“Thank you,”I say to Nyx in his mind.
He chuckles back.“I don’t even get a public acknowledgment for saving you and your mates’ lives.”
“Oh, now she’s my mate, huh. Not your love.”
“Yes,”he says simply in the most humbled way.“She has to be yours.”
For a moment, I forgive him for everything he’s done, but that moment is short-lived when Lumi glances in his direction and looks at him like he’s her whole world. He stole her from me. Turned her against me for a mistake that I had no control over, and if I could give her her wolf back, I’d sacrifice everything, including giving my own wolf up in the process, to help her get hers back.
“So Ambrose’s curse is already trying to kill Lumi, and we are losing our ability to shift. We’re completely fucked aren’t we?” Sylara says.
Lumi looks at her with a focused expression. “No, we aren’t fucked. It’s just a puzzle. We have all the pieces to solve it, we just have to figure out which piece to start with.”
“Well, while we do that. I think you need more protection,” I say.
“Agreed,” says Nyx.
Everyone else nods their heads.
Lumi huffs. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. The gash on your neck alone could have killed you,” Kael says.
She looks at me as if reading my mind. “You’re not locking me or anyone else up.”
I think for a moment. “I could cast a spell that would keep everyone at least five feet away from you.”
“I can still kill her even if I’m five feet away. And it prevents me from saving her when your ass fails to protect her,” Nyx says.
I growl at him. “Then what do you suggest?”
“We find a way to break your curse, all of the curses and fast,” he says.
I roll my eyes. “Not really helpful.”
“Putting people in magical cages isn’t helpful either. Even if you’re trying to help. It’s still a cage!”
“I want to test Riven’s theory,” Emeric says.
“How can you test his theory?” Lumi asks.
“By breaking my own curse,” Emeric says, looking at me like it’s going to kill him to do it.
My connection with Emeric is second only to my connection with Lumi. He’s been my best friend since we were babies. We grew up together. Shared everything together. He was the obvious choice as my beta when the time came.
But his curse, gods, his curse is unlike anyone else’s. The pain he has to bear on my behalf is unfounded.
“Whatever you have to do, do it,” I say. He doesn’t deserve a lifetime of pain because of me.
“You and I will never be the same,” he says.
I frown. “No, we’ll be stronger.”
He looks at me skeptically, like this will be the ultimate test of our friendship. But he doesn’t have much faith in me if he thinks that breaking the curse and ultimately giving us a way to break my own curse is going to do anything but strengthen our bond.
“I’m denouncing my role as beta. I’m denouncing my membership in the Moonlight pack. I want to join the Bloodmoon pack,” Emeric says with such conviction that I know there is a reason beyond breaking the curse that he wants to do this.
I feel such an ache in my heart at how sure he sounds. How painful his words affect me. And I can see my own pain still reflected on him. But it could possibly be the last pain I ever cause him if this works.