Howls of Cursed Fate

꧁ 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓻𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓷 ꧂

𝓛𝓲𝓵𝓵𝔂𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓴

Other wolf pack's weren't usually meeting us much and it left me a little confused.

The late morning's sun created a warm glow over the trees, and I could still hear echoes of my little siblings' laughter as they'd sat cross-legged in front of the TV for cartoons. They'd been angels today, being too good to me—maybe because they wanted to know everything about Savannah from me. How they giggled at every thing I'd told them...

Those moments felt distant now as I made my way through the woods, heading for our pack's clubhouse. This day was bound to be tense, and the nervousness settled more with each step. The foreign pack was about to meets me and Lilly, as they called me an hour ago. Their alpha, despite being older than me, was still unmated.

Once I stepped inside the cabin, the familiar scent of Lilly's pancakes hit me. She had plates piled up on the long table, trying to distract herself with late breakfast prep. I came to her and gave her a light hug to calm her.

Caden, Asher, and Marcus were there too, each fidgeting in their own way. Caden, leaning against the counter, tossed a glance at Lilly that lingered a little too long. Asher noticed but didn't say anything; he just sat at the table, tapping his foot to let go of his over the top protectiveness. Markus was grinning at his phone, for sure chatting with Zoey.

"Any reason why you're staring at the pancakes, Caden?" I asked, hoping to ease the tension.

Caden grinned, unable to take his eyes from Lilly—all mischief as usual. "I'm just a pancake enthusiast, Gideon."

Lilly gave him a sidelong glance but didn't say anything, sighing. She was too busy adjusting her outfit, again and again, twisting a bracelet on her wrist and muttering something under her breath. I stood by her, trying to help where I could.

"Lilly," I said, keeping my voice low, "I know the whole 'fated' thing is getting you nervous, but it's nothing to be worried about. Just breathe."

"They're from far away, Gid," she said very quietly and I recognized the fear in her voice. She didn't want to leave all of us after getting marked without knowing she could always come back.

I stopped her cooking and looked deep in her eyes. "Even if he is your fated mate, he won't be able to take you from us today, okay?"

She nodded, glancing up at me with a hint of a smile. But her hand still went to the collar of her shirt, smoothing it down.

Asher came to us, put his hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze. It was rare to see him calm like this—usually, he played it with a theater. He was clearly trying harder for the sake of his sister.

Thinking how to distract everyone from the obvious tension, I leaned against the counter and brought up the one thing that'd been on my mind since last night. "You see how fast the video of Timberly blew up? People were eating it up—Savannah's followers doubled overnight."

Lilly knew very well where I was going by it, so she let out a quiet laugh. "Timberly deserved it. That girl's been nothing but trouble, Gideon. Don't you dare to feel sorry for her."

"Yeah, maybe," I replied, not quite feeling the satisfaction that Lilly seemed to. "Still, I don't know. I might have gone a little too far. Feels like I'm crossing some line just because of this bond with Savannah. Might delete it later."

Caden grinned at me and blew me a kiss in the air, while mocking his voice. "Felt cute, might delete later."

He rolled his eyes at my pointed look.