The Time I Tripped into a Curse and got two Mates

Chapter 2

Rina looked at me with a sly smile and pursed her lips. She was convinced that her mate was going to be an alpha. I had even overheard her talking to her minions and mentioning that if her mate wasn’t an alpha, she would reject them outright. And to be honest, I thought that would be the nicest thing that Rina could do for the poor fellow who was unlucky enough to have her as their fated mate.

Luna Mora smiled at her daughter and nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. There will be many single alphas coming to our ball. But that is not the exciting part! Your father has been talking with the Lycan Kingdom and some of the single Lycans have accepted our invitation to the ball.” Said Luna Mora excitedly. Her eyes were shining as brightly as her daughters. Apparently Luna Mora thought that Rina’s mate was one of the highest ranking creatures as well.

Rina’s eyes widened at that news. “Really? The Lycans? They rarely ever attend werewolf balls. They must really be serious about finding their mates.” Rina said with a look of deep thought within her eyes.

I didn’t know much about the Lycans, no one really did. They mostly kept to themselves within their own kingdoms as they governed the shifter community from afar. The Lycans were the ultimate rulers over the werewolves, were-bears, were-cats, and even the were-foxes. To be honest, they were fair rulers and never got too involved with pack matters unless there was a serious threat. I did know that the Lycan King and his queen had two sons and a daughter. The royal family had another daughter, but she had sadly been stillborn. The cause of the stillbirth was unknown, but there was a rumor that an angry witch had cast a curse upon the Lycan rulers.

“Evelette? Honey? Are you listening?” My mother said, a look of concern on her face. I shook myself and nodded.

“Yea, sorry, I was just trying to remember what I knew about the Lycans.” I said with a reassuring smile to my mother.

My mother sighed and shook her head and Luna Mora laughed. But Rina’s reaction was nothing short of blunt as she rolled her eyes at me.

“Evelette, I’m glad you are taking this seriously,” Luna Mora said to me seriously. “Would you mind setting up the guest rooms for the Lycans? They should be arriving later tonight. Here’s a list of who’s expected to attend the ball. If you look here, their names and ranks are written down, so make sure you memorize this before they arrive.” She said to me as she handed me the list.

“Mom, why does Evelette get to greet the Lycans first and not me?” Rina whined loudly and shot daggers out of her eyes, though I knew she wished that they could be real daggers.

“Honey, I have a more important job for you to do, don’t worry, you will meet them eventually.” Her mother reassured her.

I locked eyes with Rina and grinned before I looked down to study the list. I counted twelve names on the list and gasped. That was a large number of Lycans. They had a stronger presence than werewolves. It made sense because they were stronger overall, and with more power, both physically and politically. I was sure that that many Lycans staying in the pack house would inevitably cause tension. I needed to think of a solution to this.

While I was contemplating various options, Rina and Luna Mora left the sitting room and I glanced up and saw my mother looking at me sadly, tears welling up in her eyes. I rushed to her and threw my arms around her delicate frame. I knew what she was thinking about. My exile.

I loved my mother. She was what ‘home’ felt like. She smelled of lilies and mint and had the cutest head of brown curly hair, much like my own. I pulled away and looked down at her before I plopped onto the couch.

“The alpha is going to exile me to the humans if I cannot shift.” I said matter of factly.

My mother nodded and a new stream of silent, hot tears rolled down her face. I tried to smile at her in a reassuring way, but my own eyes filled with tears before I could lock the smile onto my face.

“Mom, we don’t know I won’t shift by midnight. There’s always hope. Plus,” I looked at her and smiled, “I might find my mate tomorrow and if I do, it won’t matter if I can’t shift. I won’t have to leave and I will be safe.”

My mother nodded to me as she dried her tears with her sleeve. We released each other and she returned my smile.

“You’re right. There is always hope, isn’t there? Welp, no use in sitting around crying all day. How about you go and get the rooms set up for the Lycans.” She said as she slapped her knee.

I was relieved to have something to do to keep my mind off of my imminent exile. There was time to think about it later…when I was alone in my room…waiting until morning to see if I could shift…

As I walked towards the pack house, I took a deep breath and made sure my face was clear of any tear streaks. I was ready for this task, I was ready for the day, and I would have to be ready to leave, whether I wanted to or not.

I opened the large double doors of the pack house. The inside was white and pristine. The floors were white marble and the walls were an off-white paint. Every reasonable area was expertly decorated and seemed to never have a smudge. I off-handedly thought that the house keepers must never get days off with the amount of people who come and go through these halls, leaving trail marks of dirt and mud.

My first task was to find Beta Derrin and his mate, Syl. They would know where we could put the Lycans to make everyone more comfortable, so I walked to their living quarters and knocked on the door. The beautiful and graceful Syl, with her flowing red hair, answered the door and smiled at me.

“Evelette, this is a surprise. What can I do for you?” She asked.

“I was actually thinking that hosting twelve Lycans in the pack house would cause more tension than necessary, so I was wondering if there was a guest house nearby that was available that they could stay in.” I responded.

Syl put her finger on her chin and tapped it thoughtfully. Then she pulled out her planner and looked over her notes and nodded.

“Yup, I see that there’s a guest house that the Lycans can use.It’s close to the tree line too, which I am sure they will like.” She replied.

“That sounds perfect. Thanks. I’ll head over there now.” I said as I started to leave

Before I could take three steps, Luna Mora approached with her planner in hand. She didn’t notice me as she said, “Syl, with all these extra attendees, we need more activities to plan, especially because the extra attendees are Lycans Goddess knows we need to make a good impression or I’ll never hear the end of it from James.” Luna Mora stopped abruptly when she noticed me standing in the doorway.

“Evelette, I thought you were getting the rooms ready for the Lycans.” Before I could respond she carried on. “Syl, any ideas? If anyone would have one, it would be you.” She looked hopefully at Syl.

Syl gave me an apologetic look and smiled at the Luna. “Not at the top of my head, Luna, but give me a minute and I’m sure I can think of something.”

I cleared my throat and the two women turned their heads in my direction. “I actually have an idea. I think that we should set up formal fights in the training yard since the men will have pent up energy from being around so many unmated men and women. We can hold the fights the day after the ball so that the men who found a mate can show off and the men that didn’t can blow off some steam.” I looked up at them expectantly.

Luna Mora smiled wide. “That is actually a really good idea, Evelette. Okay, right, let’s do that.” She said and Syl quickly wrote down the notes in her planner.

I could tell that I was dismissed so I turned around and left the Beta’s living quarters and headed down the curved stairs. I saw that boxes of linens and other supplies had been left by the door and when I peeked outside, the pack jeep had been pulled up. A couple of the omegas must have set these out for me. Awesome, saves me time. When I finished loading the boxes into the jeep and hopped into the car. I was eager to start this assignment because it would take me closer to the treeline. I would often look out at the woods and dream about the day when I could finally shift and run free in those woods.