73: The boy with the beast.
**Samantha pov**
The roads that led to the old edge of the territory weren’t really roads. They looked like veins on human arms - barely visible through the not-so-thick layer of skin, but in this case, the roads were nearly lost within the lands.
If I were to travel in the old days, I’d probably struggle to find my way with roads like these - barely wide enough for a horse, let alone a grown shifter wolf.
Every step I took closer to my goal felt like walking into a place that had already decided it hated me and didn’t want me near it.
And still, despite the feeling in my gut that screamed for me to get away as soon as I could, I kept going.
Thane was right, we needed answers and we needed them fast. Men couldn’t approach the one person who could have the answers, so I had to step up and do it. As scared as I was, I knew this was for the best. Especially now, when every time I looked at Alpha Bane’s chained body, I wondered what would be left if we finally pulled the monster out - and if whatever remained would still be a man or just a hollow, twitching shell.
The map I had copied from one of the forbidden archives was old, the ink almost gone and majority of the directions written were in a language I couldn’t read, so I had to improvise and trust my own senses.
The paper led me to a clearing I wasn’t even sure still existed. From the few books I could find in the old library, I knew everyone avoided this bit of territory for a reason. The older wolves spoke of a place that had burned out during a mass ritual that had gone terribly wrong.
Every time I found something to read about the tragedy or asked about it, every story led to the same name over and over again - Madam Evrette.
They said she was a witch exiled by the High Coven for using blood as currency, marking wolves against their will and speaking to something older than the Moon.
Many said I shouldn’t bother as the woman had to be older than time at this point, but I knew I had to at least try. Deep down, I had convinced myself that she was still alive and I was absolutely adamant that I could find her. If not for the Alpha and the safety of his Luna then for the pack and the lives of innocent.
By the time I found the area on the map, it was already dark outside and the forest around me felt like it was watching me. Maybe there were animals around, of course, but I had a feeling that something far more dangerous than a playful rabbit watched me.
There wasn’t a house, a cabin or even a small hut as I expected. Instead, I found a large tree that split in between weirdly, yet still somehow held itself together by what seemed sheer spite of nature.
At its base, stone steps led down into a hole I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been staring at it like a fool, my jaw dropped, eyes wide.
For a second there, I hesitated and thought of the possible consequences but quickly brushed the thoughts off and stepped onto the first step, taking a deep breath and throwing caution to wind.
The air inside the tree changed the moment the soles of my boots touched the moss on the steps. As I descended down, I realized that the walls were wet and the further down I went, the more painful it became to suck in a healthy breath.
The moment I reached the bottom, I instantly noticed the woman I was looking for. She didn’t turn around and acknowledge my presence; instead, she kept grinding something red in what looked like a bone talisman.
“It took you longer than I expected,” Madam Evrette said.
Her voice wasn’t what I expected - it sounded smooth, and young, not the raspy, gravely tone I thought I’d hear from someone at her supposed age. However, when she turned around, I barely held back the gasp of surprise.
While she didn’t sound her age, she sure as hell looked it. Her eyes were milky white and her long, white hair was braided with real teeth.
Gulping, I shook myself back to senses and stepped closer, whispering, “You know why I’m here?”
She nodded. “The boy with the beast. The prince of Moravane.”
“It’s not a title,” I said, stepping closer again. “It’s a curse and we need to find out how to rid our Alpha of it before it’s too late for him - or even worse, before the monster finds a way to live without a host body.”
She smiled, flashing rotten teeth, and waved me off like I was some inconvenience. “It’s both and neither. What you call a curse, another would call inheritance.”
“You mean a disease?” I frowned at her.
She shrugged. “Semantics.”
“We need to remove it,” I repeated, forcing more insistence in my voice. “That monster inside him, we are looking for a ritual to get rid of it. Maybe there’s a way to banish it for good? You know, to ensure it never comes back?”
She laughed and tossed away the talisman she was working on before I could utter another word. The sound wasn’t cruel or amused, just packed with pity. “You don’t banish blood, child. You transfuse it.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I hissed, gowing more frustrated now that I had hit another dead-end.
She turned her back on me again and started throwing odd stuff into a bowl and then crushed everything into a fine paste. “The Moravane curse, if you insist on calling it that, can’t be erased. It is not a demon, not a spell - it’s a binding. And that very binding in his blood only feeds the monster within. Have you done your research before you came to seek me out? Have you compared how powerful the entity is compared to what he was capable of with the last hosts?”
“So he was born with it,” I said, more to myself than her.
She nodded. “He was marked before he took his first breath. But it could be moved, if the vessel is willing.”
My blood froze up in my veins. “So if someone from his bloodline willingly takes it on-”
She cut me off, “then he lives. Clean.”
“And the other?”
Madam Evrette finally looked at me again, her empty eyes met mine as if she could still see. “They rot from the inside out, carry it until it eats them whole, or until they find another willing vessel. Which they rarely do. And then, with the next generation, it comes back.”
I swallowed. “There is no family, Alpha has no one left.”
She arched an eyebrow and shook her head slowly, “in that case, he dies haunted.”
I stepped forward. “What if it’s not about family? What if someone else is willing to take it?”
“Willingness is not enough,” she waved me off again. “The curse knows blood. Anyone else would burn before the seal even touched them.”
I gulped loudly and nodded. “So you’re telling me the only way to save him-”
“Is to find the blood.” She finished for me.
Looking away, I pondered her words for a moment until I spoke again. “And if there is none?”
She looked at me for a long time. “Then you kill him fast. Before it gets bored and decides to try on every member of the pack still breathing.”
There was nothing more to be said, so I left a couple of old silver coins on her steps and left the hidden place. By the time I left the area, my hands were shaking. I didn’t stop walking until the scenery around me changed completely.
I was sure Madam Evrette was hiding something. There was no way our Alpha really had two curses that were both connected to his bloodline. Just impossible. To hell, even if there were, I couldn’t believe that both worked together so perfectly - there had to be a catch.
Instead of walking back to the packhouse or the barn, I rushed to the small cabin where I knew at least one of my allies would be. When I stepped inside, I didn’t speak to Thane or Torin - I went straight to my room and tore open the old bag I’d stolen from the old Alpha’s rooms.
I hadn’t looked inside it yet, but something had compelled me to take it and now, I had a feeling that I could find more answers here than I did in the forest. The bag smelled of dust and mold, and inside were only papers - notes, half-burned records.
Hidden inside a pocket, I found an old, yellowed, sealed envelope.
Looking closer, I noticed that the seal was broken and there was no address or sender information anywhere. But, on the very bottom in faded letters, I could see a neat handwriting that said, *“For my son, Bane.”*
I just held the envelope and stared at it, struggling to decide if it was a good idea to invade someone’s privacy like this until I sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the letter out of it.
Holding my breath, I read the first line. *“If you’re reading this, it means you survived what I didn’t. And that means the blood has found you.”*
I read the line again, but didn’t dare to read further. Instead, I folded the letter carefully, slid it back into the envelope and stared at it blankly. I had been running around, fighting to find answers, but now, I was afraid to learn the truth I had no business reading about.
I leaned against the headboard, exhaled and closed my eyes. “You shouldn’t have read that,” someone whispered behind me and I instantly turned around to see who it was. My heart hammered in my chest just a little faster as I realized I was still alone.
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