Chapter 47: Chapter 47

Their worried looks frightened me long before I felt Deindra grab me from behind. His grip on my wrist was so tight that I teared up a bit at the pressure. “I greet thee, Alpha Aelfric Beaumont. This humble beta wolf welcomes you.”

“Fuck you.” Al straight up raised his middle finger at his old beta. The distaste in his eyes were so clear when he addressed Deindra. “Stop calling yourself beta when you only got that place because of your father. It was his last request that I chose to grant. If it were up to me, I would have picked a different beta. Someone who isn’t a spoiled wanna be alpha.” Al smirked. “I let you play alpha for a while, but now that I am back, you retaliate and cry like a baby.”

Deindra’s growl almost burst my eardrum, making me wince. I really hope that Al will stop teasing him, especially when his beta has me captive.

“But you won’t be Alpha for long, you know.”

A cocky grin spreads across Al’s lips. “Are you going to challenge me for the position?” His eyes moved like he was still checking the pack of wolves behind him. “Don’t tell me that these handful of followers of yours can help me spare you from my wrath.” His grin vanished and was replaced by a sadistic sneer.

Deindra laughs, seemingly pleased with getting under Al’s skin. “I won’t challenge you. That would be an unfair fight. I rather have you surrender instead.” He moves me close to him and tightens his grip on my wrists, like I was his bargaining chip.

In this situation, I probably was.

I could hear another set of roars and growls coming from behind Deindra and I. Judging from the looks on Al and Tyrelle’s faces, I assume that it was the cavalry that Tyrelle says.

“I’m not a fan of the hybrid as much as you are, but I will get myself involved and my pack if you harm Gabriella.” Tyrelle’s eyes were changing and glowing. He was trying to challenge Deindra.

I can’t see what Deindra looks right now, but from how his grip on my wrist tightens, I guess he was not happy with the arrangement.

“What a fool you are. Just because of a girl, you would side yourself with an abomination. You sicken me.”

I felt air leaving my lungs when he suddenly punched me below the ribs. My vision blurred for a bit before Deindra threw me over his shoulder and let out a loud howl. The wolves behind him start to howl in response before they start to attack.

“Alpha, if you want to save the girl, you should follow me.” I heard him snicker before running off. The wolves under Deindra’s command start to attack, buying the beta more time to get away from Al.

I vaguely heard Tyrelle yelling for his pack to assist. The battle between the two wolves was starting to become smaller and smaller from my point of view as Deindra continued to run.

I saw Al breaking the line between the two colliding wolves and solely focusing his attention on us as he ran. He pushes and shoves everyone that comes in his way like they were mere flies.

I tried to focus my mind to come up with something that would help him catch up, but the lack of vision in the forest and the lack of air from before were making it hard for me to focus.

“Try to do something and I will break your wrist.” I heard him threaten me.

I was so scared because even in my first impression of Deindra, I knew that it was not an empty threat. He would definitely break my arm if he had the chance to do so.

“Stop the monster!” Deindra yells out the command. A number of wolves start to block Al just before he could enter the forest, making him stop in the process.

I met with Al’s eyes, which were full of fury in them before he screamed in a rage. “DEINDRA!”

Deindra made several turns, which made me lose sight of Al. He did not stop until we found ourselves in another clearing just by the cliff. He tossed me to the ground, making me land on my back and hit the back of my head. My head started to spin and I groaned in pain. I rolled to my stomach so I could use my arm to push myself up, but Deindra had other plans. He presses his foot on my back, making me fall face first to the ground once more. Pain shot all over my body and I cried out loud.

“Deindra!” As soon as I heard and saw Al, I looked up and felt relieved. He finally caught up with us and was now just a few meters away. He turns his attention to where I am. I noticed his stutter and pulled his brows back before he addressed his old beta with a glare. “I hope you won’t be pleading for your life because of this because, at this point, it is going to be futile.” He raises his dominant hand and flexes his claws. “I will show you no mercy for what you did to-”

“Your mate?” Deindra finishes for him. I felt him pulling me by the hair until I was on my knees. I saw fear in Al’s eyes when Deindra called me his mate. Deindra laughs at his expression, like he just found out about his weakness. “You really think none of us would find out despite how you desperately tried to hide it? Even though you have lived for centuries, who knew that you could still be this stupid? You really think that we won’t notice that change in your attitude? The old you would have kidnapped the girl and forced her to learn magic so she would be capable of relieving you from your curse. What’s more is the return of your werewolf, which could only be triggered by one thing at this point of its absence; a mate. Your mate, to be exact.”

Deindra was still pulling my hair, but right now, it seems like I don’t even feel it at all. It’s more like i was more focused on the news that I just heard.

I’m Al’s mate? Like the traditional werewolf mate that Tyrelle used to tell me about?

A worried look crosses Al’s face when he sees how surprised I look. It appears like he is waiting for me to respond. I swallowed my nervousness so I could confirm that information with him.

“Is this true? I’m your mate?”

Al tried to smile like he wanted to lift up the awkness in the air. He gives me a curt nod. “Yes, you’re my mate.” He confirms.

Is this what Al meant earlier when he said there was more to the reason he approached me than just being a witch? Was he really telling the truth all along?

Before I could give a proper response, Deindra began to pull on my hair harder. “Let’s stop this nonsense. Have the witch remove your curse right now, and let's have a fair fight.”

“I don’t want to. You’re just going to use some dirty tricks to kill him.” It was a mistake on my part because I just managed to anger him. He grabbed me by the neck and I felt his claws digging into my skin when he lifted me up.

“Let her go, Deindra!” Al yells.

“Ask her to remove your curse!” Deindra demanded.

Through my blurry vision, I saw Al giving me a pleading look. “Gabriella, just do as he says.”

“I-I can’t!” It was getting hard to form words through the grip around my neck.

“Gabriella, if you’re worried about me-”

“Yes, I am worried about you, but that’s not the only reason! I DON’T FUCKING KNOW HOW TO LIFT A CURSE!”

“What!?” Deindra sounded surprised and dropped me to the floor before picking me back up again with the collar of my shirt. “What do you mean, you don’t know?!”

“I don’t know how to lift curses!” I coughed. I felt like they thought so highly of me, which explains their reaction when I told them that I didn’t know anything about lifting a curse. “All I was taught to learn was how to use my magic. No such spells were taught to me! Hell, I don’t even know about the curse, much less break it.”

If the situation wasn’t as dangerous as it is, I might even think that it is funny based from the look of disbelief on their faces. Don’t they know that I just recently learned about my powers and merely practiced them for a few weeks?

Unfortunately, Deindra doesn’t seem amused by my confession. In fact, he sort of looks angry. No, he is definitely angry.

He grabbed my wrist and began to squeeze on it tightly that it was cutting off the flow of blood from my veins. “Then I think that it is time for you to learn now or I will break your bones!”

“Deindra, stop!”

“Don’t even think about getting close, Alpha, or I will kill her. Either way, if she can’t figure it out sooner, she has no use for me anymore.”

“Hey, if you kill me, don’t you think that he will kill you in the end? Think about it, Deindra.” I made a mistake in commenting because his grip tightened enough that it broke my wrist.

“You are still his mate. If I kill you, I can still hurt him.” Deindra grins.

“Gabriella, listen.” I focused my attention on Aelfric despite the pain in my arm. “Your magic works on your imagination, right? Can’t you picture out that you are grabbing and erasing something from me?”

“Why are you trying to help me get rid of your curse?” I gasp through the pain. “He is going to kill you! Aren’t you afraid?”

Al responded to me with a smirk. “Gabbie poo, even if he means to kill me, do you really think that someone like him could kill me?”

Deindra growls because of his mockery, and I was fortunate enough not to be the recipient of his anger. “Just hurry up and relieve him of the curse!” He starts to yell at me. He turned my body so that I was facing Al, but he kept one of my hands behind my back.

I turned to Al and found him meeting my gaze with a look of acceptance. He nodded and smiled like he was encouraging me. “It will be fine. I know that you can do it.”

Maybe Al was right. Maybe I should trust in him that he could defeat this crazy wolf without his cheat sheet. The only problem is for me to figure out how to remove his curse.

It might be sufficient to follow Al's lead regarding how to break a curse. I just need to picture it out in my head.

I turned to Al and thought about a black shadow inside of his body. With my free hand, I extended it in his direction and made a gesture of raising my hand in the air like I was levitating the shadow of his body. I wasn’t sure if it was working or not, but Al started screaming in pain. He fell onto his knees and balled his hands into fists, drawing dirt into his nails.

“Al?” I called for his name worriedly because he seemed to be in so much pain. He starts to raise his head and hisses at me, making me take a step back when I saw the long fangs that he has that surely doesn’t belong to his werewolf. It’s his vampire side. I wanted to stop, not only because I was worried and afraid for him, but because he was starting to bleed through his eyes.

“Don’t you dare stop.” Deindra warns me from behind. “Whatever you are doing, it is working.”

“This looks like it is hurting him more than curing him!”

“I’m…fine, Gabbie poo. It’s just the curse…trying to fight its hold on me. You’re doing…great!” He tries to encourage me. “Please…hurry.” His voice was getting hoarse by the minute, and it was obvious that he was in a lot of pain.

Even if Al did not tell me, I could also tell that whatever I was doing was working because I could feel the pull of the curse stripping away from me and also draining my magic. If I don’t hurry, I am going to lose my magic before I can lift the curse.

With my last ounce of strength, I put all my might into pulling the shadow from his body and felt something snap like I was pulling out a thorn.

Al screams once more as the curse finally leaves his body. His body starts to convulse and morph until he turns into a wolf. He looks so weak that his wolf must have taken the initiative to take over for him.

“Finally.” Deindra sounded pleased before throwing me to the ground. I had no strength left and could barely support myself when I landed as Deindra walked past me. “It’s time for me to make you retire.”