Broken Curse

2

“But Prescott wants you to kill him so he won’t have to. It’ll make it easier for him to ascend to the top of the Hallowed Guild ranks if you kill my father and Prescott kills the girls.”

“Out of everyone, you should be the most thankful.” Finn lifted his chin and stared down his nose at my mate. “Don’t you want to protect her?”

“But I’m not protected. They’re still going to try to kill me.” It was like he couldn’t see reason. “You can’t trust them.”

“That’s funny coming from you.” Finn’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “Your f*****g mate is part of the society that wants you all dead.”

“Well, hell, so are we.” Remus pointed to himself and Ivory. “But that mark changed everything.” He gestured to Ivory’s ear. “No mate can kill their beloved.”

“Aw, that’s actually kind of sweet.” Ada’s dark eyes met those of her best friend, Honor. “Maybe not all men are pigs, but this one definitely is.” She motioned back at Finn.

Ada and Honor were clearly from the same pack. They both had dark olive skin, dark eyes, and brown hair. The only difference was that Honor’s hair was darker, and she was slightly taller than her friend. The similar looks probably had everything to do with their pack keeping to their own kind and not intermingling with humans.

“Maybe someone else here is conspiring and it’s not me?” Finn glanced back at me. “Have you ever considered that?”

“Finn, just stop.” I was done with people angrily pointing fingers at everyone but themselves over their shortcomings. “This won’t bring your parents back. This hate … this anger … you have to let it go, or you’ll wind up making stupid mistakes. You’ll get other people hurt, and then what? You think you’ll be okay with it, but you’re in a dangerous cycle, and you need to stop.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” Finn sneered at me.

“No, she’s right.” Beatrice walked over and took my side, both literally and physically. “We’ve been worried about you letting all this negative energy saturate you, but you’d been through so much. We didn’t want to make things worse. But we were wrong. We’ve let you go too far.”

“What does that mean?” he asked with fear. “Are you banishing me?”

“That’s our point.” Sage sighed. “Of course we aren’t banishing you. Can’t you see? We all love you, but there will be repercussions this time.”

So that’s what he’s afraid of? It had taken this confrontation for me to realize what plagued him. He’s afraid no one loves him, and he’s trying to prove he’s worthy.

Yeah, it’s similar to how Logan and Gabby are acting. Aidan’s voice was still full of anger. But if his decisions hurt you, I will kill that asshole.

Though I couldn’t blame him for wanting to protect me at any cost, I wouldn’t let him kill for me. Whether Finn realized it, he was the only family I had left too, and I didn’t plan on losing him. I just had to knock some sense into him.

Finn glanced at Beatrice, waiting for his leader to speak. “So, what will it be?”

“Actually, Emma is our future leader, so it’s up to her.” Beatrice faced me, her eyes turning a darker shade of purple. “Tell him your decision.”

Okay, I hadn’t expected that, but she was right. I had to start acting like a leader, not just to the four marked girls but to both witches and wolves. This was my legacy. “You aren’t allowed to know what we’re up to.”

“What?” Finn frowned. “Look, I promise I won’t tell them anything.”

“We can’t risk it.” Besides, I didn’t believe him. Yes, he didn’t smell of the sulfur that indicated a lie, but that only meant his intentions were pure at this moment. Who knew how he’d feel later on today or, hell, even next week? “Until you can prove you’ve changed, you cannot be part of the prophecy, and you will no longer be kept in the loop.”

“But that’s not …”

I didn’t care to hear his response. “Logan, let him go.” I laced some alpha will into my voice, making it clear I expected him to obey me.

Aidan tensed beside me, ready to come to my aid.

It surprised us both when Logan listened.

“You better be glad that’s all you’re missing out on.” Logan dropped his hand and glared at Finn. “If anything happens to my mate, I’ll consider you responsible, and I will get even.”

Finn swallowed hard, and I almost laughed. He was finally afraid. Good.

“Well, as fun as this is, I think it’s time we get to the witch’s diary.” My eyes went back to Finn. “I guess we’ll see you later today.”

“But I didn’t have any breakfast,” Finn pouted.

“Then, you’d better go back to your house and figure out how to make some.” Beatrice straightened her shoulders and nodded in my direction. “She’s spoken.”

Finn’s mouth dropped open, and when he tried to catch Sage’s or Samuel’s eyes, they diverted their gazes to the ground.

“Fine.” Finn stomped out the door and slammed it shut in his wake.

I hated doing that to Finn, but my hands were tied, and right now, there were more important things to focus on. “Now, let’s get some breakfast and see what this diary has to say next.”

An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach as if we were still missing a piece to the puzzle. The feeling had to be connected to what had gone down with Finn. What else could it be?

A

fter Finn had left with grand theatrics, the room fell silent. I wished things could be different, but he was too much of a liability.

You did the right thing. Aidan took my hand and squeezed it comfortingly. He has to earn our trust again.

Maybe we should’ve let him earn it in the first place. There had been so many red flags, and I’d naïvely ignored them all. He was so angry, but hell, he’d fought against Prescott’s pack. So how had their little treaty even begun?

“Well, that was enlightening.” Samuel blew out a breath and shrugged off the thin maroon jacket he’d been wearing since the mornings were getting cooler as winter approached.

“Samuel,” his mother chastised. “Don’t even try to be funny right now.”

“That’s how he copes.” Aidan shrugged. “Better that than crying.”

The witch did have a soft spot that made him even more endearing.