Page 20 of Snow’s Charming (Hope Runs Deep #7)

Damned if We Do, Damned…Well, You Get the Point

W e were down the stairs and rounding the corner to enter the dining room, and I nearly stopped in my tracks when I gazed upon a man in a brown robe who resembled a Buddhist monk.

His eyes were clear blue and seemed as deep as the depths of the sea.

He stroked his salt and pepper colored beard that almost touched the floor while he spoke to my father.

“Sylus and Sesi, may I present Zhang Li.” Said Raine.

Unsure how to address the man, I stuck out my hand while giving him a little bow of my head before I spoke.

“Hi, I’m Sesi Snow. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The man smiled brightly at me before turning his gaze on Sylus.

“And you must be Alpha Charming.”

“Sylus. Just call me Sylus. ”

“All right, then Sylus, it is. Why don’t we all sit down so we can talk?”

“Sure, but first thing is first,” I said as I reached for a tumbler and the bottle of whiskey on the bar top. “I need a stiff drink to handle the certain bite you are about to deliver.”

“Sesi, I told you that?—”

I cut Raine off with a hand and looked right at my father as I palmed the whiskey bottle.

He simply nodded his approval. I wasn’t sure if he did that out of respect for what had happened to us all, or if he already knew I’d need something to soften the blow.

Either way, I was grateful and began to pour a heavy-handed amount of the amber liquor into the tumbler my father had handed me.

“Please pour one for Sylus, as well.” Said Chary as he slid another tumbler my way. I poured a good amount of the amber liquid for Sylus and handed him the glass.

“Okay, now that everyone is here, and as comfortable as possible, I must ask you, Sesi, when did you learn of your wolf?”

“I found out on my 21st birthday, Zhang. That night was a full moon, and I shifted into my wolf.”

“And what color is your wolf?”

I looked toward Sylus because I wasn’t certain how to answer. I’d seen the fur grow on my arms, but that was it.

“She’s a pure silver-white wolf, Zhang.” Said Sylus. He took a sip of his whiskey before continuing. “ There aren’t any other streaks of colors in her fur.”

“And Sylus, you are a pure black wolf, correct?”

“Yes, I am. There’s no other colors in my ebony fur—why?”

“Then I’m afraid my visions are true.”

I shook my head as memories of Jackie and the battle ran through my mind.

Impossible! Only the rarest pure black Alpha and purest silver-white Luna can deflect my magic! They are the Moon Goddess’s Yin and Yang Fated Mates!

“So…We are the Moon Goddess’s Yin and Yang Fated Mates?”

I blurted it out as soon as I remembered Jackie’s words. “What does that mean?”

“It means you cannot become Sylus’s mate until we break the curse.” Said Zhang.

“Curse?”

My voice was but a whisper.

“A Nuri witch placed a curse on the werewolves long ago. They are mean fuckers who have no loyalties—they even vanquish their own.” Raine said, shaking his head before continuing.

“They killed Obsidian in the Were Rebellion. That’s Alec’s mate.

She’s been reincarnated, thank the gods. So that whole mess was righted.”

I placed my index and middle fingers on my temples and rubbed small circles, hoping the headache forming from all the info dump would subside, but I’d highly doubt that .

“Do I even want to know about reincarnation right now? I just learned I’m a werewolf. Can we slow it down a bit with the info? There’s only so much I can keep up with.”

“I’m sorry, Sesi. I forget that this is all new to you.

So, let’s talk about the werewolves because their story with the Nuri is a little different.

Keme isn’t the only first-made werewolf.

His brother, Matchitehew, was also made into a were, but he couldn’t control his wolf so the tribe banished Matchitehew.

They wanted to do the same thing to Keme, but Zhang stepped in. ”

I nodded my head in response. Sylus had explained all of this to me and I felt grateful to know at least a little about the wolf side of me.

“In the 14th century, Zhang and I came across a quatrain about an Alpha and Luna who can save every shifter from the struggle with their animal side. This couple, the Yin and Yang Fated Mates will restore true balance for the human and animal side of every shifter. The quatrain further explained that The Moon Goddess would give this gift to the werewolves after the Civil Were War. But because Matchitehew still hadn’t controlled his animal side, he killed a Nuri witch while in mid-shift.

This was after the truce and all magicals had ratified the 14th Century Peace Treaty.

Immediately after Matchitehew killed the witch, the Nuri coven placed a curse on every werewolf.

But because the Nuri clan was so bitter, they cursed the two of you instead of every shifter, and if you…

” Raine’s voice trailed off as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“What, Raine? What is it?” I asked.

Raine swallowed hard and paced the floor for several seconds, but the silence felt more like minutes had passed.

“Did I mention these witches are mean fuckers?”

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. Why was he stalling? Is it really that bad?

“If you mark each other, you will both die.” Said Zhang, breaking the long silence in the room. “But that’s not the worst of it.”

“Okay, great! Tell me more about us being star-crossed lovers and how we are sounding more and more like a Shakespearian tragedy.” Said Sylus as he hit the table with his fist.

Zhang placed a palm on Sylus’s shoulder.

“If you don’t mark each other, you will die.”

“Are you for real right now? What kind of bullshit is this? How the fuck do we get ourselves out of this mess, Raine?”

“Sesi, I’ve already called in a favor with Raven Thorne. She’s of Nuri Witch descent and also a vampire. Her grandmother’s Book of Shadows references the curse and has a spell to break it.”

“That’s great, Raine, but what do we do in the meantime? My wolf wants to mark Sylus. Even now I can feel the pull to mark him. How do we stop that from happening?”

“It means, my princess, that you and I should head back to the Snow Estate. You can’t live in the packhouse until we break the curse.”

My father’s eyes were soft when he delivered the blow, but that didn’t make hearing the news any less hurtful.

I had mixed feelings about going back to the estate. Sure, I was glad I had my father back, but that didn’t mean I hated living at the inn.

For the first time in my life, I was happy. Family surrounded me here at the inn, and they all loved me. I didn’t feel isolated like I had while living with Jackie. To give up this love—now that I had a taste of a real family might kill me.

And I hadn’t even met the rest of the pack yet!

There had only been hints of them so far.

Thoughts of an Omega purchasing body wash for me and others, making me grilled cheese and tomato soup for me, washed a warmth over me that was indescribable.

How could I just up and leave that? Especially now that I’d decided to become their Luna?

A terrible thought crept in and I went cold. I pressed a hand to my chest and took in a shaky breath as I uttered the horrific thought to the group.

“If we can’t break the curse, what happens to the pack if the Alpha and the Luna can’t be mates?”

“Nothing good.” Said Zhang in a somber tone. “Nothing good at all! The Nuri coven doomed your pack to the same fate as you. If you become the Alpha and Luna, your pack dies. If you don’t, your pack dies, too. ”

“FUCKING HELL!” Said Sylus as he pounded a fist again.

Only this time, he made quite a dent in the wood. “As my people’s Alpha, I can accept my fate—but theirs? Hell to the fuck no! They don’t deserve this, Zhang!”

“No, they don’t. And I understand your frustration. We will figure this out. I promise.”

“When we banished Jackie to the mirror, I thought we solved everything. I thought I’d be able to be with my Sesi. My mate. My everything.”

His last sentence was but a whisper. He went to reach for my hand, but Raine stepped in front of him before our hands could touch.

“Raine, do not put yourself in front of my mate unless you want me to maim you.”

“Can’t be helped, Sylus. Until we understand this curse, you two can’t touch each other.”

“Do you realize how crazy this all sounds? He’s calmed me since the minute I met him. He heals me in ways you cannot possibly imagine. Every panic attack I’ve had here since the rape—Crap!”

I squeezed my eyes shut after my blatant admission. I didn’t mean to say it out loud in front of everyone, especially my father. He deserved a one-on-one.

“You were raped?”

His voice was a whisper back.

“It was Jackie’s date for you—wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was him. I’m sorry I never said anything to you. But? You were sick and…” My voice broke, as did my heart. This was a conversation I never wanted to have with my father.

He was in front of me now, cupping my cheeks and kissing the top of my head.

“Never apologize for that! I am the one who should apologize to you. Princess, I was supposed to protect you from the evils of the world—not invite them into the family!”

I pushed away from his embrace enough to reach his gaze.

“Dad, you couldn’t have known how evil she was. Your heart is pure.”

I rested a palm on his chest before continuing. “You couldn’t have known that Jackie was a witch. Hell! I didn’t know the supernatural existed until I met Sylus! And just so you know, Dad? When it comes to that movie with the sparkling vamps? I’m so team werewolf now, for sure!”

She laughed to lighten the mood, but no one else was laughing. Dad cupped my cheeks once more and looked toward Zhang.

“What do we do?” Asked my father.

“Well, first? I’ll be staying with you, and so will Raine. We will need to take turns watching Sesi and Sylus. The pull of the mate bond will eventually overpower them, and they will seek each other out. But we can’t separate them either. The separation may kill them.”

“So the best course of action is to set up a vigil? I don’t know, Zhang. I think we need another plan.” Sylus said as he crossed his arms.

“And we can plan differently tomorrow. The goal is to pay a visit to Raven Thorne in New York. We just have to get there.”

“That’s all we have to do?” I asked Zhang, hoping, praying there was no catch.

“Well, that and fight off a few Nuri witches along the way. That was my second warning. The Nuri witches want to overthrow the pack and kidnap you both. They hope to siphon off your powers before you die to make their coven more powerful.”

“Of course—they want to do that. Everything is a power trip with this coven—isn’t it? Why did I hold out any hope that this would be easier?”

I said this with a sigh. I walked over to the bar and reached for the bottle of whiskey to pour myself another glass. “Let me pack an overnight bag so we can head back to the Snow Estate.”

“No, I think we should all stay here. The Nuri witches are a serious threat and we will be stronger with the pack by our side.”

“How will the pack defend themselves against witches, Raine? Won’t they try to use their mojo on us?” I asked.

“I plan to place a protective barrier on the pack that will nullify any of their magic. That should help in the fight.”

“Okay, all of this sounds great, guys, but we are forgetting one very important thing.” Sylus took in a breath before continuing. “Sesi has never learned to fight. I’m the trainer of the pack because I’m the best huntsman, so how can I spar with her if I can’t touch her?”

“And the hits just keep on coming—pun intended, of course.”

“Not now, Joker,” I growled.

“What? Too soon, Sesi?”

“Yeah. Too soon.”

“Well, this is all very fascinating, but we can’t solve any of our problems at 2 AM.

So let’s head to the bedrooms. I’ve got first watch over Sesi and Sylus.

” Said Raine as he ushered everyone out of the dining room.

“Sylus, sleep in the study tonight. It’s the only room in the penthouse without windows. ”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You’ll be less likely to jump out of a window and climb into Sesi’s room.”

“Oh, right—that makes sense.”

“Yeah, don’t give me that smug smile, Sylus. I was young once too, you know,” Raine said to him while waggling a finger in his direction.