and my curiosity shot through the roof. I opened the book that was sent to me to see everything written in English. I stopped at a page that had symbols with coinciding letters or words.

“That appears to be like a key of some sorts.” Mr. Potter leaned over my shoulder.

“Holy shit, yes it is.” I opened the other book to see the same symbols.

“Well, it looks like you have your work cut out for you,” he said, sounding excited.

“It looks like I do,” I said. It was odd that I received this book from an anonymous source before I left, unless someone did it on purpose.

“Looks like you’ll need your energy. I’ll bring back some cookies and tea for you.” I nodded my head, not paying attention anymore, focused on pulling out a paper to decode the book. The books weren’t big, but I knew it would take me at least a week to get through it.

Excitement coursed through me at finally having something to do. This is why I was so drawn to it, and I felt like I was heading in the right direction.

Decoding the book turned out to be harder than I expected. There were four entire pages of symbols and different words. When I decoded the first page, it seemed like it was just going to be time consuming until I realized I could use some codes several ways.

I just about wanted to rip out my hair when I realized it was going to take me forever to do this.

Rolling onto my side, I tried to go to sleep but thoughts of that damn book lingered in my mind. The first page I had decoded didn’t make a whole lot of sense until I came across something that sounded like the guys.

They promised me to all three of them, an alpha, a knowledge seeker and a man who could light my heart on fire if I let him.

It definitely sounded like the guys, but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. I assumed Zev was the Alpha and Lucien was the man who could light her heart on fire. Aeon had to be the knowledge seeker, but I wasn’t certain.

In the few times I had interacted with them, Zev always deferred to Aeon. He looked to be his right hand, his beta, a trusted advisor?

When my mind wouldn’t shut off, I got out of bed to get the books and get to more decoding. A few hours passed by before I needed a change of scenery, thankfully it was almost three.

They expected me to be their solution when they didn’t even want to put in the work. I was bound by my duty. Soon we would mate, and I hoped by that time, things could be different. We could be a family.

I could only get a few sentences translated per page, and I didn’t know if that was on purpose or if I was really messing up the decoding. I looked away from my notes to give my eyes a break from the gibberish. Rolling my neck from side to side, I stretched, feeling the effects of me hunching over the bed.

My stomach growled as I looked for something comfy to wear. I grabbed a pair of biker shorts with a big shirt, and threw them on before I slipped on some sandals. Sleep deprivation was settling in, but I knew as soon as I laid my head on the pillow, I would be wide awake. I would stop in the dining room for fuel before I took a small walk. All this sitting was hurting my hips, and I needed some fresh air, anyway. Did I secretly hope to be chased again? Maybe.

I threw the books in my bag before I walked out of my room, heading straight for food. Today, My. Potter had made a beef Wellington with mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts. The dessert looked to be brownies with walnuts in them.

After I finished stuffing my face, I walked out the front door, enjoying the small breeze in the air. The days were warm, but most of the time it wasn’t too hot. I walked to the other side of the house to enter the library from the east side. The fresh air was almost good enough to stay outside, but I needed to figure out this damn book.

Instead of going to my usual table, I took a seat in a chair that looked to be more modern than the other furniture. It was comfy enough that if I wanted to, I might fall asleep here.

Setting out both books on my lap, I went back to work.

I regret seeing Thane. Even though I knew what might happen, I still went out to see him. I knew if we kept this up, I wouldn’t survive the fallout. Beltane is just around the corner.

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