Page 90 of Cursed Beasts

“So, you’d be willing to chase this Belladonna even though she isn’t your mate?” Zev countered.

“Don’t you feel it Zev?” He rolled his eyes. “Don’t you feel that pull to her? We all felt the pull to her that first night she was here.”

“It’s her manipulations!” Zev was shaking with anger. “This is why she has to be taken care of. She is poisoning your minds.”

“You will not hurt her,” I snarled. “You hurt her, and I’ll make sure you wish you’d never taken human form.”

“Do you see? You are talking about harming your Alpha,” Zev said, looking like he was losing control. “This is exactly why we have to get rid of her, to free your minds from her hold.”

I shook with rage. He was so misguided and his hate blinded him. He was threatening my mate, but I didn’t want to break the news like this.

“She can’t be doing anything to us. She has no way to use her magic,” I said, hoping to change his mind.

“Did she tell you that?” He looked at me like I was the gullible child he always thought I was.

“Yes, but I also asked her,” I said, seeing Aeon’s shock. “My wolf said she was telling the truth, but also her magic is blocked or something is preventing her from using it.”

“That would explain why she hadn’t tried using any magic on us and why during our chase, she didn’t use any either,” Aeon said, nodding, looking like he was thinking back. “It would also explain why you could go into her room. Every other Belladonna has put spells to block us from entering their room.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Zev snapped. “I keep telling you she came here with a plan, you are walking right into it.”

“Would you get your head out of your ass?!” I yelled, tiring of his way of thinking.

“Would you get your head out of your asses? Go back to fucking each other and stop fantasizing about a world where a Belladonna would ever help us.” Zev walked away from us, but turned around quickly. “If she truly didn’t have any magic, then how does she plan to break the spell?”

“We’ve talked about the possibility of one of us being able to start it or—”

Zev laughed, interrupting me.

“Lucien, I really expected you to be smarter than this. One night of pleasure with the whore, and she’s got you wrapped around her finger.

“Watch your fucking mouth,” I growled, feeling magic spark at my fingertips.

“You don’t like it when I call her a whore?” he taunted. “She’s willing to sleep with all of us to get what she wants. What else would I call her? Trash?”

“Say it again and see what happens,” I growled, as my hand lit with fire, feeling a little panic and fear. It had been so long since I had done this, I had forgotten what it felt like to wield fire like this.

Zev stared at my hand, then glanced back up to my face.

“So much for being family.” He walked away from us.

“Zev, come back. We need to talk about the man in Katarina’s room,” Aeon yelled.

“She can’t go fucking anywhere with her husband,” he said, as he walked up the landing.

That word made me feel a pain I was hoping to forget. The fire in my hand diminished when I felt the panic. I looked up to the direction of her room, wondering what was going on and if they were sleeping with each other.

I shook my head, trying not to think of all the things I would do if I had been separated from her like he had. She didn't particularly look happy to see him, but was that because he ruined her cover?

All of these bad thoughts entered my brain when Aeon walked in front of me. Anxiety was clawing at me mingled with fear and adrenaline as they all surged through me.

“Stop, we don’t know the entire story,” he said, taking my face into his hands. “She didn’t look happy to see him and I smelled her fear. Something isn’t right.”

Overwhelming fear flooded my system. Katarina was in danger. The sound of a door crashing open and a scream tore through the air which caused Aeon and I to rush towards Katarina’s room.

37

KATARINA

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