The Alpha's bloodcurse

CHAPTER 3

I dropped to the floor, gasping for air in my dry lungs. Who would curse Collin? He was good to everyone. He led the pack well and carried everyone along. Who would do this to him? A million thoughts flooded my head in seconds, drowning me in a stream of worry.

“You said you can help me. Tell me how to break this curse,” I said, panting across the room.

“Well, you can only break a blood curse on the next Crescent Festival,” she said, rocking her wooden chair.

Collin would be dead by then. We were both sentenced to death on the next Crescent Festival. Luckily, I escaped, barely surviving until the shaman found me.

I sat on the floor as my eyes flooded with tears. I had lost everything: my parents, my guardian. I never had a wolf, and now Collin. I guess the moonlight doesn’t shine on everyone after all. I sat for a moment in the now-quiet room, the shaman’s wooden chair rocking slowly, making a creaking sound. I sprang to my feet and wiped my tears with my hands. The fact that I was still alive meant something—that there was hope, and there must be another way to save Collin.

I reached for the door as the lady held my hand.

“If you can’t help me, I’ll find another way,” I said, staring at her eyes. She had blue eyes, and her face looked innocent yet deceitful. Her look was confusing. She acted and lived old, but looked quite young.

“There is another way, Meena, but it’ll cost you,” she said finally.

I loosened my grip on the door and turned to listen to her.

“What do you know about moonbloods?” she asked, stroking her white hair.

“I know they are humans who can see the supernatural,” I replied, confused. The moonlight tales at my former pack had my guardian teach us about the mundane world.

“What you don’t know is that moonbloods have very special blood that is harmful to us supernatural creatures. But I’ve learned from books and the mouths of the old that their blood, when used in the right way and at certain auspicious times, can be used for special purposes. Like, I don’t know... breaking a blood curse?” She paused for a moment and turned to look at my confused face.

“What’s it gonna cost me?” I asked sharply. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I was willing to do anything. I couldn’t lose Collin. I couldn’t lose anything again.

“The crescent month permits a tear in the veil between worlds. You will have to find a moonblood within that time period, or you will be stuck in the mundane world.” She reached into a pouch hanging from an overgrown branch of the tree in the center of the room. “Take this,” she said, handing me a strange-looking dagger with carvings on it.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“This is a bone dagger made from a dragon’s spine. When you find what you seek, you will sacrifice it with this dagger, spilling its blood in the name of the curse. The markings carved on the dagger are the same as those on your mate’s skin. This will purge the curse from his blood and make him sane again.”

My hands trembled as I dropped the dagger to the ground. I hadn’t taken a life before, and I couldn’t do it now. I wasn’t ready for this. I kicked the dagger toward her and stepped back.

“There must be another way. I’ll find another way,” I said, breathing hard against my shaky voice. “I love Collin, but I can’t take an innocent human life.”

“Well, technically, it isn’t a normal human,” she chuckled annoyingly. “Besides, dear Luna, if—and only if—there is another way to save your precious mate, it could take long, and the next Crescent Festival is 25 days away, child. You and I both know this is your best offer,” she said sharply.

“And all this for what? Nothing? You’re just gonna help me without taking anything in return?” I asked her in a suspicious tone. Even if I was going to journey into the mundane world and kill an extremely hard-to-find moonblood, I needed to know what I was paying.

She was quiet for a moment, smirking at me.

“I will take nothing at all but your most prized possession,” she finally answered.

Of course, my most prized possession—of everything I had. “Even if I gave it to you, what do you want with it, and do I eventually get it back?” I asked her.

“Nah, my dear, you can’t eat your cake and still have it, child. Moreover, I’m also giving you a possession of mine I’m not going to get back—my precious bone dagger. Unlike you, who is out for a cure, I’m out for revenge against someone who wronged my family, and I can’t do that if you do not give me that which I seek,” she said, pointing to my talisman—my necklace, which was given to me by Collin himself. It is what the pack recognizes me with as their Luna. Without it, I’m just an ordinary outsider, an orphan once again.

“Your choice, Meena, the clock is ticking,” she added as I stroked my necklace restlessly. I was running out of time, and I had to decide now if I was going to journey into the mundane world.

“I’ll do it, but on one condition. I won’t kill the moonblood—just take the blood—and you bring me back,” I told her, picking up the blood dagger from the floor.

“Not possible, dear. Believe me, I ain’t a cold-blooded killer, but your mate’s whole body is affected, and so is every drop of blood in his veins. We need every drop of moonblood we can get for the spell to work.”

I pulled off my necklace and slowly gave it to her. I knew I had to do this. I had to do what it takes. I couldn’t lose again.

She slammed the necklace in her palm against the wall, and suddenly, the room started shaking vigorously, as if an earthquake was about to make impact. She chanted loudly in a language I didn’t know, and her eyes turned white. Suddenly, she stopped chanting, and everything was quiet. The shaking stopped. The room’s atmosphere changed, and I felt cold.

The wall she placed her palm upon began to c***k slowly, with a white bright light seeping through the newly formed cracks. She stepped back quickly as the wall burst with blinding light, then slowly dimmed into a cyan color. It was beautiful. I could feel its energy.

“That is your window, Luna,” she said, panting heavily. She rested her hands on the wooden chair. “Go now and do not look back. Moonbloods are hard to find. And be warned: you can only use the dagger once.” Her voice echoed across the room.

The blue, floating mist was now pulling me in as I held the dagger tightly to my chest. “And remember, Luna, do not come in contact with the blood, for you will be marked and killed. Moonbloods have protectors, so tread carefully and return safely,” she added.

I was now close to the mist and could feel its cold touch. It was freezing yet sensational. It was like a bittersweet feeling. I turned back to see nothing but blurs of the room I once was in. Taking one final breath, I took a step in.