31. Chapter 31
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Three days. My mates and I were secluded in my Nest cave for three days before the heat dissipated completely.
I don’t remember a lot of it, just flashes of flesh rubbing against flesh, sweat and kisses, slick and knots.
At one point, I’m pretty sure Hutch distracted me with bubbles while the other three left and got showers.
Although, I could have been mistaken. The whole thing is a blur, mixed with what actually happened and what my mind created while I slept.
All I know for sure is that waking up this morning is a feat of sore muscles and a foul odor I pray to the gods isn’t coming from me.
My hair is a rat’s nest, tangles and frizzy curls fanning out in all sorts of directions.
All of my Alphas are cuddled around me, Erik under all of us as I’m curled on his chest. Skylar has his hand clasping mine under my head and Hutch’s leg is somehow thrown over mine and Erik’s waists.
CJ is probably the most comfortable, he is wrapped around Erik’s head with a hand on my head, unconsciously rubbing my hair and purring in his sleep.
Blinking my eyes, I look around the room.
Nothing is where it started. The stuffed animals are thrown all over the place and random food wrappers and empty water bottles litter the floor around the nest cushion.
I’m pleased to see that they kept all the food and drink out of the central area at least.
A musk of sex and my scent blended with my mates’ scents hang languidly in the air.
That stale scent is the odor that woke me up.
Though for the first time since all of this started, my mind is clear and there is no heat in my belly.
I think the heat is finally over and while I’m happy to be back to my normal self, I am sad that now I don’t have an excuse to stay with my mates all the time.
If my internal clock is right and we’ve been in the Nest Cave for three days, then today is Saturday and we only have today and tomorrow before we have to get back to school.
The thought of going out and going about our daily lives is bittersweet.
I miss Mandy and her Alphas, but I don’t want to give up my mates’ attention.
Sitting up slowly, I try to figure out how to extract myself without waking up my mates.
All four of them have deep bags under their eyes and look as if they haven’t slept in days.
Guilt bubbles in my chest and I feel horrible that I did this to them.
Sure, I didn’t have a choice in my heat coming, but I wish that it wasn’t so hard on my Alphas.
I mean, I had a great time, even if my body is screaming and I doubt my ability to walk straight, but they look like I put them through the ringer.
Blinking, I ease Hutch’s leg from around my waist and slowly scoot down Erik’s body until my feet hit the cushion.
Looking back, I smile when they all cuddle closer together.
I race as silently as I can out the room and snag my phone off my bedside table in my room, ignoring the dozen or so messages.
The bright lights have me blinking again to orient myself but eventually, I get used to seeing the sun again and take my phone back into the nest.
They are just how I left them, snuggled close together.
CJ twists closer to the other Alphas, grumbling until he runs his fingers through Erik’s hair, just like he was doing to mine.
I take a picture of them, secretly grateful they all have shorts on so I can set it as my background on my phone.
Once I’m satisfied with my picture, I back out of the room and close the door to let them sleep some more.
I snag some clothes while I’m in the closet and head to the bathroom to take a much needed shower and try to tame this mess on top of my head.
The water is hot and relaxes my aching muscles.
My hair is a tangled mess that I have to condition and brush twice before it starts looking normal again.
The boys are still asleep when I get out of the shower, so I decided to go down and get some food, and my growling stomach approves.
Taking the stairs slowly on my still wobbly legs, I don’t notice Mandy and her pack are in the kitchen until I reach the bottom and arms are thrown around my shoulders.
Mandy is bouncing up and down with her arms around me as she squeals in what I’m hoping is delight and not absolute horror at my state.
I only put on leggings and one of Hutch’s football shirts.
My hair is up in a messy bun and I only have on makeup to hide the horrid bags I saw under my eyes when I looked in the mirror after my shower.
When I eventually peel myself away from her tight grasp, I see a wide smile on her face.
She is pacing in front of me, demanding I tell her how my first heat went.
I just stare at her with an eyebrow raised.
Surely she doesn’t want me to tell her the details of my time in heat with her son.
Eventually, James clears his throat, trying to cover up the laugh.
August doesn’t even try to hide his amusement, but Charles huffs a sigh.
“Mandy, I know you’re excited about having another Omega in the house, but I’d really rather not hear her assessment of my sons’ performance, and I’d like to think you wouldn’t either.”
Mandy stops moving and her face drains of all color.
She looks at me and blinks her eyes as if she just realized what my telling her about my heat will entail.
She waves her hands in front of her as if she can erase the last two minutes from existence.
All I can do is laugh and pull her back into a hug.
“Hey Mandy. My heat was amazing. My mates took great care of me and that is all I will say about it. Now, please tell me Charles made a lot of breakfast, because I am starving.”
Mandy clasps our hands together and drags me to the table as Charles and James set plates down in front of us. The parents tell me about their week and the Council leaving. August says he has my test results back, but he says we should wait for my mates to be here before he tells us.
As we eat and talk, my mates trickle in one at a time.
Each of them stops to give me a kiss before going to make their plates.
Now that they are awake and showered, they don’t look nearly as exhausted as they did laying in my Nest. Hutch is the last one to make it in and he picks me up and settles me on his lap, stealing bites of my food.
CJ slides him a plate of his own, but we both finish mine before diving into his.
When he reaches for my coffee I growl at him, popping his hand and staring daggers into the offending appendage.
Erik chuckles and slides him his own cup.
“Dumb ass. Never take an Omega’s coffee.” Skylar shakes his head then turns his attention to a smirking August. “So what did we miss? I think I heard something about test results?”
August takes a sip of his orange juice and shares a look with his pack mates.
“Okay, I have big news. This is going to be a lot, so I’m warning you now not to blurt out or interrupt me or the whole explanation will go off the tracks.
” August eyes all of us, waiting for each of us to acknowledge him and agree to stay silent.
“So, we got Becca’s test results back. We also did some digging into the archives based on what we found.
It gets a bit crazy, so try to stay with me. ”
James crosses his arms over his chest and Mandy grabs my hand. It seems that the news is big. I’m nervous about what they have to say, but I keep my questions and concerns locked deep inside. My mates all send calming energy to me through our bond and I really appreciate their thoughtfulness.
“First off, we did find supernatural DNA in Becca’s line, but it wasn’t just Shifter.
” This is a shock. I mean, Abby did explain that there are more supernaturals around than the humans know, but I never thought I was one of them.
“She is, well, was, half witch. We suspect on her mother's side, there are barely any human genomes present at all. From what we can tell, one of her parents, probably her dad, was a latent wolf. The other, probably her mother, was a full blooded witch. Now that doesn’t mean that she knows she is a witch or that she practices, and the Shifter parent has a little human blood, so they may not have ever shifted or known that his parents were shifters.”
Holy shit. This is crazy. I was a witch?! I wonder if my parents knew. Surely not, they never told me, or even hinted that there may be more to me than human. But this information does explain why I always felt so comfortable in nature.
“We decided to look into relations between Shifters, specifically wolves and witches, or witches to the humans, and we found something … insane.” August looks up at Charles who sits up higher in his chair. He isn’t just Charles, the father of my mate, now he is Charles, Council Alpha.
“Around two hundred years ago, Shifters and Witches got into a fight. A witch was jealous when her wolf lover found his mate, so she cast a curse. It was only meant to hit the one wolf couple, but she gave it too much juice and it ended up affecting the whole Shifter race: dragons, phoenixes, bears and wolves. She didn’t want the couple to be happy, so she cursed them to never be able to continue the strong Alpha lineage.
The curse morphed, changed as it hit all the Shifters.
Since that curse was cast, we noticed a severe decline in the amount of Alphas and Omegas born every year.
Before the Curse, it was common for three or four packs to be born to each community every year, same as with the other races.
Now, we are lucky to get one pack born in a generation, some of the other shifters, like the dragons and phoenixes are having trouble getting even that. ”
My heart breaks. My people did this to the Shifters. Witches are the reason the Shifter species is dying and now, I’m caught between the two worlds. A single tear drops down my face as I squeeze Mandy’s hand. Charles smiles gently then continues his story.
“When we first noticed what happened, we went back to the Witches. They tried their best, but all they could do was put a lock on the curse so that if we could find the solution, the curse would lift and Shifters would prosper as they once did.”
“So what was the caveat? What do the Shifters have to do to break the curse?”
Charles glares at Erik’s interruption, but clears his throat and continues as if the question wasn’t asked.
“If a Witch, born of the lineage of the original Caster, falls in love with a pack of Alphas, the curse will be broken. The ‘wrong’ that was done to the original curse caster will have been righted and the Shifters will start to prosper once again.”
The room falls heavy as everyone looks at me.
I stare at August. His face is void of all emotions, but I know that he has the answer.
He knows if I’m the witch that will break the curse.
Of course, I already know that I love my Alphas.
I love them with all of my heart, so if all the curse needs is for me to be of the right bloodline and for me to love a pack of Alphas, then the only question left is if I’m of the right bloodline.
I know that they said not to ask, but I can’t stop it. I have to know.
“What is the bloodline? Who was the original witch that cast the curse?”
Charles smiles. In my heart I know that the curse is lifted, but my mind refuses to believe it until he says the words.
“The original caster was Chancey Lancaster. You’re a Lancaster Witch, and you, my sweet little wolf, are the reason that shifters will prosper once more.”