Chapter 10

Cursed

KEENAN

“I ’m a fucking idiot.” I drop my head into my hands with a groan. Why do I have to fumble with every single one of them? Why can’t I be smoother, like Lennox. He’d know what to say to his mate.

A longing for my twin I haven’t experienced in years hits me. Though we’ve maintained our relationship throughout the centuries, unlike our other brothers, we are both busy men pursuing our own lives.

As far as I know Lennox is on leave from his job as a police detective while he takes my place in Wolf-Haven, providing for the packs while Lock continues his diplomatic mission of peace around the globe.

Lock is back in Wolf-Haven and I’m in New York working a case. What’s going on? Lennox’s voice whispers through my head.

My inner turmoil must’ve been strong enough to send out a signal to him. As pleased as I am to hear his voice, I’m also embarrassed. It’s nothing. What’s the case?

He doesn’t let me change the subject. It’s your mate, isn’t it? Has she rejected you?

I hear the note of concern in his thoughts. Not yet, but she might. She found out about my other mates and she’s upset that I didn’t tell her about them sooner.

Why’s she upset?

I groan. She knows wolf shifters only mate once in a lifetime and she thinks I’m lying to her when I tell her she’s my mate. She left without letting me explain.

She probably needs time to wrap her head around everything. She just discovered you exist, give her time. If she’s anything like the others, she’ll sort herself out.

Yeah, but a few of the others sorted themselves out and then rejected me.

Maybe she will, maybe she won’t, he says.

Not really helping, brother.

His chuckle filters through my mind, forcing my lips to tilt up.

Well, if you don’t want this one to reject you, then what are you going to do about it?

I don’t immediately respond. I’ve always let my mates decide. Either take me or leave me. But he’s right. I don’t have to wait passively for Vanessa’s judgment. I can do something to help her make up her mind.

I’m going to replace her damaged dress, I finally say.

Sure, do that. Maybe some flowers too.

Thanks for the pep talk.

Any time, brother. Then he’s gone, leaving a puff of blue smoke in my mind on his way out.

“Flowers and a ballgown,” I say to myself. Before I hit the shops, I have a stop to make.

I Google as I walk out to my Jeep. Five minutes of internet research and I have a name and address.

I’m there in less than an hour, pushing the doorbell impatiently. When the door opens, I stare grimly down at the human. “You don’t know me, but you know my mate.” I shove the casting consultant into his home and kick the door shut, intent on showing the human scum his error in touching women who don’t want to be touched.

* * *

VANESSA

“Four!” I gasp, falling back into the pillows on my bed as I stare at my laptop.

Keenan has had four mates. I’m the fifth.

Lucky number five.

Or unlucky, according to what I’m reading. He was right, it’s all online. There’s not a lot of details, but the gist is out there for all to see.

Two hundred years ago, when King Fallon attempted to force a witch to mate, she cursed the entire family, setting the King on a path of madness and dooming the brothers to live without mates.

Fast forward two hundred years and each brother has experienced his own difficulty. Lock’s mate was almost killed by the old King and spent two centuries hiding out, living as a wolf. Another brother, Rush, married a witch who was transformed into a powerful being. The two were separated for years while she learned how to control her magic.

And then there’s Keenan.

The most tragic of the brothers. Doomed to watch his mates die over and over, only ever allowed to know a few months of happiness before they’re taken from him.

My heart aches for his pain, but I’m still upset. He should have told me. He should have given me the chance to decide for myself if I wanted to die young. He should’ve left me alone. Because of him, I’m going to die. He’s killed me.

Tears leak down my face and I shake my head at myself, swiping at them. “You’re being a jerk. It’s not his fault a witch cursed him and it’s not his fault we’re fated to be together.” He was only driven to jump through that window, starting our mating bond, because he thought I was hurt.

Every action he’s taken has been for my benefit.

“But I’m still going to die.” Like all the others.

A soft knock on my door has me looking up. “Come in.”

Keenan pushes the door open, a box in hand, a contrite expression on his face.

I can’t help the accusation in my tone when I say, “I’m going to die.” Then I clarify, “Sooner than I was hoping.”

He drops the package onto the end of the bed and sits next to me, taking my hands. I let him, the warmth of his skin soothing me.

“You’re not going to die. I won’t let it happen.”

I nod toward the laptop. “They died.”

He shakes his head. “Not Gem. At least not young.”

“Why not her?” I’d read about Gem, but only her birthdate, which was 114 years ago. And that she was his mate before me.

“We didn’t bond. By the time I was free to make myself known to her, she was married and raising a family. I kept my distance, didn’t interact with her, and she lived to see her eighty-seventh birthday.” A faraway look enters his eyes as he reminisces. “She loved her garden. She spent so much time in it, tending to her flowers, talking to the bees as if they could understand her.”

His description brings an ache to my throat. “You must’ve really cared for her.”

“She was my mate,” he says simply.

“There’s a difference between loving someone and mating with them.”

“There is,” he admits. “Most mates love each other. The natural order may facilitate pairings, but it doesn’t mate people who aren’t compatible.”

“Did you love all of your mates?” Unbidden jealousy pierces my heart as I say the words, but he looks at me with such anguish, I realize I’m being selfish. As much as I want to be his only love, he has a past. This man… my mate… is hurting. His answer doesn’t matter. “Of course you did.” I rest my head on his shoulder and link my fingers with his. “I’m sorry you lost them.”

After a moment, he wraps his arm around me. “They weren’t a ’them’, they were all you.”

I tilt my head back to see his face. “Huh?”

“They’re incarnations of my mate. The same woman each time. You are them.”

I try to wrap my head around the concept. “So I’ve lived and died four times?”

He nods, his eyes dark with pain. “Yes. And maybe I should have let you live your life, like I did with Gem, but the pull is too strong.”

I settle against him, my head on his chest, hearing his sadness in the heavy beat of his heart.

Finally, he says, “It shouldn’t have hurt so much to lose Gem. We hadn’t bonded.”

I lean back to look at him. “But it did?”

He nods, his face a map of misery.

“I won’t let it happen again,” I tell him with conviction.

His lips quirk. “That’s supposed to be my line.”

“You’re not alone anymore, Keenan. You don’t have to bear this burden by yourself.”

“You make me feel less alone.”

“Good.” I reach for the box at the end of the bed. “What’s this?”

He flips the lid off the package revealing a bouquet of roses nestled atop tissue paper. “I hope you like it.” He lifts the bouquet out of the box and sets it aside.

I move the tissue paper and discover folds of gorgeous jade fabric. Taking hold of it, I stand, kicking aside the box as it falls. I hold the dress up to my chest. It flows over me in a silken waterfall. I check the tag. It’s real silk. I stare at him as I absorb the quality of the rich green dress he bought for me.

“Oh dear,” I say, and he lifts a questioning brow. “I think I just fell in love. We really do need to figure out how to break the reincarnation curse because I don’t want to die.”