Chapter 76-Are We Cursed?

Andreas P.O.V
I watch as Athena’s demeanor changes in front of me. A sharp look passes over her face, and her eyes turn blue.
“You,” she says, pointing to Cassia. “Take the boy and his mother to their room,” she says coldly, not sounding like herself.
“Alpha, what’s happening?” Cassia tries to ask, but Athena growls at her.
“Leave! Now!” Athena yells, her Alpha aura almost unbearable as it radiates through the room.
Karla takes Mitchell out of Leon’s arms and runs out of the room, with Cassia close behind her.
Athena’s glare turns to Leon. She stalks towards him, and he backs up towards the wall, baring his neck in submission under her intense aura.
“Athena, what’s wrong with you?!” I yell at her, but she ignores me. I try to mind-link her, but it’s like there’s an invisible barrier around her that’s stopping me. I can’t sense her emotions; I can’t even feel our mate bond.
She grabs Leon by the throat, bringing his face close to hers and growling. “Do you think baring your neck to me will change things?”
“Alpha, please, I’m helping you!” Leon begs.
“That’s the problem,” Athena snarls and starts squeezing his neck. “You’ve helped us enough.”
The rest of us run to her and try to pull her off Leon, but she’s too strong.
“Athena!” I try calling out to her again, but it’s like she can’t hear us or see us. Her focus is solely on Leon.
Ryna, Noah, Rich, Tony, and I all struggle as we try to pull her away from Leon, when suddenly, we hear a crack, and Leon’s limp body drops to the ground, his neck clearly broken. We then hear a pained scream down the hall, which I can only assume is Karla.
Athena then throws the five of us off her and turns her attention to us.
“Alpha, why did you do that?” Tony yells, his voice filled with concern.
Athena pushes him out of the way, and he goes flying across the room and thuds heavily against the opposite wall, falling to the ground, unconscious. Her eyes then lock on me. I can feel the anger radiating off her, but she seems... Off.
“Who are any of you to question me?” She snarls, baring her teeth, and then she shifts.
“Athena...” I whisper, but she growls angrily at me. “Noah, get the Doc. Tell him what’s happening. Tell him we need to sedate her,” I say, lowering my voice, and not breaking eye contact with Athena.
He backs away slowly and then exits the room.
“Alpha Andreas,” Rich says, concerned, but I hold up my hand to stop him from talking when her head snaps towards him.
“Athena,” I growl at her, turning her attention back to me. She snarls at me, her blue eyes seeming unfocused and glazed over as she stalks toward me. “Rich, Ryna, you both need to leave,” I whisper to them, but they don’t move.
“We can’t just leave you here, Alpha,” Ryna whispers back.
“She’s my mate. She won’t hurt me,” I tell him. “This is your Alpha giving you an order. Leave and take Tony with you.”
They slowly leave the room, dragging a still unconscious Tony with them, and then it’s just me and Athena left in the room. I stand my ground as she inches closer until she stops just a few feet away.
“Angel,” I whisper to her, and I hold my hand out to her. She snaps at me, spittle spraying as she bares her teeth at me.
*‘It’s like she doesn’t recognize us*,’ Ares whimpers.
‘*Can you get through to Enyo*?’
‘*No, it’s like she’s not there.*’
‘*Maybe we should shift. She might recognize you*.’
‘*No, she’ll see that as a threat. You need to buy time until the Doc gets here*.’
“Baby, it’s me. It’s Andreas,” I say, slowly getting to my knees, trying to make myself less threatening.
Her ears prick back, and she brings her head down low, like she’s getting ready to pounce and rip my throat out. I lean forward slowly, keeping my hands by my side, dropping my head low and baring my neck to her. But her growling continues.
“Baby, I bear your mark. Don’t you recognize your mark?”
She gets down low as well, into a position I recognize all too well. She’s about to attack.
My heart rate quickens as I realize that I may have been wrong about her not hurting me. As I’m about to shift to protect myself, Athena yelps, and then drops to the ground and shifts back to her human side.
“Oh, thank the Goddess,” I let out in a rush, along with the breath I’d been holding.
“That looked intense,” Doc says as he puts down the dart gun and takes his jacket off to cover Athena’s naked body.
“I didn’t even hear you come in,” I admit.
“What happened?” He asks.
“I don’t know. It’s like she was a different person. You don’t think... No. It can’t be,” I say, not wanting to put that thought into the universe.
“That maybe what Doctor Shields said is true?” Doc asks, putting it out there anyway.
I nod. “He said the last generation of chosen went mad with power. What if it’s happening to her? What if we’re all cursed to be driven mad by power?”
“Athena is different. She doesn’t care for power. If there is some kind of curse that happens to the chosen, she will fight it. You all will. She’s the strongest lycan I’ve ever met.”
“She might be a little too strong. She just killed Leon in cold blood, and we were powerless to stop her,” I whisper, looking over at Leon’s body. “Shit. Karla. I need to check on her and explain what happened. Not that I know what happened.”
“Go. I’ll deal with the body and get the Alpha to the hospital. She’s going to be out for a while,” Doc says.
I nod my head and race out of the room and look for Cassia and Karla.
I find them in Cassia’s office a few moments later and see Cassia trying to comfort a hysterical Karla.
“Where’s Mitchell?” I ask, looking around the room, not seeing him.
“Leah took him,” Cassia says.
I nod and kneel next to Cassia on the ground and take Karla’s hand. “I am so sorry that this happened,” I whisper gently.
“Why did she do it?” Karla sobs softly.
I look at Cassia guiltily. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “She’s been sedated and taken to the pack hospital.
“I WANT ANSWERS!” Karla erupts in anger, her voice laced with venom. “WHY DID SHE KILL MY MATE? SHE SAID WE WERE SAFE HERE!”
“I don’t have any answers for you right now,” I tell her. “As soon as I know anything, I will let you know.”
“Bullshit. You’re just protecting your mate. I want justice,” she growls out, and I have to hold my growl in at the threat to Athena.
“It’s going to be okay. You’re strong, you can get through this,” Cassia says as she sits on the couch next to Karla.
“Should I get Mitchell back?” I ask, trying to defuse the situation and Karla nods.
“I’ll go find him and bring him right back,” I say and leave the room.
#
Doctor Apollo P.O.V
“How is he, Doc?” Ryna asks as he enters Tony’s room.
“He has a few broken ribs, but they’re already healing. He should be fine in a couple of hours,” I tell him as I look over the X-ray from Tony’s head C.T. Once I determine the imaging is clear, I turn off the light for the X-ray film viewer and turn to Ryna. “Can you give me any information on what happened today, Beta?”
“It was like she was someone else, Doc,” he says as he runs his fingers through his hair. “She was fine one minute and not the next. The boy, Mitchell, said she wasn’t the Alpha anymore and that the same thing happened to Costas.”
“Not the Alpha anymore?” I ask curiously. “We should definitely speak to him about what he meant.”
“He just lost his father, and there’s a high risk of him losing his mother if she isn’t strong enough. I will organize to speak to him when we know more. How’s Athena?”
“She’s still sedated, but should come out of it any moment. Would you care to join me to check on her?”
Ryna nods and we walk across the hall to where Athena is resting. I listen to her heartbeat as I study her, taking my penlight out of my pocket.
“Alpha, can you hear me?” I ask, opening each eye to check her pupils, the color of her eyes almost ice blue.
“Mmmm,” I hear her groan.
“Athena, how are you feeling?” Ryna asks her, leaning over her to look at her.
Her eyes fly open suddenly, and she snaps her head to Ryna. She quickly grabs him by the throat and has him against the wall before I can react.
“Athena, it’s me. Ryna,” Ryna gasps out as she squeezes his throat.
She growls low at him, squeezing harder, her nails digging into his skin, causing blood to drip to the floor.
I finally snap out of my shocked daze and hurry to the medication cabinet, and get a high dose of Dexmedetomidine mixed with silver in a large gauge syringe and jab it into her thigh while she’s distracted with Ryna. Within a few seconds, she stumbles backward, releasing Ryna, who falls to the ground gasping as he holds his neck. I catch Athena as she falls, and yell for Ryna to help me get her into the bed.
“We’re going to have to restrain her,” I tell him and call for a nurse to bring silver shackles.
Once we have her restrained, Ryna and I stare at each other in disbelief.
“Whatever this is, we need to get to the bottom of it quickly,” I tell him. “Otherwise, I don’t think anyone will be safe.”