Cursed Mate (Feral Shifters 3)

Amora

Cormac knockson our door early. When Kian goes to answer, the other man greets us with a good-natured smile that seems at odds with the fact he spent at least half the night watching our cabin like a damn creeper.

“Alpha Felicity is waiting for you,” he informs us, jerking his chin. “All set?”

Kian answers in the affirmative, and I look down at my giant t-shirt and ill-fitting shorts, wishing I had something a little more presentable to wear. Unfortunately, the cabin’s clothes closet is stocked with nothing but random hand-me-downs and cast-offs, which is why my collar hangs down nearly to my tits.

As we leave the cabin for the already hot morning, Kian, Malix, and Frost crowd in around me possessively, as if one of Felicity’s wolves might try to steal me away and make off with me. I roll my eyes as we fall in behind Cormac, but their attention still warms my chest a little.

Kian hasn’t mentioned the moment we shared last night, acting as if nothing happened the whole time we ate the breakfast that was dropped off this morning. But I do notice he sticks close to my side as we head away from the cabin.

Cormac takes the road away from the hillside that holds the long cafeteria building. We pass several rows of houses, most of them silent this early in the morning, then we circle around the edge of the horseshoe shaped rock formation.

An amphitheater is built into the back side of the formation. Shallow stone seats stair-step up the rounded cliffside, probably enough to fit Felicity’s whole pack, although only the first few rows are full at the moment.

A segment of seats at the front of the theater has been left empty for us. Cormac motions for us to have a seat, then he moves to join Felicity on the dais, which is actually just a giant flat boulder in the middle of the space.

One thing I really like about the Silver Crest pack’s village is the seamless relationship they have with nature. From the way their houses look so natural, to this stone and rock amphitheater. It’s a calming, grounding place.

As long as we don’t die here, I guess.

I glance behind me as I sit on the cool stone stair. Most of the shifters in the vicinity are watching us closely, some of them obviously suspicious of us while others appear to be merely curious. I don’t know how much Felicity told her people when she called this meeting, but it feels like a small victory that not everyone is staring at us like we’re psychopaths.

Malix leans in close enough to murmur in my ear. “It’s you, kitty. You normalize us.”

I raise an eyebrow in his direction, not even surprised at this point that he basically read my thoughts. “Me? That’s crazy talk.”

He shakes his head and nudges me playfully with his shoulder. “Look at the rest of us. Big. Scary. Covered in shadow tattoos that do things real tattoos don’t. Then look at you. Don’t underestimate the power of a beautiful woman with an angel’s face.”

I scoff, but my cheeks turn hot just the same. Angel face. Jesus Christ, he’s such a charmer.

Frost touches my knee in a quiet, affectionate way, although his gaze remains on Felicity and the group of shifters surrounding her on the platform. They’re talking amongst themselves, as if waiting for the cue to begin. Beyond the platform, several wolves walk the perimeter, their snouts in the wind and their attention split between watching the outside and watching the gathered crowd.

Felicity clearly doesn’t skimp when it comes to protection, which makes a hell of a lot of sense, given her history.

After a few moments, Felicity descends the stone stairs to the ground and strolls over to us. Her long blonde hair is pulled into a low ponytail today, and although she’s dressed casually, she exudes confidence and power. All four of us stand to greet her.

She offers Frost a surprisingly genuine smile. “How are you feeling today?”

He nods, a bit stiffly. “Better. Thank you, alpha.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” she returns, then glances at the rest of us. “I hope you don’t mind, but I pulled together my strongest warriors for this meeting.”

“Not at all,” I reply. In fact, it seems like a good sign, if I look at it from the perspective that she’s brought in her best warriors to prepare for a fight with Quinton… not us.

Of course, I could be getting that wrong.

Felicity leaves us and climbs back up onto the boulder platform as Cormac extends a hand down to help her. Then she turns to the crowd and raises her hands for silence. Within seconds, the chatter dies away completely. Another example of just how much respect this pack has for their alpha.

“My thanks to those of you who were able to respond to my call for this impromptu meeting,” Felicity says, her dark gaze sweeping over the shifters around us. “You likely recognize the three men in the front row. They and their companion, Amora, arrived yesterday evening with a plea for help.”

There’s a soft rustling sound as most of the people gathered in the amphitheater shift in their seats to peer over at us. I do my best to keep my expression neutral, even though I hate being stared at like this. I’ve never been one to enjoy being in the spotlight, and even if I were, this isn’t the kind of spotlight I’d want to have.

“As you know,” she continues, “Quinton began to fail us many years ago. His sick obsession with the shadow realm led us to break away and come here to put down roots. We know now, thanks to Kian, Malix, Frost, and Amora, that Quinton’s mental state has deteriorated even more. He’s now not only a danger to us, but to his own pack… and the world.”

I meet Kian’s gaze and widen my eyes at him. It’s starting to sound like she believes us without needing to be convinced. Our little brainstorming session last night might not even have been necessary.

“A few of you are not transplants from Quinton’s pack,” Felicity says to the crowd. “So I thought that for your benefit, and Amora’s, I might give you a bit of backstory so you would have context for the conversation we’re here to have.”

She walks to the edge of the boulder and sits, letting her muscular, tanned legs dangle over the edge. Once she’s comfortable, she begins. “My ex-mate stumbled across a cave once in the deepest wilds of Colorado, outside our pack lands. While exploring, he found a stone that seemed to be imbued with a very powerful magic. Assuming it to be something of a witchcraft nature, he brought it home.”

The alpha goes silent for a moment, staring into the middle distance as if she’s gazing at something in her mind’s eye.

“I wish it had been witchcraft,” Felicity finally continues, her voice growing softer. “Maybe he wouldn’t have lost himself in his quest if it were. Unfortunately, the stone was in fact a small piece of the shadow realm. An object made of material from that plane and imbued with all the power of that world. He sent wolves to the cave for weeks afterward hoping to find more, although he never did.”

God, it was that simple? Quinton accidentally came across the stone?

Between this and the damn prophecies hanging over me and my men, I’m starting to think that fate is a real fucking bitch.

Felicity takes a breath, her expression hardening. “Shadow magic isn’t a positive influence. Within days of him experimenting with the stone, he grew addicted to its power. As with any addiction, what he had was never enough. He craved more. He grew obsessed with gaining more and more power.”

Her hands curl into fists, and her gaze flicks down toward the three men sitting beside me.

“When he created hybrid shadow shifters, I lost faith in him. I tried to change his mind, tried to get him to give up the madness of his pursuit of more power, but no matter what I did, he refused. I was finally forced to walk away.”

Felicity’s focus seems to turn inward again, as if she’s reliving those last days with the man she was supposed to be mated to for the rest of her life. I can’t imagine how much she hurts, a pain that must reverberate all the way down to her soul. It must be incredibly difficult to relive what was likely the worst time in her life.

“I refused to be a part of his descent into insanity,” she goes on. Her voice has fallen quiet, but the watching group is so riveted to her story that I could hear an eagle cry in Idaho at this point. “Although I thought the love we had was genuine and real, it paled in comparison to his love of power. Nothing I said could convince him to stop. Nothing I did could make him see reason.”

She swallows, a muscle in her cheek rippling as she clenches her jaw. “Some in the Blood Moon pack supported him. Others were too afraid to stand up to him. I took as many as I could when I left, but those who were left behind…” She shakes her head. “I hope some of them have come to see what he truly is.”

Beside me, Kian makes a noise low in his throat. I wonder if he has an opinion on how many of Quinton’s followers are with him out of loyalty and how many are with him out of fear.

I make a mental note to ask him about that later, although I’m not sure how much difference it makes. Doing shitty stuff because you’re scared of what will happen if you don’t isn’t a whole lot better than doing shitty stuff just because you want to. The people whose lives you fuck up get hurt regardless.

“The stone that Quinton found holds a great deal of power,” Felicity continues, breaking me out of my thoughts. “But it is finite. He lived in fear of the day its power would fade, leaving him with nothing. That’s what drove his obsession with finding a way to access the shadow realm. It’s what drives him even now.”

The pain in her voice is so deep. So absolute.