Chapter 140
Third POV
A month ago.
Bram had never known rage quite like this. After he had heard that Auren had got into labor, he was enraged as hell. He stormed out of his room and went to his library where he sat alone. He didn’t want to see Maris or hear her voice or smell her scent of dead rats. All he wanted was to be with Auren or think of her.
He waited for the next update from his spies. Maris came to him a few minutes ago and asked him to have dinner. But he was on his fifth glass of whiskey. Just then his spy entered and said, “Luna Auren has given birth to twins.”
The moment he heard that Auren had survived the birth and had given Alpha Lucien not one but two pups, something inside him snapped. He upended the whiskey glass in his hand. It shattered across the floor. Then he grabbed a heavy chair and hurled it at the wall. The crack of splintered wood echoed through his house.
“They should have been mine!” he growled, pacing the library like a caged beast. “My pups. My legacy. Not his.” He slammed his fist on the table. “That bitch is going to pay for this!”
Maris sat on the chair in the corner near the hearth with her arms folded across her chest. With an icy expression on her face, she watched him with narrow eyes. She hated how he thought of her all the time. “She will die,” she said coldly. “You know the curse, Bram. It claims every she–wolf who had given birth to Shadowfang heirs. She has only a few days left, maybe less.”
Bram stalked toward her. In a blink, his hand closed around her throat. He lifted her slightly, and sneered. “If you ever speak of her death with glee again, you will be the one six feet under!”
She clawed at his hand, wheezing. His wolf was gone, but he was still enough to tackle her. He let go of her and she collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air.
“How can you do this to me?” she snapped. “After all that I have done for you?”
“What you have done for me was out of pure selfish reasons,” he snarled. “Had you not come into my life and poisoned me about Auren, she would have been with me. My wolf would have been with me!”
“It’s not like you wanted to be with her!” she shouted as she cried. “I didn’t do anything you didn’t want.”
“Get out!” he shouted. “Get out, before I kill you!”
Maris got up and ran out of the library, crying. “Bastard!” she muttered as she went back to her room. She called her maids. When Reya and Hyra fluttered around her, rubbing ointments on her bruises, Reya whispered poison in her ears. “You are so much better than that lowly omega, Luna. You are smarter, prettier and you are a born Luna. Alpha Bram will realize it one day.”
Hyra chimed in. “He is caught in the past. Once the curse claims Auren, there will be no competition left.”
Their words made her smirk. “The curse will soon take her,” Maris scoffed as her bruises darkened. “Then Bram will regret what he did to me!”
When Hyra left, Reya came close to Maris. “There is one thing I wanted to say,” she said, glancing at the door.
“What?” Maris asked, lying down.
“Beta Josh wants to see you. In private.”
“What for?”
“I don’t know,” Reya replied with mischief in her eyes.
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12:50 Thu, 17 Apr
Chapter 140
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Maris cocked an eyebrow. After a moment of pause, she said, “Ask him to meet me after midnight on the hill behind the pack’s territory.”
That night after Bram slept, intoxicated heavily, Maris sneaked out of the house. When she reached the hill behind the pack’s territory, she saw Josh over there. He was wearing only slacks with a bare chest. She walked to him and looked at him with lust in her eyes. “You wanted to see me, Josh?”
Josh’s chest rose and fell as he stared at her intensely. “You’ve heard about Auren?”
She couldn’t help it and brushed her fingers lightly over his chest. “Yes.…..“
He caught her wrist. “What do you plan to do now?”
“Depends on how you treat me,” she said suggestively.
With a low snarl, Josh grabbed her by the waist and picked her up. She curled her legs around him. “No panties,” he said, cupping her ass. He pulled his pants down and before she knew it, he impaled her on his cock.
Days passed and both of them continued having sex whenever and wherever they could. Bram was too busy mourning his loss, hating Lucien and Auren.
More days passed. She eagerly waited for the news didn’t wither. She flourished.
Auren’s demise. But nothing happened. Two weeks passed. Auren
The reports came from the spies that Auren was seen in the balcony, laughing with her pups, with Lucien, strong and healthy. The cursed bride had survived somehow.
Maris was shocked. One night as she lay naked beside Josh, she said, “Why isn’t she dead?”
Josh shrugged. “I don’t know… Something is strange though.”
A month after the pups were born, the truth dawned. The curse was broken. This time Bram descended into another fit of rage, which was worse than the last. As Maris watched him with horror, destroying every piece of furniture in their room, and as he shattered the mirror with a punch, blood trickling down his hand, she knew he was getting insane. Was he slowly getting moon crazy?
She watched him quietly. And then that night she went to Josh. In his house. “I think he will soon become moon crazy,” she said to him as he took her from behind. Sex with him was proving to be so good. Addictive. She was taking all precaution to mask his scent on her.
He scoffed. “Let him. I’m here for you!”
“No,” she breathed. “There’s something else.”
He finished inside her with a grunt. When they were lying side by side, she said, “If fate didn’t kill Auren…. I would.”
Josh snapped his gaze at her. “That would be risky. Lucien is going to destroy all of us.”
“Then what do I do?” she cried.
“Kill Bram?”
And for the first time in days, her lips curled into a smile.
But she didn’t know that Bram, too, was planning.
He wasn’t looking to destroy Lucien or Auren. He had other things in mind.
Chapter 141
Lucien POV
I stirred awake to a sharp ache in my head and behind my eyes. And to the familiar scent of home… Auren. “Auren?” I murmured, sure I was dreaming. My body was heavy. It felt like I had been dragged through fire and ice all at once. I felt so numb that for a moment I couldn’t move. I blinked at the dark clouds above, and turned my face to see the broken walls and pillars on Eldermere ruins around me. And then I saw her. My Auren.
She was sitting beside me, eyes red as tears streamed down her cheeks, face riddled with exhaustion, sobbing and happy all at once. Her hair was tangled. Her dress was wrinkled and stained by my blood. And yet, I had never seen anything more divine.
My mate. My Luna. My salvation.
I
got up slowly, gasping as I ignored the pain in my back and the burn behind my eyes. “Auren?”
Her lips curled up into a grin. “You’re awake!” she rasped. “Thank the goddess.”
I looked around and saw the Shaman standing a few feet away. There was some activity going on in the background, and I tried to make sense of it. “Where are the pups?” I asked. We were at home only a few moments ago. I remembered the sharp pain in my chest, and then collapsing.
“Oh, Lucien!” she said and hugged me tightly.
When she pulled away, I reached for her and cupped her face with both hands. My thumbs brushed the tears on her cheeks. “What did you do?” I asked, my voice rough. I didn’t want to come to Eldermere. “What happened to the pups? How did we get here?” Anger and fear warred inside me.
She gave a shaky laugh. “The pups are fine. I dragged your stubborn ass through the forest to the ruins. With the babies.” My eyes widened. “What?” I almost shrieked. “What did you do? Do you know how dangerous it is to come here?”
“I know,” she replied. “And I also know that you wanted to take the beat of the curse to protect us.”
I swallowed. “Auren…”
She pointed at the altar. “Look over there.”
When I looked at the altar, I was in for a surprise. The crack in the stone had disappeared. Like it was never there. “H–how?” Even the thorny vines had dried and shriveled up. It seemed like the place was never affected by the curse. The thick magic in the air was no more. The unusual, oppressive feel of magic was not there. My throat tightened. “I just don’t know how-“I didn’t know what to say.
She chuckled. “The shadow wolves have left for good. The curse-” She pointed at my chest. “It’s gone.”
I looked down at my chest. The tattoos out there had gone. Not even the faint lines or the scars remained. I blinked in surprise as I stared at my chest. Other than my Alpha tattoo, there was nothing. The tattoos which were crawling over there had vanished. Like they were never there. Goosebumps lined my skin. Those tattoos were a part of my bloodline from centuries ago. My father and forefathers bore it always until the last day of their life. And they were gone? No longer alive?
“The curse is broken?” I asked as I brushed my finger over my tattoo incredulously.
“Yes!” she chirped. “We’ve done it!”
My eyes lifted to meet hers. The curse was gone because of her. I was so stupid to not believe in it. I was blinded by my fierce love for my family. “It’s gone because of you,” I said as I pulled her into my chest. “You… you defied the shadow wolves. You risked your life. And you carried me here.”
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80%
12:25 Fri, 18 Apr
Chapter 141
She nodded against me as she buried her face in my chest. “I had to. I couldn’t lose you.”
I held her tighter, pressing my lips to her hair. In a rough voice I said, “You saved me, Auren.” A tear escaped my eye. My mate had done it again. She had proven that she was more than what the eye met. She was a powerful wolf with so much courage. “I love you!”
في العال
“I love you, too,” she cried softly. “How could you think of sacrificing yourself for us, silly?”
+5
I just wrapped her in her arms and both of us remained there until we were assured that it was all over. After a while, when I stood, I was shaky on my feet. I looked at the Eldermere ruins around me, the altar that once had cursed our bloodline. And now, my mate had turned it into the place where she saved me.
“Come, let’s go home,” I said to her. I lifted her face and kissed her on her lips. “And when we return, we will celebrate.”
The Shaman who was standing a few feet away, said, “From now, you will be known as Auren, the curse breaker of the Shadowfang”
The warriors standing around us cheered. “Long live the Luna!”
“Long live the curse breaker!”
They all seemed so excited as they looked at Auren with reverence that my chest filled with pride. I took Auren’s hand in mine and proudly walked out of the ruins, wondering if I wanted to step inside them again. When we came out, I saw Vivi and Tarian holding one pup each. Tarian nodded at me, his eyes filled with loyalty and love. Vivi was crying as she looked at me, murmuring something about Alphas, moon and curse.
I still couldn’t believe that the ancient curse was broken, that the shadow wolves had left us forever.
As I sat inside the car, Tarian and Vivi gave us our pups. They were both sleeping like there was no tomorrow. Did they even get affected by the shadow wolves? I was angry that Auren got them here. It was too risky. But then I stopped myself from going in that direction because all was well that ended well.
Tamara opened her eyes briefly, smiled, and then again went off to sleep in my arms. With one hand, I cradled her as with the other, I circled Auren’s shoulder, pulling her closer to me. She had Bradley in her arms. She placed her head on my chest with a beautiful and satisfied smile. We were all going back home. With no fear, no threats and a promise of beautiful life ahead.
I silently sent a prayer to the moon goddess for being so benevolent to me. I didn’t deserve Auren, or a family so beautiful, but she still blessed me with it. Her plans were so mysterious…
After reaching home, I announced to the pack that we would celebrate the birth of my pups in two days.
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