Page 17 of Cursed to Be Mine
She smiles at him as she continues to cook, then her gaze sweeps across the room. “It might very well come to that. You must decide if that is a future you wish tosee.”
“But they’re trying to create hybrids,” Varius says, and our future is clear as day. We will fight. There is no other option. “If Antonio manages to succeed in good number, he’ll catch the attention of the archangels, and they’ll kill every sup in this city.”
Probably further. The archangels uphold the balance in the universe, and they do not take kindly to anything that threatens that. They allow children to be conceived from two different races as long as they are born with only one set of power. A hybrid, though, is an abomination that takes magical genes from both parents, coming out more powerful than both – and more deranged. Their kind is abhorred across the entire Seven Planes, their mothers hunted down during pregnancy, their wombs ripped open and the babies burned.
Their mere existence doesn’t draw the attention of the archangels as they are few and far in between, but if Antonio actually manages to create themen masse, then none of us will survive.
The archangels are not known for their mercy.
One of them –Azreal, the Bringer of Death–sucks the souls of his kills into his own body, trapping them forever beneath his skin as grotesque tattoos that helplessly claw over each other in their attempt to find freedom.
A shiver arching through me, I shift on my stool. The archangels will kill my girl, seeing her as one of us sups given I marked her last night, starting the blood ritual that will take her from the human reality and bring her into ours. My pulse kicks up. The urge to kill Antonio Garcia soon consumes me.
“We’ve already killed his youngest son,” I say,turning to Varius, the head of this Family. As much as we all respect Mother and follow her advice, the final decisions come from my oldest brother. “They’ll retaliate tonight. Antonio was with Elena, and his concern for her was more than that of a father-in-law.”
Varius holds my gaze, leaning back in his chair, his thick arms crossed, his face unreadable despite his earlier support for going to war.
“Cid’s body has just been picked up from the morgue,” Talon says as he glances at his phone, and the very air in the room holds its breath.
“So?” Maddox cuts in, oblivious in his youth. “They already know we killed him and his bitch.”
“And eldest daughter,” Rudy, son number seven, signs. He was born unable to talk, Mother having taken a blast of magic while he was in her womb. He is lucky that is the only thing magic took from him. One of our soldiers recently gave birth to a baby so twisted, it felt wrong calling it human. Or maybe that is just what I tell myself since I was given the task of ending its life before it could bite off its umbilical cord.
The wet sounds of chewing mixes with infant laughter in my mind. I push it down.
To leave dark magic to fester is to bring death to all those you love. I did what I had to. As the Family reaper, it is my duty to kill any of those we call friends.
Holding Rudy’s green eyes, I sign back, “Don’t forget his son.”
A grin curls his lips. “I haven’t. But Antonio wasn’t fucking him.”
I raise a brow. “You know this for certain?”
He glances at Varius, no doubt feeling the heat of anger boring into his skull. Varius doesn’t like anyone holding back any information. A control freak throughand through, he’s desperate to provide structure where life and the hands of Fate do not.
Rudy shrugs nonchalantly. “I did tell you,” he signs, his hands moving in front of him, “but you weren’t looking at me.”
Varius’ eyes narrow as the rest of us chuckle.
“Cid might have become an ally with that information,” Varius says flatly, killing our humor.
Chucking more food into the pot, making it sizzle loudly, Mother adds, “Cid never would have turned on Antonio. He was too weak to take on the alpha, and he knew it. If he ever became an ally, he would’ve turned on us to gain favor.”
Varius’ gaze lifts to hers, and the tension eases a bit from his face. He nods at her to continue.
I swivel back on my stool to face her, as do my two brothers sitting at the counter beside me.
“The significance of Antonio picking up Cid’s body,” she says, looking at her youngest son, “is it means he’s planning on consuming Cid’s flesh.”
The Garcia Family has always eaten their dead, but they’ve also always left those killed by magic, not wanting to risk any nasty side effects. Although werewolves have a strong resistance to magic, they still have an aversion to it, like a cat to rotten meat.
“Antonio will gain Cid’s power.” The aroma of a rich tomato sauce fills the room. “He might even eat Elena, Abril, and Jorge too. If he does, he’ll be too strong for any of you to take on individually.” Her green eyes land on me. “Even you, love. You are strong, but you are young.”
Antonio is pushing two hundred and eleven, nearly a century older than Mother. And with age comes power, faster speed, and faster healing. I nod, lettingher know I am not stupid enough to be reckless.
I will not die before getting a lifetime with my girl.
“So you must attack him in pairs at the very least.” She reaches into a cupboard and grabs a variety of herbs to chuck into the pot. Heather. Horehound. Thyme.
