Forbidden

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Val

Gently caressing his cheek, I watched Laurent sleep the night away.
The way his twists framed his face was truly a sight to behold, who would ever think that such a man could exist.
And he was all mine.

"Only because of the spell"

A small voice whispered in the back of my mind, reminding me of what truly allowed me to have this man.

"Do you think he would still want you if he awakens from the spell?"

There was no way that could happen! And it didn't matter, Laurent and I loved each other way before this spell.

"Past tense darling."

I snatched the furs off of me and stalked out the room, trying to escape the voice that was determined to destroy my mental.

"Can't escape me, should've read the fine print on magic of this level."

A hollow maniacal laugh that sounded vaguely familiar to the melodic
singing of the Sirens Seduction
rang throughout my head and
I fell to my knees at the volume of it. I could feel the rough bite of the dirt scraping my knees as I tried to fight the sound back.

"Sweet child, you thought that your prey would be the only victim. Poor sweet deluded pup...hahahhaaha"

Tears forced their way out of the corners of my eyes, burning in their abundance. What was this?! My body began to tremble with a terrible vehemence and it took a few moments for me to realize that it wasn't my body shaking but Larry trying to stop me.

"Val, why are you screaming?! What's going on?!" Larry's worried tone penetrated the darkness that overtook my senses and I opened my eyes to stare into his fearful golden eyes. He placed my arm over his shoulders, helping me back to my feet. I wobbled just slightly but his hand at the small of my back steadied me.

"I'm alright Larry, I'm just a little shaken from the events from earlier." I mumbled assuredly, looking up to him to smile and ease his fear.

"Yeah...earlier.. Val why does Laurent no-" His sentence was cut off by another earth shattering scream that rose up from my throat because I wasn't seeing Larry. No that wasn't Larry, instead of his baby face, a monstrous serpent like creature with eyes the color of coal stared back at me. His elongated neck twisted and the flesh sizzled as though on fire.

"Haha, you think you can run? I'm now your new conscience."

The voice rumbled like thunder from the serpents mouth and its long forked tongue slid across its hognose, lethal promises deepened the slitted depths.
I didn't know what to do, my body stood there in shock, unable to register what was going on.

"Val?" Larry's face returned to normal and I felt the fear increase, was this what my life was going to be now? All because of a spell?! Slipping out of Larry's arms and going back inside, I went back inside Laurent's room and stared...at nothing. Just sat there and stared until morning came.

******************

Mason

Eden didn't speak, wouldn't even touch any food when she opened her eyes. Just curled up in ball and stared at the water as though it was the most interesting thing in the world. I crawled over to her side and leaned my head on her shoulder, trying to send comfort through our touch.

"Eden, you know what Aria said. It could be the spell, that's the only explanation. You know how crazy Laurent was about you." I tried to ease her inner turmoil, I hated seeing her so ...despondent. Slight movement to the side caught my eye and I saw that Eden was running her hand along the surface of the pond.

"No, I know how crazy the bond made Laurent about me. He wanted Val, not me. I was an intrusion on their love and Artemis threw me in like a discarded home wrecking towel. Maybe...this is for the best?" Her mocha gaze finally slid up to me and I knew, that I wasn't going to be able to fix it, the hurt in her soul. The words she forced herself to say, she wanted to let them be.

"But Eden, is it fair to let him fall prey to Val's wants and desires? Should we just let him stay a mindless slave?"I asked, she really couldn't think we should leave him that way? Her body tensed up at my words and I saw a frown tugging at her lips.

"You heard what Aria said though. We can't break the spell, only Laurent himself can. He has to be strong enough to fight its hold." I watched her disrupt the serenity of the water by tossing a nearby pebble inside, she watched it so intently.

"But shouldn't we stay around to sort of, I don't know, help him? Maybe if we stay around, he could feel as though he knows you and try to fight the seduction?" I asked.

"And if he doesn't? Should I suffer for his own inability to fight whom he dubbed the love of his life? ...plus... I need to speak with Marx and my father. Laurent will be safe here somewhat with his brother and his pack mates around. We both should go see about the wolves of Raiven." At that Eden stood up and dusted her dress off. Her wound was now fully healed. I stood up as well and figured why not, if that's what Eden wanted to do then that's what we would do. I'm sure she would go anyways with or without me so what could I do?

"Okay, but first you need to eat. Let's go and get breakfast then we will go and visit our old pack. Deal?" I wasn't going to back down and she smiled a little at my protective tone and agreed. We turned to leave only to stop when the sound of rustling put me on alert. Eden still couldn't phase and I had to defend her. The trembles of the phase rolled through me but stopped when two figures stepped forward. One with a look of concern and the other of nonchalance.

"Waydi? Larry? Why are you both here?" I asked with incredulous saturating my tone.

"We want to go with you." Waydi replied and Larry just shrugged, but I saw suspicion lurking in his golden depths. Why would he want to go?