The Alpha's Curse The Enemy Within

Lorenzo's chants began to filter into my mind, and suddenly, | felt a pain slit through my skull, stabbing at my soul. | couldn't stop the sharp shrills that left my lips but | held unto Lorenzo's hands that were on my temples. | didn't want him to stop, | had to get to the bottom of this.

My screams intensified as blood began to drip from my nose and the pain within me grew worse.

“We have to stop. It's not working,” | heard Lorenzo's voice echo through the pain, but I held him tightly. "No, keep going,” I yelled back, feeling a deep pain in my chest.

He kept on chanting for a few more minutes before stopping abruptly.

“Why did you stop?” | couldn't keep the rage and frustration from my voice.

“It's not working, Sheila,” he voiced quietly, handing a small piece of cloth to me. "Like before, | can't get into your mind, let alone access your memories,” he said, settling into the chair next to mine.

"So, what do we do now?" | wiped off the trail of blood from my nose, and inhaled deeply, expelling my sudden rage and frustration as I brushed my brown hair back, my deep blue eyes moving to Lorenzo.

“I might not be able to get into your mind and access your memories, but there's another way we can go about it." I leaned closer to Lorenzo as he explained what he had in mind. It wasn't difficult at all, and only needed a drop of my blood.

1 grabbed one of the knives on the table, slitting my palm. My blood dropped into one of Lorenzo's deep bowls, and we were about to begin the spell when there was a knock at the wooden door, and it opened slightly. It was Jax.

“I'm deeply sorry for interrupting, but a message came for you, Luna.

It's from Cora, and she would like it if you came by the Council before tonight's ritual. She said there's something she wants to show you,” Jax said and his words spiked my curiosity. It sounded urgent.

I glanced at Lorenzo and he nodded, walking to the table at the far end of the spell room, and picking up some items from the table. “It seems urgent. You should go, while Ill finish up here.” “Thank you so much, Lorenzo," | said genuinely, pulling up from the chair. "How soon can we get results?” | asked.

“Hopefully, by the time you get back from tonight's ritual,” he said,

and | smiled in relief.

Jax and | left the witches’ quarters and | stopped briefly at the Council to grab my cloak to keep me warm, before moving out to my horse.

“Are you accompanying me?" | asked Jax as he approached me with his horse.

“Yeah. Alpha Killian asked me to keep you company throughout the day," he said, rubbing the back of his head with a small smile. Typical of Killian.

“Alright, let's go," I got on my horse, and so did Jax. We rode out of our territory and started for the Council. We were almost at the Council's territory and just approaching the long bridge when | noticed the speeding movement of an arrow aimed at me. | leaned backward on my horse, evading the arrow which dived into one of the trees.

Jax and | halted our horses instantly, as Adie rose to the surface, scanning our surroundings but we couldn't pick up any scent or the slightest indication someone else was out here with us.

Jax got off his horse, cautiously moving to the tree where the arrow was stuck to. “It has a message,” Jax spoke over his shoulder to me as he slowly leaned over and pulled the small piece of paper that was dangling against the tree.

I moved a little closer to my horse, watching Jax unfold the paper. As his eyes moved curiously on the paper, his face lost all colors, alarming me.

“What does it say?" | asked, and he was quiet for a second, before moving to me and handing it to me.

Upon seeing the bloody handwriting on the paper, | knew exactly who the message was from. Vladimir. | read through every one of his words calmly, my eyes finally resting on the last word he addressed me with. Mate.

Vladimir was in North Central already, and he wanted me to know he was coming for me, bringing along hell itself for everyone I cared about.

After | was done reading it, | folded the paper gently into my hands, looking around my surroundings. Vladimir's sudden presence in North Central couldn't just be a coincidence with the symbols that were etched around North Central by Shota’s vessel. This made me wonder once more if Vladimir was truly the one who had this darkness. Could he be Shota's vessel? “We should hurry,” I told Jax as we both continued moving. | had to inform the Council of this. Once we arrived at the Council's castle, | met Killian and my brothers there, together with Zeriyah and the elder wolves. | handed over Vladimir's piece of paper to the Council and their suspicion of Vladimir being the vessel only increased, and we would find out for sure with tonight's ritual.

After we were done, Cora led Zeriyah, Valerie, and me to one of the spell rooms in the castle. It wasn't Cora's. My eyes scanned around as we walked to the small white round table at the center of the room.

“What are we doing here?" | asked, my eyes slowly moving from Valerie to Cora, and then on to Zeriyah who walked to the end of the room and pulled her delicate hands in the air, chanting and instantly the wall parted, revealing a small box with ancient inscriptions on it. It piqued my curiosity.

“We wanted to show you something,” Cora said, and I couldn't help but swallow the lump in my throat at the sudden seriousness on their faces.

I nodded, watching Zeriyah pull open the box, and | saw a dagger in it. It looked so ordinary until Zeriyah picked it up and suddenly it began to glow white from the hilt. | don't know why, but there was something about it that made me step back immediately, and | was

greeted with a painstaking ache once more.

I muffled a groan, as | moved back from the table as Zeriyah approached it with the glowing dagger.

“What's that?" | asked, feeling restless and maybe scared.

A small smile found Cora’s lips. “This is exactly what we need to finish off Shota's vessel," she replied as Zeriyah dropped the dagger on the table. Suddenly, the glow died and | got the chance to take a good look at it from afar. It was made out of wood, and without its glow, it looked so random and ordinary.

“To finish off the vessel?" | breathed out, rubbing the back of my neck at my sudden uneasiness. "Like?" | asked, feeling my heart speed up.

What was wrong with me? “To kill it,” Zeriyah completed, and my back slowly met the wall, and my eyes fell back on the dagger. "When we discover exactly who the

vessel is tonight, we will have to stop it before it grows more powerful before the war, and right now this dagger is our best chance.” “Would it kill the actual vessel?" | asked and Zeriyah's face creased, confusedly. “Or simply just get rid of the dark magic inside?” “Both,” Zeriyah responded, and with every word she was saying my body was reacting strangely. | felt my legs grow weak.

“But what if it isn't Vladimir?" | folded my arms against my chest. If the vessel was Vladimir, it would make it easier to get rid of him. But what if it was someone else? Someone who didn't ask for this. "What if it's someone else?” Cora pulled from the table and sauntered to me. "At this point, it doesn't matter, Sheila. Everyone's life is at stake here. And the more we wait, Shota's magic fuses with its vessel's soul and thank the heavens it's not someone as powerful as its last vessel, Shota.

Whoever it is, we can put an end to the birth of a darkness that would destroy us all.” Cora was right. | inhaled, deeply. | didn't know what exactly | was thinking. This wasn't just about one person, everyone's life was at stake and if killing this vessel will save my loved ones, then there isn't a choice.

My eyes left Cora’s and moved from Zeriyah to Valerie who had been quiet "You are right,” | moved from the wall back to the table, standing next to Valerie, but my eyes never left the dagger and | felt a strong need to put a safe distance between it and I. “What does it do?" “It may appear ordinary, but it's not,” Valerie said. “It was made from an ancient oak tree from the Crystal Fortress that held magic.” “She's right. This dagger functions with magic,” Cora said, picking it up it began to glow and just then | noticed a glowing ring on the hilt.

“It was one of the purest magical things we had back then in the Fortress. It glows like this when it comes in contact with magic, pure magic," she said, “And it does a different thing when it's sourced by dark, impure magic.” “I don't understand.” “Just as it channels pure magic, it has the power to trap a dark one.

And since without the blood ritual, Shota's magic is partially trapped, to end it. It just needs the right amount of magic that can match the dark magic,” Zeriyah explained, and instantly, | knew what she meant.

It was evident in her eyes.

“Me?" I said, but it sounded more like a question in my ears.

“Yes. It's you. Your magic can match this dark magic, or even surpass it. All you need to do is channel your magic into it, and shove this dagger into the vessel's heart and it'll trap the dark magic,” Zeriyah said, and | nodded. It all sounded so easy. But | could feel something

totally wrong with this plan.

“Sounds easy,” | said.

“If we do this right, we can end this darkness permanently,” Cora said.

“And after? What do we do with the dagger, having so much dark magic within it?" | asked.

“We don't know yet. We will cross that bridge when we get to it, first of all, we have to find the vessel and trap Shota's magic at all costs,” Zeriyah voiced.

There was a knock on the door. It was Elder Alex and Walter.

“What happened?” Valerie asked as all three of them went closer to Elder Alex and Walter who were standing at the door.

| wasn't interested in what they had to say, somehow, this dagger interested me more. My eyes moved back to it, and slowly | reached

for the hilt, and the second my hands rested on it, | gasped, pulling away from the dagger, and jerking back from the table.

1 pulled up my hand, and my petrified blue eyes fell on the wide burn on my palm. My lips parted in shock, and my eyes fell back on the dagger. It fucking burned me.