The story of the curse.

I walked in the woods with the Alpha, the distance between us large and safe.

It was dark, but I noticed that it wasn't as dark as the main woods.

The first few minutes of the walk passed in silence. I kept my eyes mostly on the ground to prevent myself from stumbling on a rock or a fallen branch and falling down.

The Alpha however, looked like he knew the place by heart, walking calmly enough that if he comes across a rock or a branch, he stepped over it the second the tip of his shoes brushed against the item.

He also had one hand stretched out, touching the trees as he passed by as if he was marking or counting them.

It didn't take long for my breath to be labored and for sweat to coat my forehead. My ankle already throbbed after only a few minutes, shooting pain up the rest of my body.

"Would you like to rest?" The Alpha asked, stopping me in my track.

I glanced at him and saw that he was facing my direction, his blank gaze thrown to my right.

I looked around and saw a rock perfect for resting.

"Yes." I replied, limping towards the rock. I leaned my crutch against a tree right next to the rock before I dropped myself on it, exhaling loudly as I stretched my legs.

"How long would it take me to heal?" I wondered out loud.

"Perhaps a few more weeks." The Alpha replied, pressing his back against the tall tree across for me.

"It might take you that long to shift as well." He added, intertwining his fingers at his lower abdomen.

"Weeks?" I whispered.

That was too long... way, too long. I needed to heal yesterday.

"I'm sorry." Alpha Ollen said, forcing my eyes back to him. "For everything. For causing you pain. I will do my best to make you as comfortable as possible to help you heal faster."

I stared at him, slightly moved by his words. If it wasn't for the horrible insurrection I had with him in the mating ceremony, I would have probably thought he was one of the sweetest men I had met in a while. But the curse ruined his image for me.

Silence fell in the woods, and unlike the other times, I heard no unnatural whispers in my head, only the flapping of wings of birds and the soft movement of the leaves on their branches

I had so many questions about this pack, and I wasn't sure which one I wanted answers for first.

"Is there anything you would like to know about the pack?" Alpha Ollen asked, and I stared at him with wide eyes.

"Can you read people's minds?" I shot back, and a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"No." He replied, amusment evident in his voice. "But I assumed you would want to ask some questions if this was going to be your home from now on."

"Fair enough."

"Well... If you have any questions, feel free to ask me." The Alpha encouraged. "I will answer them to the best of my abilities."

I thought about starring off with a soft question, but my mind needed the bigger picture first.

"Tell me how the curse started." I said.

"Straight to the big one." The Alpha commented, leaning his head back against the tree, exposing more scarred skim running down his neck.

I wanted to know about those scars, too, but I guess they would have to wait. There was only so much he could tell me at once.

"The story is centuries old, so I have no doubt that each generation put a little twist in it as it got passed down. I know not the original but only what my father told me, and my father only knew what his father told him." Alpha Ollen explained.

"And so the story goes like this. Many centuries ago, when the land was green and the pack was warm, it was led by a cruel alpha. Not one woman in the pack desired to be his mate, all fearing his cruelty. And it was like their prayers were answered. He could find his mate in this pack, and so he started searching, having witches take his blood to locate his mate sooner. Years passed before he found her, and when he did, she was a witch passing through our town. After all the searching he did, you would think he offered her a nice room and took care of her until she accepted him. But no. He imprisoned her in the dungeons. The second ge laid eyes on her and ordered the witch to prepare the mating ceremony. He knew his own reputation, and so he was certain she would reject him. So he forced the witch of the pack to bond them by blood, cut their palms open, and tie them so she would never leave..."

I glanced down at my hand, remembering the cut Laura made at the mating ceremony.

"The young witch, kicking and screaming, got forcefully mated to the Alpha. He took her to his room and... she never made it out."

My heart dropped. It was obvious that no one in the pack helped her escape her cruel fate even after they prayed they wouldn't be mated to him.

"The young witches' coven, upon realizing that she had been gone for too long, did their search and found out that she was in this pack. It didn't take them long to understand that she had died, nor did it take them much work to find out how she died. Her mother, who was the leader of their coven, visited the pack on her own and demanded to speak to the Alpha. He refused to invite her into his home, and so he spoke to her in the same woods he had forcefully mated with her only daughter. Most of their conversations have been lost through out the generations as the story of the curse got passed down, but it was easy to understand that she cursed him there, cursed his entire generation and his pack. She cursed him so that no man in his blood line will find the joy of a mate, that they will fall for the same cruelty he had in him, and no pack member shall feel the love of a Luna, for they had seen their Luna imprisoned, forced and killed and had refused to rescue her."

Honestly, I would do the same, curse each and every single one of them into oblivion.

"The Alpha had laughed in her face." Alpha Ollen continued, shaking his head I disappointment. "I was told that while it took him a while to figure out that the curse was planted deep in his land and was killing his pack, his people knew right away. It didn't take long for the warmth to disappear and for the crops to die. Not a single plant has grown on our land ever since. The trees only stood as a witness to the packs' end. The Alpha, on the other hand, found out the hard way through a second chance, mate."

I wrapped my arms around myself as a shiver passed through my body. My focus was planted on the Alpha and his voice, feeling horrible for all the unlucky women who were fated to be mates of the Alphas of this pack, just like my sister. But unlike my sister, I bet the other women didn't have someone else to take their places for them.

"She was a human, oblivious to our world. He managed to convince her that he was a good man, that he would take care of her, and that he would love her. I think he believed he could do all the things he promised as well. On the night of their mating ceremony, he once again forced the witch of the pack to do the same ritual, so if the human finds out what he did in the past, she wouldn't leave him for it. Once they were bonded, he thought he had won. Only, a sudden rage took over, a need to taste her blood. The Alpha was already quick to anger as it was, and before he could figure out what was happening, he'd killed her, right in the woods with everyone present, all of which was frozen with shock and fear. Once she was dead and the anger left him, he realized that he had killed his mate again, and this time because something took over him."

Ollen stopped for a few seconds.

"I'm listening." I whispered, my voice trembling as I recalled the mating ceremony I went through.

"The Alpha sent his people to search for the witch who cursed him and his pack to order her to lift the curse. She sent the people back with simple instructions. She, nor the rest of her remaining blood line, would never lift the curse. But if the Alpha and his blood line wishes to do so, then they will have to do the same mating ritual as he had done to her daughter and fight the rage themselves. Shifters are animals, she'd said. It will be hard to beat your natural instincts to kill. She wanted him to live with the consequences of his actions, to let his pack suffer and hate him for it, along with the rest of his blood line."

"So, basically go through the ritual and try not to let the curse turn you into a killing monster?" I asked.

"Pretty much." Alpha Ollen answered, nodding his head. "It might sound easy, but..."

He stopped himself, signing in defeat.

"And no one has been able to survive?" I asked.

"No one except for you." He replied.

Maybe I survived because I wasn't his actual mate because maybe the blood bond isn't as strong as it would be if it was with my sister.

"What if you don't go through the mating ritual? Will the curse take over even then?" I asked.

"No. The mating ritual is what triggers the curse." He replied.

"Then why do the ritual, knowing what comes right after?" I questioned, anger rising within me.

"Because no ritual means no cure. The land will still die, and the pack will still be without a Luna. If we want to break the curse, then we have to go through the ritual." He replied.

Everything was so twisted that it was giving me a headache.

"I know it's a lot to take in..." He commented. "Every Alpha walks into the mating ritual thinking he is strong enough to fight the curse. I did, too. But it is an anger never felt before. My father made my life a living hell so I could live past the mating ceremony without killing my mate, and all that training was for nothing... all that pain..."

I felt a lump form in my throat. I didn't want to feel bad for the Alpha, but I couldn't help it. Maybe it's the bond we were forced to share.

"Do you want to know a funny fact?" He asked, shorty continuing before air could give him an answer. "My father insisted on naming me after the Alpha that brought this curse on our pack in the first place. He used to say, 'Alpha Ollen the first brought thus curse and imprisoned our people, Alpha Ollen the second and last will break the curse and free pree our people. If only he could see the turn of events now..."

I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry even more.

"This pack had a lot of beautiful places, or so I've heard, all of which had died or lost their beauty. I'll show you around in the morning if you like." He commented, changing the subject.

"What kind of places?" I asked, fighting my tears.

Everything felt wrong. I'm not supposed to be here, and yet I was. The confusion was frustrating me, reducing me to tears.

"Caves, waterborne, a fountain. As a matter of fact..." He stopped, suddenly standing up straight, tilting his head to the side as if he was listening for something.

"What is it?" I asked and pressed my lips into a tight line when he signaled for me to stay quiet.

I caught the look on his fade darken and realized that there was something else.

"Come, Joyce." He whispered. "Stand close to me."

I hesitated. He still had his head titled to the side, his eyes narrowing as he stepped forward.

"Quick. Get behind me." He ordered.

That was when I heard it. A deep, low chuckle coming from somewhere in the darkness. I didn't need anything else to convince me to get to my feet and limp behind Alpha Ollen, even when my fesr of his reach tried to stop me.