3

He was silent for a moment, not a single person in the room dared to make a noise until he spoke. “I am the Alpha King of the Werewolves, chosen by the Moon Goddess herself, my name is Kael, will you do me the honor of breaking my curse?”

It honestly didn’t sound like he was asking more like demanding. Kael. That was a nice name, and obviously respected. Finding a little confidence, I used my hands to grip at the fabric of my robes. “Before I accept, may I know the curse?” My head was still looking down, but I could hear the silence in the room following after my voice. It was unsettling and bone chilling.

King Kael spoke again. “I suppose the witches wouldn’t know since after my family took one, no of them has returned.” He sounded almost amused for a second before continuing. “I will do you the honor of telling you the entire story, if you will follow me?”

I nodded my head, not daring to look up from the floor.

I could hear small movement, and then the foot steps over to me. In front of me were two pair of expensive shoes, shined to perfection not the slightest sight of dirt.

“Look up at me.” His words sent a shiver through my body as I peeled my eyes off the ground and slowly looked up. He was tall, at least a foot and a half taller than myself, I barely reached the center of his chest. His hair was still covering his eyes, even with him in front of me I couldn’t see them. “Follow me.” A command that I followed, as I felt eyes bare into the back of my body.

I followed him through another pair of doors, and a long hallway before we reached the end of it, there was a pair of brown heavy doors that he simply pushed open. Making it seem like an easy task.

“This is the library.” Kael stated. It was a large room, each wall was built with floor to ceiling bookshelves, there was tables throughout the room, paired with chairs that had papers and books scattered across them. “Take a seat and I’ll tell you the story.”

I hesitantly walked to a chair and sat down, waiting for him to make a move, and he did choosing to sit across from me his smile gone. I felt like I was waiting for hours before he spoke.

“It started two hundred a fifty years ago. There was a war going on, between the werewolves and the vampires, a territory war that seemed impossible to stop unless a lot of blood was shed. My ancestor, a great King named Harrison enlisted the help of a witch from your village. It was said that she had great power, and since the witches were undecided in the war he thought it was a good idea to have magic. When he met the witch, in his journals, he describes her of as a beauty that descended from the stars that’s just as dangerous. He says that he persuaded the witch after she lost her remaining family to a hunting vampire, after he saved her. They went on to fight the vampires, and after she joined his side they won every battle. At the last battle, she declared that she loved him, but knowing that werewolves have mates she asked him to mate with her instead and be with her. My ancestor felt like that would deny the nature of werewolves, and he didn’t feel that way towards her, he only thought of her as a tool. He told her that, along with the fact that he would never leave his intended mate for a witch. She got angry, so angry she placed a curse on the bloodline. Swearing that no matter how hard we tried, that none of us would ever find our mate.” He finished the story.

“No one in your family has found a way around this?” I asked. A generational curse took a lot of magic power, breaking it would require even more. “How has your blood line continued?”

“Every new generation we enlist a witch to help, but they always-“ He stopped himself. “We have the original witch’s spell book, but whoever reads it or tries to undo the curse gets cursed themselves. Most of them tried feeling proud their village chose them for such task, a continuously try until they deplete themselves of magical energy, or they give up and are to ashamed to go back home.” Kael looked at me, waiting for my response. “As for the bloodline, the royal council chooses a werewolf that has been previously rejected by their mate. So that way we won’t upset the moon goddess.”

I frowned. That seemed sad, loveless almost.

“Can I be honest with you?” I looked at him with determined eyes, trying my hardest to sound sincere. He nodded, letting me continue, and everything in me just fell apart. “I barely have any magic power! It’s not a me issue, but my entire string of ancestors haven’t been able to pull enough magic power together to save a fish from drowning! They practically sacrificed me! My own village! I thought you were going to be scarier too! But no you have your own problems! I don’t know what to do! I don’t want to executed for not helping!” I didn’t realize it but tears were streaming down my face and I was ugly sobbing as if I wasn’t in front of a very important person.

A small chuckle came from the Alpha. It started small and turned into a full throttle laugh. He smacked his hand against the table, as he leaned over it. His laugh was deep and enchanting, I wanted to hear it more. The tears stopped pouring as I looked at him.

“I wouldn’t have you killed for that.” He smiled. “My dad told me a long time ago it doesn’t matter how much power you have as long as you believe you have a shot.” His words were kind and supporting, something I wasn’t expecting at all. “Besides breaking the curse, I believe it doesn’t require any magic energy.”