Rise of the Cursed Princess

Chapter 3

The rest of the evening went by with no more excitement. Theon ended up leaving the table while Kora and I were getting food. After we sat down I was unable to locate him, which was fine by me. Save that drama for another time, place and she-wolf.

The sun went down and the moon was big and bright in the sky. It was a clear night and the stars were shimmering. There was a slight chill to the air so Sebastian, Kora, Asher and I had decided to go for a dip in the hot tub. Everyone else had gone home or was under the pavilion where the fire pit was with my parents. My father was the first Alpha King to open the castle to others. He was very social and wanted his pack to know that he cared deeply about his title and duty to them.

I wrapped my towel around me as I walked to the hot tub. I had always been self conscious, unlike other women around here. Werewolves were, by nature, very confident and s****l creatures. For some reason, I had never developed that confidence or comfort to flaunt my body around. I wanted to save that for my destined mate. Something that only he gets the privilege to have.

I thought it was the perfect opportunity to wear my new swimsuit that Kora had bought me. She was the definition of a shopaholic. It was olive green with small rhinestones. There was ruching down the seam in the back to enhance the look of my backside. The top had a wire and a light push up for support. It was gorgeous but then again anything from Victoria’s Secret was.

Asher was already enjoying the bubbles when I got out there. His back was to me, so I was able to fully admire his beauty. He was not of royal blood, but he was training to be a warrior. As a matter of fact, he was one of the best warriors we had, as good as some of them who had been protecting the pack for years and years. Every ounce of blood, sweat and tears went into his training and it was starting to show. His body was really filling out from all his hard work. The muscles in his back were very visible even when he was his most relaxed. His arms were thick and his shoulders broad.

“How’s the water,” I asked to announce my presence.

He turned to answer me right as I slid my towel off.

“Wow that’s new,” he noted while he stared. What I wasn’t expecting was the once over that he gave me.

“Yeah, Kora thought I needed it I guess.” Asher nodded in understanding. He was not immune to her shopping binges.

I sunk down into the hot water next to him. My body instantly relaxed. The hot tub was one of my favorite parts of the yard. During the winter I would spend a majority of my days out here.

I heard a low rumble beside me, so I turned to see what it was. Asher was still watching me, only his eyes were flickering bronze.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked him. I was a little concerned. The full moon just so happened to be on the night of our birthday but sometimes males had a hard time controlling their shifts when it was so close. Especially around unmated females.

He closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath, “I’m fine.” He smiled a sincere smile, but I couldn’t help but notice him scoot over to put some distance between us.

Hey, I felt your worry, everything okay out there?

I heard Sebastians voice loudly in my head. As twins we were able to sense each others emotions, just as mated pairs could.

I’m okay. You guys are missing out though, it’s beautiful tonight.

I stared up at the sky, watching the starts twinkle in the darkness. In just three short days I would be seventeen and everything could change. I could find my mate, fall head over heels in love, move away and have children. I snuck a glance sideways to Asher, only to find he was looking at me too.

“Ari,” he started to say, but he was interrupted by a squeal and a splash on the opposite side of the hot tub.

“I beat you,” Kora yelled with victory in her voice. I heard Sebastians deep laugh behind me and couldn’t help but smile.

They slid down into the bubbles and snuggled up with one another. Kora looked at my brother with all the love in her eyes. It was clear that she adored him. Sebastian stroked her cheek and planted a soft kiss on her forehead and then they both looked at me.

“Oh sorry, we’re we interrupting something,” he asked quizzically.

“No, not at all,” Asher answered him a little too quickly.

“Good, because I have some juicy gossip that I wasn’t able to share earlier.” Kora adjusted and clapped her hands one time, as if to get our attention.

“So earlier I was snooping around in my grandma’s library, and I came across a book that spoke of a legend.” She looked me dead in the eye, “before you laugh, hear me out.” I made a cross over my heart and held up my hand to show her scouts honor.

“In hundreds of generations, there has never been a set of twins or a daughter born to an Alpha King.” Kora paused for dramatic effect. “Until you guys!”

“When you guys were first born, nobody knew what to do, how to handle it. It had appeared that after all these years it was just coincidence that every king begat a son. Rumors began to fly,” she stopped looking at me. “None of the rumors made any sense. I even heard that some of the pack members tried to accuse your mom of cheating, but you have so many of your dad’s characteristics that it was dismissed fairly quickly.”

“Okay Kora, get to the point,” I interjected. I was anxious to see where this was going.

“Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I found a book full of myths and legends. There was an entire chapter dedicated to a story about a she-wolf who was given special powers to keep her people safe. A she-wolf born to an Alpha King, and,” she emphasized, “born into a set of twins!”

She sat back, clearly very impressed with herself. I tried to process what she was saying and found myself extremely skeptical. In all the time we have spent together and all the reading she had done, none of her myths or legends had ever been true. Why would this be any different?

“You sound crazy.” I stood to get out of the hot water. Everybody was silent.

I looked over my shoulder to see that everyone had left. The bonfire that had been burning all evening was put out leaving chunks of charred log behind.

“I don’t have any special powers. Actually there isn’t anything extraordinary about me at all,” I continued. “I don’t know what would make you think otherwise.”

“Well, the writing did say that your powers would begin revealing themselves on the day of your seventeenth birthday,” she smirked through the steam.

“Let it go K, you always do this to yourself. You think you’ve found something and you get so excited only to find out that it was really nothing,” I stepped out of the tub and on to the concrete. Still retaining some of the heat from the sunshine, the ground warmed my toes.

“Ariella,” my brother grumbled. It was a warning to stop before someone’s feelings got hurt.

“I’m going to bed, I’m tired. I’m sure I’ll see you guys in the morning,” I turned on my heel and walked away. I felt as if I was acting like a brat but I didn’t care. Something about what Kora said rubbed me wrong, but the words “special powers” would not stop floating around in my head.