(3) Painstaker

Chapter Twenty-One: Meeting

Hi, guys. Sorry I suck so bad at time management. Here's another chapter. 

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Time's irrelevance became a luxury. I wasn't sure how long we laid around in bed. For once, I didn't care. Sam and Flower would be fine on their own. I could meet with Falcon some other time. But now, right now, I was laying in the arms of my mate, skin to skin, and nothing had ever felt so right.

Lazily, I drew pictures on his chest. "Tell me about your life," I broke the silence.

Zeke's fingers twirled in my messy hair. "That's a bit broad, isn't it?"

"Your childhood, then."

He sighed. "I had a good childhood. My father was tough but fair. My mother loved to spoil me and my brother whenever father was turned the other way. He would scold her, but everyone knew she had him wrapped around her little finger. She was sweet, caring, and knew how to get her way."

I smiled against his skin. My upbringing wasn't the best, yet hearing how warm his was made me happy. "You have a brother?" Immediately, I winced at the present tense term I'd used. Of course, he wouldn't have a brother anymore, would he?

Zeke didn't even flinch. "Only Mel, Miles, and I made it out," he replied in a tone quieter than before. "Everyone else was murdered. The elderly, the children, and everyone in between."

"I'm sorry," I whispered in return. "I followed him. I always thought he did no wrong. He was my Alpha." I wrapped my arm around him, pulling myself closer against his chest. Still, not even smothering myself with Zeke's sense would rid me of the guilt I felt when I thought of Henry Davenport. "He was a monster."

"He wasn't always a monster. Henry and my father used to be friends, you know."

That caused my head to whip up. "Huh? Really?"

Smiling sadly, Zeke used his free hand to brush a stray hair of mine away from my eye. "Yes."

"What... happened?"

"The curse happened."

I frowned. "It won't happen to Carter." The silence made me shift uncomfortably. "Will it?"

Zeke's wary eyes held mine, yet I couldn't read them. "Love, it's already happening to him."

"What do you mean? Carter's fine."

"He's sick, and it's only getting worse. That's how it begins with the curse. First, sickness in the physical sense, then sickness in the mind."

My heartbeat jumped in my chest, beating wildly inside of me. I could hear it and I was sure Zeke could too. "There has to be something we can do," I assured. "I will not let my best friend turn into the person he promised he would never become."

Zeke shook his head, a slow gesture that made my lungs seize. "There is nothing that can stop it. If there were, it would have been found by now."

Solemn, I leaned back down to rest against his chest, no longer feeling warm and safe. Carter didn't deserve the same fate as his father. And Summer... No, they just barely found each other. It wasn't fair. None of this was fair.

"Hey." Zeke cupped my cheeks, forcing me to look up at him again. "When this mess with Mekhi is over, Dara agreed to work on a potion. It could help prolong the affects."

"Prolong," I repeated. "But not erase."

"At this point, there is no erasing it. If we can prolong it, then he can live a better life than his father did. Him and Summer. They deserve it. They deserve a chance at happiness."