"The curse of losing the fated mate."
Catherine has a faraway look in her eyes, almost as if she's not here but somewhere else. "Our ancestors considered it bad luck to even utter a single word related to this curse, but they couldn't turn deaf ears for much longer, and everyone started journaling their own version of this story".
"But even with some differences in the storytelling, the main content of this story was always there, haunting an entire bloodline of the Moonstone pack".She gets up and stands by the railings, her shoulders crowding with tension.
I follow her and ask her quietly, too scared to ruin her mood. "What was in those journals?"
"Thousands of years ago, a werewolf prince of our clan fell in love with a non-wolf. Some say she was a human; some say she was a witch. The pack didn't accept that, especially when the said prince had already met his fated mate—who was a she-wolf. He was the oldest son of the Alpha king—an heir to Moonstone, so the Alpha objected to it and tried to force his son to marry his fated mate." Her hands grab the railing tightly.
"But the prince escaped to elope with his love and fought the mate bond hard." Catherine smiles lightly as if happy for the prince and his witch.
"However, their happiness didn't last long. The Alpha King found them and killed his own son for going against him, against their pack and the moon goddess herself." My stomach drops at the revelation.
What kind of cruel, heartless father does that to his own son?
I clear my throat, my voice thick with sorrow for the prince and his witch."What happened to the witch?"
Catherine's face hardens at that, and her voice turns ice cold. "Some say she killed herself; some say she wandered the woods but not without—"
Catherine stops, and I stare at her unmoving. "Not without unleashing a deadly curse to last the generations. She cursed the very pack and the mate bond that snatched her love and happiness from her. She cursed the descendants of the moonstone pack to never have a forever with their fated mate. ".
She continues. "Generations passed, but no one in the pack succeeded in challenging her curse. That's why our ancestors, who were proud and arrogant about not having outside interference in our bloodline, eventually ended up welcoming it. Some of the pack members ended up abandoning the pack and founding their own once they realised the curse lay in the name of the pack. ".
Catherine turns to me and smiles a little. "Sorry for trauma dumping on you like that. But you need to understand what you are getting yourself into. You are Cyrus's mate, and if both of you eventually claim your mate bond with each other, you need to be prepared for—"
She lets out a shaky breath, and I understand what she means. I have to be prepared to die. Well, fortunately I'm not his mate. Because I don't want to die this young, plus I want to believe that the curse is simply a superstition.
But if what Catherine said is true, generations upon generations being haunted by it, then it must have some truth to it. Besides, I wasn't even aware of werewolves and a secret, hidden town or an isolated pack until a few weeks ago. I really don't know what to believe or not to at this point.
"If it makes you feel any better, Cyrus has never brought a girl home. You are the first." I can't help but laugh at that.
Who will entertain his broody self anyway?
"Thank you for telling me all these, Catherine. I needed to know that." She pulls me into a hug, and I wrap my arms around her. She probably needed this hug more than I did. But it feels good regardless.
"Cathy?" Tristan appears at the balcony doorway and gazes at his wife with so much softness in his eyes.
He holds out his hand, and Catherine doesn't waste a single second before hiding in his embrace, her body melting in his arms.
Honestly, I'm a bit jealous. They make a cute couple. "If you don't mind me asking, you guys are—"
"Not fated mates." Catherine completes my sentence, having understood my curiosity.
"I am not a werewolf. I met Cathy when both of us were in college practising medicine," Tristan explains, his hands lingering on his wife's shoulder, holding her close.
Catherine looks up at him with a smile on her face before focusing back on me."I did find my fated mate when I turned 18, but he went missing shortly after rejecting the mate bond. I met Tristan years later, and we bonded over our differences and fell in love and got married."
"But how did the pack members accept you so easily? I mean, you are just a human; didn't they feel the need to hurt you like they do with me?" Tristan and Catherine both smile at my question.
They exchange a look before Tristan confesses.
"I'm not just a human. I'm a wizard. That's why no one in the pack objected to it. The cave you came through, I was the one who made it".
I stare at him dumbfounded. He's a what now? At this point, I won't be surprised if the god or the devil themselves appears in front of me.
I mean, who am I kidding? I am partly responsible for this. But Wizard, seriously?
"You can take your time to process all the information, and if you want us to explain anything you don't understand, feel free to ask." Tristan reassures me after seeing my confused face.
I thank them once again, and they leave shortly after. It's already evening by the time they have left. We talked the whole afternoon?
I should probably get inside the room; it's going to get cold now. I take a few steps before the sky tilts and dark dots appear in my vision.
"How many times have I told you to not call for me like this suddenly, Asher? You know it's dangerous. You will get in trouble if someone finds out." A soft feminine voice scolds someone, someone I can't see.
It's all blurry, and the voices sound distorted. I shake my head trying to see and hear properly, and the face of a man finally gets clearer as I blink hard.
"I just wanted to see you. I missed you." The man says, his voice laced with hesitation and a little hurt. The girl sighs before she takes her hand in his.
"I missed you too, and I am sorry that I got mad at you. But you understand what Imean, don't you? We can't meet regularly like this. Besides, we see each other once a week, yes?" The girl tries to reason with him, but the man just looks down, upset.
He's cute.
"Once a week isn't enough though." The girl smiles at his tone and pecks his lips, not being able to resist.
The man, now happy, smiles beautifully before he pulls her in for a deeper kiss. But just as their lips met, someone's voice rang out—
"Selene!!!!"
"Lyra"
"Lyra"
"Lyra!!!"
A violent shake on my shoulder jolts me awake, and I gasp heavily, trying to catch my breath.
"What—?"
A warm hand strokes my cheek as I blink my eyes and focus them on who it is. "Hey! You're okay. Breathe. ".
Cyrus. It's him.
"What happened?" I ask him as he guides me towards the chair and fetches me a glass of water.
Cyrus takes the glass from my hands after I finish drinking and states.
"You were having a vision".