Chapter 78 - 77. The Curse

Connor was lost in his thoughts. His mind was full of everything he had just heard and the man looked at Glen and Eden who were still on the ground. Even though he knew it wasn't the case, he couldn't help but think that the two mates were sleeping peacefully.

"How long are they going to stay like this? I thought an alpha must be restless more than anything else during the Omega's mark ritual."

Alana and Elias both turned to the body. The father and his daughter also seemed surprised at the calm the two mates showed during a supposedly dangerous and deadly ritual.

"This is a first for us too. It's been over a thousand years since pack and clan split up. Everything we know has been passed down to us through our writings and lore," Alana explained.

She frowned and the corners of her lips quivered slightly when she saw Eden fidgeting in his sleep and the wolf instinctively releasing comfort pheromones to soothe his mood.

"Probably their bond is strong enough for the alpha to easily resist his desire for the claim. It's written that every night, when the moon rises, his desire to bite his mate will be exacerbated to the point of becoming unbearable. It is this sensation that the dominant must resist. This is the trial.

The closer they get to the full moon, the greater its influence will be. It will cause the alpha to lose control.

"In that case, isn't keeping them away the best solution? Why did you stop us in the forest," Connor asked genuinely curious.

"Because no one should interfere in the event, that's the rule. Intervening is the best way to disrupt the interaction between the alpha and his omega.

During the test, the two mates interact a lot with their pheromones. They each adapt to the bond that was created when the omega marked his dominant. This link is like a tunnel that conveys everything that the omega feels towards the alpha.

It's because of this bond that the alpha wants to bite him because for his inner wolf, claiming his omega is the fastest and easiest way to appease him. The problem is that marking isn't the only way a dominant can meet his sub's needs. This is what the ordeal makes him understand.

By resisting his desire to claim, the alpha will look for all the ways to respond to his mate's emotions, through contacts or pheromones. Thanks to this, their bond outside the marking will grow stronger than ever and when the full moon is here, he will be able to complete his bond by finally biting his mate.

"It takes a lot of self-control," The agent commented.

"That's why if someone intervenes, the alpha gets frustrated or gets angry because he's disturbed by his omega's emotions that he wants to respond to, but is prevented from doing.

If he is separated from his mate during the ordeal, the omega is in distress and his emotions are out of control, which prompts the alpha to bite him to calm him down as quickly as possible.

"How did you know that Glen wasn't going to bite Eden at that moment in the forest? He was very aggressive…"

Alana paused. She didn't know how the man would react to her answer. However, even if she didn't like him, she couldn't deny that he cared about what could happen to his friend and his mate and, just for that, she had to be honest. Connor's Skinwalker blood was powerful. Even more, if he truly ignored his heritage. He had instinctively created a special relationship with the Warrior and protected him even if he made mistakes along the way because he didn't have the knowledge of his ancestors.

If he had grown up in the tribe, the agent would probably be the best candidate for the succession. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and pushed those negative thoughts away, then looked Connor straight in the eyes.

"I didn't know. I wasn't sure he wasn't going to try to bite him. I simply trusted the Goddess and the bond that connects them. When news of the golden omega's fated mate reached us and until we met you in the forest, we had no idea he was also the Warrior.

Limiting contact greatly restricts our actions and we had never heard of this alpha. I could only trust the fated mate bond."

"There is another reason for this. Glen didn't grow up in his pack, he was ostracized by Alpha Carter and grew up with me and my family." He shrugged as if saying something unimportant, but neither Elias nor Alana missed the slight smile that transformed his face. "We grew up together almost like brothers because he had no contact with his pack."

Alana stared at the man in front of her who was gazing fondly at the pair of werewolves. The lump she had just swallowed grew bigger again, as did the feeling of discomfort she felt.

Not only this man who didn't know he was a Skinwalker had lived with the Warrior, but so did his family. It was like her ancestors who lived with the original Bloodhood pack. She remained silent and her father continued with a new question.

"Why was he living with your family? Why did his alpha put him aside?"

This time it was Connor's turn to look at Alana and Elias with a glint of disbelief in his eyes. Wasn't it obvious? If Glen had been rejected by his pack, it was because he couldn't… Connor froze in place and his face lost all its color. He ran to Glen and he started shaking the body of the black and white wolf.

Alana and her father also rushed over and tried to stop him. Elias grabbed the agent's wrist and immediately saw Connor's aura grow menacingly. He swallowed hard and his fingers instinctively unclenched allowing the man to jerk his hand free and start shaking Glen's body again.

"The reason he got kicked out of the pack is that he can't shift."

"What are you talking about? He is…"

"It's the third time he ever shifts in his whole life!"

"What?" Alana exclaimed.

"Every time he's in his werewolf or his wolf form, that curse or whatever tries to kill him. We only have a few hours before he dies. He needs to get back to his normal form before it's too late."

Connor remembered everything Eden had told them in the car when he had talked about his system and the curse. The male omega had explained that it was the curse that prevented Glen from transforming and that when he did, he had to face two setbacks: his bloodlust and a death countdown.

Suddenly, everything that happened in the forest made sense. If Eden was unscathed after spending the night with Glen alone in their room despite the moon's effects, it's because the dominant had perfectly managed to restrain his desire for the claim. It wasn't the desire to bite Eden that made him react so violently towards his omega earlier, it was the bloodlust.

Connor gritted his teeth seeing that the wolf still wasn't regaining consciousness no matter how hard he shook him. He understood that the sleep in which the mates were immersed wasn't natural. It wasn't part of the trial, it was a manifestation of the curse.

He turned to Elias and grabbed him by the shoulders. His facial features were twisted with fear.

"Do it now! I don't know what you intended to do to help Glen, but please do it now."

Elias was about to react to the gesture of the stranger which, even legitimate, was rude, but he felt that the hands which gripped his shoulders trembled slightly. He looked at Connor again and saw that his eyes were filled with tears that he was holding back.

The leader turned to his wife and nodded before turning back to the two werewolves.

"Help me with…" Before he finished his sentence, Connor had already gently grabbed the body of Eden which he peeled off his mate. The young man offered no resistance and didn't move either when Connor, guided by Alana, entered a room where there was a bed, a few empty shelves, a desk, and a wooden chair.

"This was my bedroom before I had my own home. My mother cleans it almost every day, he should be fine here," the woman explained simply. "He's not in his nest and his mate isn't with him, so he shouldn't be left alone. Especially since if he is a member of Bloodhood, he must be used to sleeping with his packmates. I will stay with him in case he ever wakes up, or something happens. Go see your friend."

Connor hesitated for a moment and Alana waved his hand to make him understand to go.

"Thank you," The agent said as he walked through the doorway. The woman sighed and turned her attention to Eden and sat down on the chair after placing it near the bed.

"If he starts being nice on top of that, it makes it hard for me not to see him as our real leader." She noticed a strand of hair that was tangled with his eyelashes and pushed it away and the omega tensed up under her touch.

"Yeah yeah! I know. You also like him, don't you? He reminds me of what the books say about the first Luna. Well, it's no wonder he took after her. After all, he's his last descendant."

She sighed one last time and rested her elbows on the bed before resting her chin in her palms.

Back in the room where Glen was, Connor approached him. He noticed that Silphie had created a circle that surrounded his friend's body. The latter was also surrounded by runes, but contrary to what she had done for the Soul Healer, there was not a single row, but three distinct rune circles that completed the first row.

"What are you doing ?" Connor inquired as he knelt beside him. the end of his sentence died in his throat when he saw the woman, a frown between her eyebrows and a look of concentration.

Silphie remained silent, as her hands continued to work around Glen. Connor noticed her lips moving slightly and suspected that she had to recite some spell or whatever was needed to help her in the process.

She closed her eyes then placed a finger on the circle of runes furthest from Glen's body before softly saying a word that the agent didn't understand. At the sound of her voice, the runes her finger had touched began to glow with a bluish light.

Silphie opened her eyes and looked down at her handiwork. Connor took the opportunity to ask him.

"Are you sure about what you're doing?" The woman turned to him and knew there was no point in lying to him.

It was better to be prepared for all contingencies, including their failure. The Skinwalkers hadn't planned on Light going after the werewolf chosen by the Moon Goddess at all.

If what the agent told them, the Warrior had been cursed while still in its mother's womb. Light, who had felt the arrival of his power, went after him even before he became a threat. When he was most vulnerable.

When she learned that the Warrior had been kicked out of his pack because he couldn't shift, she thought it was a bad joke. After all, the black and white wolf was right in front of her eyes. But when she took a careful look at the curse, the witch shuddered.

Any werewolf would have lost their lives to such a curse that attacked the wolf-like aura itself. The inner wolf was pierced from all sides by Light's whips and Silphie could see the core of dark energy which, like a parasite, was grafted into the inner wolf's body, allowing the whip to drain the alpha of his power and suffocate his aura. The only comfort she had was seeing how strong the bond between the dominant and his mate was.

The witch turned to Connor and answered him.

"I have no idea what's going to happen, but I hope you know how to fight, because if that thing reacts, then you'll need to."