Chapter 85

***Content Warning:***  
*This chapter contains scenes and mentions of violence and gore. Please proceed with caution or skip it if you feel this may be triggering. Prioritize yourself, little wolves, your well-being is what matters most!*

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The witch is about to bite her wrist and cast a spell on me—that I’m sure would screw up all my plans—but then she freezes her wrist in mid-air as she spots Vi’s still-healing face, her wounds closing before our eyes. 
The old witch realizes at that moment that, yes, my sister killed the two people in this house who could have helped her. 
The witch shifts her eyes to glare up at me when I say, “We’re gonna have a little deal, you and I, and you’re going to do exactly what I want.” 
But then, the witch smiles. It widens like I’d said something truly funny. “Oh, I’m not bargaining with you. There’s no call for it.” She makes the mistake of stepping forward, but the moment I let out a deep, warning growl, she freezes in place.
“You want a demonstration?” I ask darkly, and with just one step, I reach Vi and the child she has with the blade to her throat. My hand closes around the little girl’s slender arm, just below the short-sleeve of her yellow pajama. “A simple movement from me, and she loses a part of her body. Which limb do you like the least, girl?” I ask her, but I look intently at her mother across the room.
“You would never do that!” The witch snaps. “I know you would never hurt a child.”
I can’t help it. I laugh. A hysterical laugh that signals that I’m one step past losing my mind—if I’ve ever had it to begin with. The exhaustion from hunting her down, the fear of not finding her, and sheer anger at all these years land on my shoulders all at once. Wiping at my tears with my free hand, I finally reply, though my answer is filled with no humor. “Try me.” I add some force to the little black-haired girl’s arm until her face contorted in pain, and she winces. Her pigtails sway as she tries to break free from my grip, but my hand remains firm. I continue to stare at the witch, but now I say coldly, “I’d do it with exactly zero remorse.”
I can see the witch’s nostrils flare where I’m standing. “Would you murder an innocent child?”
My face doesn’t even falter. “I’ll slit this little girl’s throat without a second thought.”  
The witch seems almost surprised I’d do such a thing, that I’d threaten someone like her. The shock on her face is almost as good as the crunching impact of my wolf’s mouth ripping her throat apart until he splits her body in two if I let him. I enjoy her distress as she sees what she made of me.
The little girl doesn’t stop screaming in pain, which makes the witch realize that I’m telling the truth. That I mean every word. Then the old bitch screams a sound so macabre and sinister that I almost wonder for a second if she’s not casting another curse. I’m amazed the windows of this place don’t rattle with as loud as she’s screaming.
I can feel my sister’s eyes on me, heavy and searching. I don’t even need to turn to know the look on Vi’s face. I can sense it—like she’s staring at a stranger, someone she doesn’t quite recognize. ‘Ian, you’re not serious, are you?’ Vi’s voice sounds hesitant in my mind.
I rage at the witch for cursing my sister. This old rag cruelly did it without thinking twice. The witch chose to do this after knowing that it would be the thing my sister most desired in her life. 
And after more than two decades later, I’ve come to realize that it is mine, too. I have spent all these years feeling empty. Numb. It unlocked the need for revenge inside me.
My whole life after that moment has felt so fucking hollow. Even if she decides to lift the curse, a small part of me still doesn’t feel like this is a win because I should have had my fated mate years ago. It wasn’t fair. All these years trying to find this bitch, thinking I was close, only to find another defeat. 
Then, more dead leads. 
I may not have seen the extent of this witch’s power, but one thing I’m fucking sure of is she sure as hell knows how to cover her tracks.
“I’m not messing around,” I sternly answer to my sister, not bothering to speak via mindlink. However, with a quick glance in her direction, I notice that despite her wide-eyed appearance, Vi still has her sharp blade pressed into the skin of the child’s neck, not piercing but pretty close.
“Stop!” the witch orders in a shout. I don’t know her well, but I know she’s not the type to beg. No. She’s used to getting the upper hand.
She moves one hand closer to the other in front of her, ready to attack. 
“It’s your call,” I taunt, practically begging her to do one more stupid thing so I can kill her with my bare hands. Or let Kral kill her. I haven’t decided.
The child cries loudly. She doesn’t look any older than Vi was when her mother put the curse on my sister. I’m not putting enough strength in my fingers around her arm to break it, but I certainly wouldn’t do this to my niece.
The little girl’s crying seems to alert the witch as she lets her arms fall to her sides.
It probably shouldn’t have made me smile, but it does.
“I’ll kill you!”
My fingers tighten, and the girl cries, “Mama!”
“Don’t hurt her!” she says through gritted teeth. Her hands, now on either side of her, balled in anger.
I let go of the sobbing child’s arm, causing her to immediately rub with her other hand onto where my hand was. “Break the curse,” I say firmly. “You took something from me. If you care about this little girl, you better do as you’re told.” 
Though she seems to hear me, her eyes look down at the little girl next to me. “Poppy... are you okay, Pumpkin?”
“Yes, Mama,” she answers between sobs, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. “But my arm hurts. I want you.” 
The witch’s eyes almost soften for a second before she glares at me again. 
But suddenly, her gaze gets this far-off quality as she looks at my forehead like she is seeing something none of us can’t see.
Then she opens a small smile, but it soon widens on her wrinkled lips. “Oh. I see.”
I’m not falling for it. “Break the fucking curse,” I bark impatiently.
“I have the gift of revelation. I can partially see your future. And you might as well keep the curse.” She laughs sinisterly as if something is too funny for her to contain herself. “Because when you find out who your fated mate is and *what* she—”
“Shut the fuck up!” I growl, silencing her immediately. “I don’t want to hear another word about my fated mate coming out of the mouth of someone as evil as you.”
Even though she doesn’t say anything else, the knowing smile that lingers on her lips is like she’s won the lottery.
In a quick move, the witch grabs a jar behind her within easy reach of her hand. I immediately get closer to the child, this time holding the side of her head.
“Mama!” the child screams, crying again, even though the pressure of my hand isn’t too much. But she’s terrified.
“Drop that right now!” I command with hatred. 
The fear in her eyes as she throws the jar into the fireplace behind her tells me this cunning witch can see I’m not bluffing. My anger hangs thick in the air, impossible to ignore. Good.
She’s aware that one wrong move from her right now, and I’m going to bring the fires of hell with my fucking wrath. 
Yet, she stares at me with rage. “You seriously think I’m going to do what you say?” She hisses at me angrily. “I’m going to kill you for what you’re doing instead!”
“Mama!” the little girl cries. “I’m scared.”
The witch steps forward, baring her teeth at me. 
Oh, now she knows what it feels like to be desperate and helpless.
“Calm the fuck down before I make you,” I say, not breaking eye contact with her as the tip of my chin points down at the little girl next to me.
There is no missing the threat. If she doesn’t do as I say, it will be the girl’s throat at the end of my sister’s blade soon.
The witch growls. “Promise me that you won’t hurt my daughter after I lift the curse,” she hisses, narrowing her eyes at me.
“I will show the same mercy you showed my sister just because she took a useless potion from your stash, thinking it was a silly love potion that day,” I smirk cruelly.
‘Alpha?’ Vi mindlinks me. She’s searching for me like the Alpha of her pack, not her brother. She can sense I’m possessed by hatred.
The witch’s eyes widen in anger. “I’m going to kill you!”
There is no such thing as rules right now. No bargaining. There is nothing she can say that would change my mind, no threat she can make.
“You’re in no position to demand anything!” Even I can’t recognize the hatred in my voice. “Now, you will do as instructed. Remove the fucking curse. I will not repeat myself.”
“Fucking Werewolves!” This time, the witch screams. “I hate your evil race. You’re worthless. You deserve everything bad that is coming your way. Always taking advantage of the other races...” She blinks heavily, seeming to consider what she’s going to do. Then, she opens her eyes and, looking resolute, she says, “I’ll break the curse, and you let her go.”
I look down at the dark-haired girl, and I meet her innocent gaze, letting go of her arm. “That remains to be seen. But lucky you. For now, of course,” I say, opening a smile.  
Her face goes from ashen to fear. Have I shown her all my teeth as I smiled? Maybe.
I look back at the witch and coldly tell her, “If you do anything to me other than break the curse, my sister will slit the child’s throat immediately.” The old woman’s lips curl. “Don’t even think about doing anything to my sister. There are reinforcements outside, and they are ready to attack with just a simple command.”
She takes a deep breath. “Come forward, Werewolf. I will lift the curse,” she says.
After checking that her intentions are genuine, I yank the necklace off and walk towards her until the coffee table is in the middle of us.
Her lips open in a wicked smile, her expression too much self-satisfied for my liking. Then she bites her wrist. Blood comes out of her lips as she says, “It will hurt much more than what you felt when it was casted.”
That’s the last thing I hear because right after she points at me, I feel a strong impact on my body. Her lips move, but I can’t hear anything.
It feels like I’m being shoved off a cliff with no safety net underneath me. Light burst everywhere. Inside my brain. Outside my body. The brightness is so fucking sharp that it hurts to look at it. It’s a searing ache. My entire brain seems to light on fire, along with my retinas.
Even though my whole body hurts and feels like my limbs are being rearranged, the only thing I can think of is *that’s it*. She’s lifting the curse. I’m finally able to meet my true love. My fated mate.
For a brief moment, I think of Little Dove. She was never mine to claim. My mind recalls her bright smile. So radiant. But she doesn’t belong to me.  
I feel the effects of the curse being lifted from my body like a force. Not just any witch can perform a powerful spell to break the curse like this. That’s powerful.
I feel a strong weight pressuring my chest.
A scream claws up my throat, but I can’t let it free. I don’t have enough air in my lungs for that. All I can do is hold it in as blackness surrounds the brightness around me.