The Alpha's Curse The Enemy Within

“No, fucking no,” | was completely still, unable to move, think, or breathe. "Sheila can't be the vessel," | muttered. Hearing the words leave my lips, | realized how badly | had hoped this wasn't the case. | had hoped this was just one of those silly thoughts.

1 watched as Lorenzo slowly fell on a chair; his hands clasped firmly against each other.

“How can you be so sure?" | moved closer to him.

“I did the spell over and over again. Sheila's blood has an anomaly, Killian. It's tainted with dark magic,” Lorenzo spoke slowly and his every word was like a stab to my chest.

“No, Lorenzo. Sheila cannot be the vessel. She can't be. It's not possible, she's a fucking white wolf" | leaned on the table for support, gazing deep into Lorenzo's eyes.

*I don't know how it happened, but that darkness has been in Sheila all this time, and it managed to stay hidden. Sheila has been the one preparing for the blood ritual.” 1 groaned internally at the pain that tore through me, my hands curled tightly into a ball.

“What do we do now?" Lorenzo's gaze met mine. "By now, the ritual on Shota's bones must have begun. They will soon learn it's been her

all along.” “The ritual didn't hold,” | confessed, settling on a chair, and feeling Lorenzo's questioning gaze. But I still didn't speak.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Cora's dead,” | muttered slowly. "She was murdered, and the dagger that was intended to be used on the vessel was stolen,” | summarized before he asked any other question.

“Who could have—" he stopped, abruptly, and | knew he knew the answer. It was obvious.

“She doesn't remember anything,” | added, unable to hold back the tears that slipped past my eyes. | had never been this confused and

torn at the same time.

1 buried my face in my hands. "We need to do something, Killian. It's only a matter of time before the Council finds out who killed Cora, and it will lead them straight to Sheila. What do you think theyll do?" “Enough, Lorenzo. | need to think,” | was up from the chair. | had to come up with something before the Council found out Sheila was the vessel or responsible for Cora's death. They won't hesitate to have her killed if it means getting rid of Shota's darkness. Fuck. | couldn't let that happen. I'd die first before that happened.

1 was vibrating with so many emotions which were making me unable to think clearly. All that drowned my thoughts was Sheila. She had been through so much to have to deal with this.

Iwas struggling to stay in control. Ryker was in so much tumult and pain. Why in the bloody goddess's name did it have to be Sheila? 1 punched hard against the wall and created a wide hole in it. Lorenzo rushed to my side but thankfully, he didn't make the mistake of holding me back. In this state, | wasn't sure what | was capable of doing. | felt this deep-rooted hole in my heart, I closed my eyes, releasing the tears that had been eager to wander free. | needed to think.

“I have to go," | left Lorenzo's spell room and the first thing | did as soon as | stepped into the unwelcoming darkness, | raced into the woods, stripping, giving Ryker full control in his form to release this staking agony within us.

We ran tirelessly for hours, never getting exhausted and still unable to get rid of the pain in my chest. | couldn't show myself to Sheila like this. She would be able to see through the pain in my eyes, and |

couldn't let her know yet, not until we came up with something.

After a while, | shifted back to my human form and headed back to the castle. I had been standing in front of the door to our chamber for almost an hour now, unable to go in. There was no way | could hide my emotions from her, and that was the last thing she needed.

Now it would be better if this thing inside her had no idea we knew Sheila was the vessel.

1 sighed, pulling the door open and my eyes fell on Sheila curled up on the bed. She had changed into fresh clothes and was fast asleep. | climbed in next to her, pulling her into my embrace. I buried my nose iin the crook of her neck, inhaling deeply. She was the peace | needed, and for a second, | felt my pain and agony melt away.

I woke up to a new day. It was the early hours of dawn, and Sheila was still curled up in my arms. | watched her sleep so peacefully, and my mind became clearer. | knew exactly what | was going to do, and

itn no way involved handing my mate over to the Council. But | couldn't do this alone. | needed help from those who loved her as much as | did.

Almost two hours later, | was in my office with Morgan, Lorenzo, Valerie, Kaiser, and Leonardo.

1 was leaning on my table with my face in my hands as | kept on fighting the tears that had gathered in my depths. It's been almost an hour since Lorenzo and I broke the news to everyone, and neither Leonardo nor Kaiser had muttered a word since.

My eyes moved to Leonardo who was sitting right opposite me, with his striking blue eyes caging his pain and sadness, before shifting to Kaiser. He has been frozen against the wall close to the door with his

arms crossed over his chest, and eyes almost swollen.

“Leonardo, Kai," | called their attention back to the room, needing their final approval for the plan we had in mind. We were already running out of time and we needed to find a way to deal with this before the Council found out about Sheila. “What do you say?" | asked in hopes that they would agree. We didn't have an option.

This was the only way Sheila would be protected, and it would buy us enough time to keep her from being used by this darkness to complete the ritual preparations and figure out how to save her from Shota's magic without killing her. We had no way around that yet, but | believe we would find a way. We had to.

Leonardo threw a glance at Kaiser, before inhaling deeply and his

eyes met mine. “Let's do this,” he said, and my gaze moved to Valerie.

She leaned forward on the table about to speak when the door pulled open, abruptly.

Everyone's gaze turned to the door, and Sheila stepped in. Her perfect long eyebrows crumbled, moving from everyone in the office, before meeting my amber gaze.

“What's going on here?" She spoke in her soft voice, giving a warm embrace to Kaiser before moving to Leonardo, sending a small smile to Morgan, Valerie, and Lorenzo.

I held my hand out to her, masking every emotion | felt. | pulled her into my lap, as she scanned the room once more.

“What's wrong? Did something happen?” she asked slowly, and my eyes moved to Valerie's and the others’.

“Not really,” Valerie leaned forward. "We were only discussing the next course of action. With everything that's happening at the Council, we've decided to continue with the ritual on Shota's bones to find out who the vessel is, and instead of using the Council, we've decided to use the pack instead,” she said, tilting her head to Leonardo.

“The Black Blood Pack?" she asked, surprised, intertwining her fingers with mine as Valerie nodded.

“It will be much better, sister. The sooner we find out who the vessel is, itll be much better for us all,” Leonardo said, and she nodded gently.

“Do you need my help with anything?" Her eyes shifted to Valerie.

“No. There's no need, it'll be much better if you take some rest instead,” Valerie said and gently, | wrapped my hands around Sheila's waist, feeling the warmth from her body against mine and hoping it would stop the sudden stinging of my eyes.

I wasn't liking any of these. But this had to be done for Sheila's sake. | had to help her before she did more things she would never forgive herself for. We all knew Cora was killed to prevent the ritual from happening, and knowing what's in Sheila, it would do anything to try to stop this one. Instead of walking into a ritual, it would be walking into something else. This was Valerie's final test to be sure if Sheila was the vessel.

We concluded the plan with Sheila, after which, everyone began to leave.

Sheila turned to me, “I need to talk to Lorenzo," she said, kissing my lips before pulling up from my lap. She was asleep last night, and | hadn't told her anything about what Lorenzo said.

I watched Sheila leave the office, and a few minutes later she was back.

“And what did he say?" | asked regardless, knowing exactly what Lorenzo would say.

"He's still working on the spell,” she said, sitting on the seat opposite mine, stretching her hands out to me, and | took them immediately.

“I was thinking about what happened last night, and—" she drew in a sharp breath, while | held on to her last words. “I want to go to the Council today.” “Why?* | was up from my chair, moving to where she was seated.

She was quiet for a second. Her eyes looked like she wanted to tell me something, but she shook against them.

“What do you mean by "Why?" she asked, "I killed Cora, Killian."

“We cannot be so sure," | started, holding her hands tightly. “Things are crazy at the Council at the moment, why don't you give it some days before going there?” Sheila held my gaze for a while, before sighing. “Alright,” she whispered, placing a kiss on my lips.