Chapter 20: Wolves of Madness

I think I know what affects her.

I think I know what affects her.

I think I know what affects her.

Those seven words radiated through Alexandra's ears and rattled her eardrums.

I think I know what affects her.

The Luna stared at the Djinn, her irises melting into piercing orbs of darkness.

The large male stopped his endless pacing and turned to face them, his eyes glazed over and his face stone. Alexandra felt her wolf rise up within her, growling urgently.

"Tell me," Alexandra demanded, her voice more animal than human. The tower, the Oracle and her mate, the whole damn universe melted away at that very moment, and all Alexandra saw was the Djinn.

The male's dark face twisted into confusion as his amber eyes dimmed into a burnt out orange. Alexandra's wolf thrashed inside of her in anxiety and violence. The Djinn must've been messing with her emotions again, but at that moment, she really didn't care.

The Djinn's eyes returned back to their eery amber glow and his handsome face lost its harshness. "The Curse of Rage." He muttered.

Alexandra nearly shifted into her wolf skin right then and there.

The Curse of Rage.

"How do you know?" Sasha asked, her voice hoarse. Everyone knew the truth; Razbin was correct about the curse- he was the Djinn of Wisdom after all. How could he be wrong?

The Djinn sighed, "There is no other curse like it, I'm afraid. Everything that you have spoken of is the very symptoms of the curse: the loss of control, the murderous outbursts. I'm honestly shocked that she hasn't killed anyone yet."

Alexandra clenched her fists so hard that her claws pierced through the flesh, but the pain was welcomed, needed. She felt her wolf back down a little at the pain, but the pain wouldn't hold it back for long. Even now it wanted to gut the Djinn, to watch the light fade from his ancient eyes as she gripped his face in her palms and twisted, snapping his neck.

Alexandra shook her head to clear away the animal's thoughts. This damn realm was messing with her head too much. Alexandra had to get out of here soon, or else her wolf was going to see just how powerful this male was.

The Djinn threw a smug, knowing look her way. Alexandra knew that should she release her wolf, the Djinn's face would be the first thing she went after.

For Adeline

Right before the Luna opened her mouth to speak, the gutsy Oracle cut her off. "How the hell did she get it? Aren't curses, like, thrown at people?"

'Fool!' Her wolf hissed. Alexandra couldn't agree more.

Razbin stalked over to them and plopped down into a chair facing them. His muscular, lean body was slouched in the chair with his long legs spread out, his feet nearly touching Alexandra's. Her upper lip lifted in a threatening snarl.

It looked like the arrogant fool was going to answer Sasha's question, but instead, his answer had both of the wolves snarling. "I believe I agreed to answer the questions about Adeline's unfortunate circumstances, not answer a beginners level question."

"You motherfu-" Sasha started, but was cut off when her mate clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Such a big mouth on such a tiny, pretty body." Razbin purred.

'Kill him! Kill him right now! Rip out his throat! Gut him!' Her wolf howled. If the Lupises had been in their wolfskin, their hackles would've been lifted, and their jowls would've been exposing saliva coated canines.

Faster than the human eye could track, Desmond lunged out of his seat and towards the Djinn. Desmond's fingernails were replaced with three inched claws that were as sharp as knives, and the razor sharp claws were reaching for Razbin's throat. Alexandra was pretty sure that if the Djinn hadn't used his magic to freeze the wolf in place, Desmond's claws would've sliced through his flesh like butter.

Just as fast as Desmond had flown out of his seat, the Djinn had a hand in the air, his palm facing the raging wolf. Desmond stopped dead in his tracks.

Desmond was completely frozen in place.

Sasha and Alexandra surged to their feet, ready to come to the male's defense, but the Djinn flung out another hand in warning.

Sasha snarled with the fury of a she-wolf. "Release my mate. Now."

This time, Razbin didn't smirk.

Perhaps he was smarter than he let on.

Alexandra's body grew ever so slightly, her wolf coming to the surface. The animal was more than eager to fight, actually, it was practically salivating at the thought of a fight. The wolf wondered if her claws would slice through his flesh as easily as slicing through a rabbit's underbelly.

"Are you done, tree-wolf?" Razbin asked the frozen male. Desmond's throat and chest vibrated with the force of his snarl.

"You insulted my mate," Desmond gritted out through his clenched teeth. "You are lucky that I didn't let my wolf out. You are so, so lucky..."

Desmond didn't even finish his threat, not that he could with the elongated canines filling his mouth. His deep, guttural voice trailed off and was replaced with growls.

Still holding a hand out to Desmond, the Djinn turned his attention to Sasha. "To answer your absurd question, Oracle," Razbin said. "Yes and no, curses are not only thrown: they can be welded into objects, soaked into foods, cast to other beings from the hands of the welder. They aren't things just tossed around by the fairies you mortals made up."

Sasha didn't look like she really cared anymore to have her question answered. Her eyes were only for the male frozen in time in front of the Djinn

Razbin looked into the green-eyed wolf for a moment with a raised brow.

"Release him. Now." The Oracle seethed, stepping towards her mate.

The palm that was facing Alexandra and Sasha began to glow, a ball of white flames writhing and turning against the tan flesh. Alexandra let out a growl as it became more difficult to move her feet forward, her body growing stiff and weighed down.

"No," the Djinn answered sharply. "If I release my hold on him, he will attack me, and then I won't be as merciful. My magic isn't afraid to put a mutt out of its misery."

'Mutt?!' Her wolf scoffed. 'We are Wolf. Lupis are no dog.'

"Now that he is under control, can we get back to the discussion?" Razbin asked sweetly. Alexandra's eye twitched with the urge to rear back her arm and send her fist flying at his too-perfect face. Maybe she'd even be able to get a second punch if she caught the Djinn by surprise.

Sasha opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it again- realizing that arguing with the smug male wouldn't get them the answers faster. Without arguing, the Oracle waved her hand at Razbin, gesturing him to talk.

The bitter scent of anger swarmed around the tower as Alexandra laid a hand down on Sasha's shoulder, offering a silent kind of comfort. Sasha's body was tense and her hands were fisted at her sides. Alexandra almost smiled; this tiny woman had fire in her belly and nerves of steel. Sasha was nothing like the Oracles Alexandra knew when she was younger; the Oracles that she had known, had traveled the packs decades ago, had been docile, passive, and soft-spoken, some even verging on the line of submissive. It was nice to see how people had evolved over the many decades she had been alive; it was nice to see the time change for the better and the worst.

"Now, if you'd so kindly allow me to finish explaining the curse, maybe we'd get somewhere." Razbin drawled.

When neither Sasha nor Alexandra moved from where they were standing, the Djinn sighed and flicked the palm that was facing Desmond.

Desmond's body practically threw itself down on the sofa he had lunged out of. His stone cold face was as emotionless as always, but his glowing green eyes glared at Razbin as his body stiffened in the seat- taking away his ability to move even an inch.

"How do we break the curse?" Alexandra asked, keeping an eye on the Djinn, Desmond, and the pissed-off Oracle. Alexandra wouldn't be surprised if Sasha lunged at the Djinn herself by the way her eyes were narrowed at the ancient male.

Razbin stared at the trio for a moment longer before disappearing back into the endless depths of knowledge in his mind- a shield of fog clouded his amber eyes, turning the fiery color into a dull orange. A chill went down Alexandra's spine as his pupils thinned into slits. The eyes of a cat; the eyes of a predator.

'Now is the time,' Her wolf urged. 'Gut this fool. Spill his intestines onto the floor.'

Alexandra ignored her wolf's violent urges, something was whispering a warning in her mind, saying that if Sasha or she should make a move against the Djinn, he would be ready and prepared. Despite the clouded over eyes, Alexandra had no doubt that the Djinn was still well-aware of the others sitting across from him, maybe he was even watching them... somehow.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasha lean down to whisper something into her mate's ear. Whatever Sasha had said made the corner of Desmond's lips lift in a small but forced smile.

Razbin's eyes refocused after a minute, and what Alexandra saw in those fiery pools of amber had her holding her breath.

"There's," Razbin cleared his throat. "There's only one way the curse can be broken."

Stepping towards the Djinn, her steps calculated and soft- a predator circling its prey. Observing. Watching. Waiting.

"How?" Alexandra growled, her wolf appearing in her dark eyes.

The Djinn looked at Alexandra, Sasha, Desmond, then back to Alexandra.

Alexandra's lips curled into a feral smile as the sweet, sweet smell of fear met her nostrils.

'Good.' The animal crooned. 'He should be scared.'

"To break the curse, you need to find and kill the welder," Razbin said in a voice that had even peeked Desmond's curiosity.

It was the voice of unfinished truth.

He wasn't done.

"And if you don't find the welder by the time Adeline is of mating age... then she will travel to the Afterlife."

Her vision dimmed to shadows, but her thoughts were loud and clear.

The Afterlife.

If she didn't find the fool who had cursed Adeline by the time her eighteenth birthday arrived, then her pup would leave this world.

Adeline would die.

????

Howls ripped through the layers of the mansion, rattling her eardrums. Howls, some familiar, others not so much, were coming in all directions, trapping her.

Adeline practically threw herself out of her bed to try to escape the howls, but it was no use. She was trapped in a cage of sound.

Sitting on the floor with the sheets tangled around her feet, she looked around, her chest rising and falling with panic.

Something wasn't right. Something definitely wasn't right.

Then the sharp pain came, taking her breath away as it beat against her gut. The tug and pull of the pack bond.

Someone was leaving!

How the hell was someone leaving?!

Untangling her feet from the sheets, she stumbled to her feet. The pain was growing steadily worse, and something told her that whoever was trying to leave, was a major position in the pack. If it was some Omega or Subordinate, then the pain wouldn't be this bad

A whimper left her lips.

Pulling herself up to her feet, Adeline dashed over to the window that was covered in strips of curtain that she had ripped up a year ago during one of her many fits of rage.

The sight before her had her lungs empty in shock.

A large, brown wolf was charging from the woods, his body rippling with muscles. Squinting her eyes, Adeline gasped as piercing orbs of blue narrowed in on the building before him. His eyes were wild and crazed, verging the line of going feral.

Dillon.

That was Dillon, her father.

A sharp, stabbing pain in her temple joined the pain twisting in her gut. Adeline slowly dropped her eyes down to her morphing hands. Obsidian black claws had taken the place of her human nails, and coarse grey fur had sprouted along her arm.

No.

Please, no!

'Surprise, surprise!' The Beast howled inside of her mind. A hysterical sob escaped her lips as the pain in her head increased, nearly causing her to double over in pain.

'I'm growing stronger, no amount of herbs or liquid can suppress me! I will slaughter everyone you love, and make you watch! We will drink their blood, and eat their flesh!'

"NO!" Adeline screamed as the pain knocked her down to her knees. Gripping her face with her hands, trying to stop the pain, Adeline writhed and sobbed. The Beast rose up, grabbing her conscious and yanking it to the back of her mind. A strangled roar tore through her throat, a mixture of pain, fear, determination, and rage mixing into the call.

Adeline tried to fight the Beast, she tried with everything inside of her to push the monster back into the depths of her mind, but she wasn't strong enough.

The Beast was too strong; too powerful.

A large grey wolf took Adeline's place. The wolf looked around for a moment, rage, determination and pure darkness flashed through those pale, cold eyes.

Tipping its head to the ceiling, the Beast answered the howls with a song of promised death. The howls of the prey grew louder and more frenzied. They knew that the Beast had come out to play.

Facing the window, the Beast ran straight ahead and leaped through the glass. The first drop of blood dropped down to the earth as the Beast landed right in front of the Alpha. Its lips pulled back to expose wicked canines in a smile of death.

The Beast lunged at Dillon; her father.