Gertrude’s Curse

Chapter 7

James POV

I never thought I could feel like a kid again, but here I am the soon to be Alpha of this pack feeling lost on my own thoughts, being unable to confront a difficult situation properly… well it is not so much difficult as it is uncomfortable, I went out to the woods in order to let my wolf out a bit, it had been acting restless lately and I figured that some outdoor time by ourselves might help, when I smelled her I was unsure on how to react, I knew it was her… that rose water smell never really leaves my mind, I can sense her minutes before she is visible wherever I am, at school, at my dad’s office and today in the woods, the difference is that I always avoid her or more like let her avoid me, today I gathered some nerve when I saw her standing there, frozen in her spot… I was honestly terrified of shifting in front of her, of her reaction at seeing me again face to face by ourselves… first I figured she’d run in the opposite direction but it took her a while to do that. I’ve always felt like a piece of s**t for not standing up for her back then, everyone just assumed she jumped me or something but I remember everything as if it was yesterday:

*Flashback*

-Gertie was in pain… I could see it, first I was so scared and unsure of what was happening to her. I went to her, I was going to hold her or offer her some sort of support to have her sit down and that is when it happened, I remember her straddling me and well you know… the other things… I was confused, scared and also it felt good, like I knew it was not supposed to be happening but I cannot say I was bothered, I was mainly confused. Then the guard came in with my mom who was coming back from the pack’s kitchen and I can only imagine how it looked to them, my mom started yelling and calling her names, I pushed her away and she kept trying to do something I think trying to soothe the pain? I don’t know… and then that asshole guard… he blamed her but I saw his face he wanted to take advantage of her, she was so young and had no control of what was happening to her. I know this now but back then I was just a scared kid who had no idea of what to do, my mom pulled me away and told me that Gertrude wanted to take advantage of me and asked me how long had this been going on… I told her we were just training that everything was innocent and that I was unsure of what had happened that day, she didn’t believe me… told me girls like Gertrude were always going to be looking for an opening, an opportunity to get me… to get their chance to be Luna of our pack, or to come and weaken us for other packs to take advantage of us, she called my dad and told him this crazy story, I remember her telling him that she had warned him when he took Olga and Gertrude in, she had heard stories that Olga was a bad seed who was kicked out of her previous pack, all I heard my mom say was that she had been kicked out for her inmoral behavior and that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree… Those words tasted so bitter to me, Gertie was my friend she would never harm anyone on purpose, she was sweet and smart and we only came up with the plan of training in secret because she was uncomfortable dealing with the others, I cannot say she was wrong, we were teenagers and I remember how they looked at her, even older members of the pack… they lusted after her and she was so innocent she just wanted to be like the other girls her age, wear the same outfits play the same games, but guys were out to get her and so were girls cause she was getting a lot of attention… The moment I lost all hope of reconnecting with her was a couple of nights after the incident… I heard my parents talking in my dad’s studio my mom and her advisors were telling my Dad that both Gertrude and Olga could be accused of treason and that if the council accepted trial they could be sentenced to death… my soul left my body at that point… I’ve never felt more scared in my life… I waited for my mom to leave and went to plead with my father, told him it was my fault that I wanted to experiment and I felt comfortable with her, I knew how my dad thought… my parents are very old fashioned people, my mom is one of those who always needs everything neat and perfect and who cares too much about what others think and my dad, the great alpha… he… well he is not a great person,I must say he has bad habits… my mom was not his true mate, he chose her because of her status and money, money that our pack needed in a hard time… his father before him had a similar arrangement… my dad’s true mate took her own life after the betrayal and he does not seem bothered by it, he was a player in his time and I have a feeling that all those trips out of the pack doing alliances and others may be his little escapades… my mom wouldn’t feel the betrayal, only true mates do… Anyway, I could see the glint in his eye when I told him this, he almost looked proud, told me that next time I should be more careful with the slut of my choosing… to pick one who in his words wasn’t so “Slutry”, I hated him for speaking in that manner about Gertie but whatever it took for me to get this idea of treason out of his head… he then said that as long as I promised to stay away for the “little w***e”, he would find a way to get around my mother’s plan, but that if they found out I had any sort of relationship with girls like that he wouldn’t hesitate to proceed with the accusation and make sure they wouldn’t breathe another day, he said it was bad for my image and that I was to marry well… that hopefully my mate would be more appropriate than his, but that if that was not the case I needed to make sure to be a clean cut so he could find me a suitable match… I did not think too hard on this, told him Gertrude meant nothing to me and that I didn’t want a scandal, that all I was trying to avoid was negative attention that would damage our image, that was a lie if I ever heard one… but it worked.

After the ordeal, people started gossiping about what happened, I knew they treated her poorly and I wanted to reach out to her… tell her I was sorry, tell her I was still her friend, but I decided against it. One little mistake might have been the end of her… And that was the last thing I wanted, so I like a f*****g p***y nope not a p***y a coward, a d**k… decided to stay away from her, never heard her side of the story, never tried to make things better for her… I hadn’t speak to her until I saw her in the woods, her signature oversized sweater flowing on top of he leggings and her updo ponytail, even when she tries to hide herself behind her clothes you can see how gorgeous she is, any guy would be lucky to be with her, any guy who will never be me. We grew up, and I always wondered if I’d see some guy try and actually get her but she seems to avoid guys in general, except for Nate who unlike the rest of us assholes, stood up to everyone and just like his sister Rache they kept Gertie in their lives. I’m happy though, she has a small group but she is not fully alone, Nate talks about her from time to time, mainly about silly things like they all went for coffee and stuff, he only tells me this stuff though… not the other guys, I admit I’m not the number one fun of his friendship with her, but there is no way I’ll ever say that out loud, he told me he had a crush on a girl and I’m praying to the Gods is not Gertie… but I’m just being an asshole again, cause I have been going out with one of the girls… Alice, there had not been anyone before but we grew together the past few months, she is sweet and loves to do things for me, she is beautiful and a great warrior, strong and determined… we’ve had a few dates and I know my parents approve of my relationship with her, her mom comes from money and she is the daughter of some of our elite members, her mom is descendent of a Beta from a neighbor pack with whom we’ve been making deals to trade certain services for a piece of land, in general they are good network and we’ve known each other since childhood, today I will take her to a nice restaurant outside the pack’s territory and I will ask her to be my formal girlfriend, I am attracted to her, I mean is light but is there maybe she’ll be my mate…