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“That’s all it was! Besides, that was years ago before Ellie could even talk.” That oddly made me feel better, and a smile crossed my lips. “What are you smiling about?”

A big, strong Alpha falling to pieces to explain she had a fuck buddy.

“Fucking Humans.” Odie ran a hand down her face, and to make matters worse, I rounded us back to that little tidbit about my bad luck.

Now explain what I don’t know about my bad luck.

Odie huffed, not wanting to spill the beans, but apparently it was important enough that she would get over it.

“Vaila felt two curses on you. Sort of. The first one is obviously the mutism. She said it’s strong and unlike anything she’s seen before.”

My family has tried to break it many times in the past, but no one has even come close. I don’t see a point in pursuing that. I shrugged, accepting my fate to not speak for as long as I lived. It didn’t bother me. This was who I was.

“But,” Odie continued, “the other one is more residual and cloying. It’s a common enough one if you know the right people to perform it, but it’s a way to bestow bad luck on someone, then it’s a domino effect.” Odie let the words hang in the air as my anger grew. My fingers gripped the arms of the chair, digging into the lush fabric. “Meaning someone cursed one of your parents and it has clung to you since then. It can be removed though. Vaila is sorting it out, so you won’t have to worry about that anymore.”

I combusted. What did she mean this can be fixed? Everything was already broken. My parents and grandmother were gone. My family was distant. I had no friends to speak of. I was a broken, lonely person that couldn’t be fixed by some anti-curse thingamajig.

Shoving myself up from the chair, I let them have it, spilling every feeling I had about their little solution.

It’s too fucking late. That curse ruined everything! Look where I am, Odie.

Ellie sniffled beside me, bringing me back to earth and making me feel like an asshole. I couldn’t help how I felt about it, and all I had ever wanted were my parents to come back.

“That’s not what I meant, Mine. It can’t fix what has already happened, but it can lessen the load of anxiety going forward. It’s easy to figure out that you’ve avoided people for a long time because of this. You don’t have to do that anymore. You can have a life.”

If I’m not thrown into jail by your father. I groaned and ran my fingers through my hair. I don’t know if I want to be fixed.

“A lot has changed in two days. I get that, but don’t say no to this because it changes things even more. Vaila is going through a lot of trouble—”

I didn’t ask her to! I didn’t ask you to! Just stop being nice to me. Let me hate you. Let me get through these few weeks until my life is officially over. Let the bad luck rub off on all those assholes who don’t understand what fair is. Fuck them, and fuck you.

I stormed from the room, ignoring Cy and Ellie’s protests. Odie was noticeably silent.

Slamming the door behind me, I collapsed on the bed, letting the tears finally fall. I had already lost so much. I couldn’t bear truly losing any more. They needed to keep their distance until I left. They didn’t understand what this curse takes from you. I should have known from the beginning that this was what it was, but none of the pieces fell together until tonight. My parents, my grandmother, all the shitty karma I never deserved. It was all because of some asshole who had it out for us.

If I was convicted, then so be it. Let this curse wreak havoc and destroy those fuckers. If I wasn’t and I was set free, then maybe I would let Vaila cure me, and even then, I was Human. I could never truly be a part of their life, even as a friend, so I’d be sent away to pick up where I left off, living next to Lucinda. That wouldn't last long. I’d find another place to live far away where they couldn’t reach me and figure out how to hunt down the bastard that destroyed them and my life.

For right now, this had to end. Their kindness and my acceptance of it. In a few weeks, I’d be gone, and this would be some memory I locked away but always longed for. I wanted to feel like part of a family, but I would never risk someone again even if the curse was gone. I would never recover from it. Not really. Maybe if I wasn’t Human, maybe then I could have a life, but it was too late for me.

More tears fell and soaked my pillow, and before long, exhaustion took over, pushing away the aching pain of my shoulder and ankle. I should have taken some medicine before running in here, but I wasn’t going to risk going back out there.

I would let the suffering continue for now. It’s what I was used to.

Chapter 15

Mine

Two Weeks Later

I avoided Odie and Cy, only gracing them with my presence when needed, which included feedings and walking around with Ellie because they refused to ever truly leave us alone.

My beef was with them, not Ellie, so I spent most of my time with her until she claimed she needed solo teenager time, whatever that meant. I worried that the bad luck would rub off on her, but Odie promised that Vaila would correct it before anything bad happened. Apparently, it took time to fester, so we had at least a month before anything kicked in. I hoped I wasn’t here that long. Two weeks was bad enough.

I had gotten Ellie to play many games and introduced her to the joy of reading. Finding the right fit was a hassle, but we had all the time in the world. She was determined to push me into letting her read the spicier things, the spicier Human things specifically. Seventeen-year-old me was much more knowledgeable than she was, so I wouldn’t have batted an eye, but I didn’t feel like explaining how a bunch of Human sex stuff works even though it was the easier version between the two options in our world.

We settled on some YA that had mild scenes and fade-to-black to ease her in. She seemed happy enough, and the series I found was quite long with the seventeenth book in the main series having come out this year. It would tide her over for quite some time as long as it held her interest. So far, it had, and she was on book seven.

We spent many hours out on our rocks, snacking and reading away the day with a looming Alpha nearby with a perpetual frown on her face. For Cy, it was a welcomed correction from the cheery and helpful person she had become for a short time. Odie was a different story. Although she hadn’t been overly friendly at first, this was an overcorrection. I wasn’t going to complain because this was what I asked for, but I internally groaned whenever she took the lead over us.