The Alpha's Curse The Enemy Within

Sheila's point of view

| flipped through the pages of the grimoire in my hands. It was my mother's grimoire and passed down to the

female witches in my family since it was the females in my family that were witches.

My fingers trailed on the words on the page, reading through them. | was in my mother's private spell room on

the top floor, going through her stuff.

It's been two days already since | have been here at my brothers' pack and I've locked myself in here, reading

through my mother's journal and practicing sspells from her grimoire. | just realized my mother was a

weaver. Every witch had a special gift to their magic. It all cdifferently. Switches were channelers,

capable of channeling magic from anything that had magical energy in them.

Swere weavers, like my mother, also known as creators of spells. We had the visionaries, who could have a

glimpse of the future, the healers, and a lot more.

Sometimes, a gift usually surfaces with time, but so far along with Valerie, we've realized | could both channel

and create spells, like my mother, even though it was odd for a witch to possess more than one gift.

| flipped to the next page and tried another spell from her grimoire. Even though my head was banging hard

against my skull from tiredness and my body was demanding srest from exhaustion, | just couldn't return to

my chamber and fall asleep. Among many reasons was the fact that he'd always appear in my dreams. The Dark

Lord.

I didn't know why | kept having these dreams, or why that man I barely knew could invade my dreams, but every

time, it felt so real, almost as if he'd been right next to me.

| shut mother's grimoire, sighing. This was becoming difficult, and as it was, | was in dire need of ssleep but

just couldn't get srest.

| closed my eyes, resting my head against the wooden shelf. | missed Killian. | missed him so badly that | wanted

him right next to me. I didn't think it was ever possible to miss someone, almost as if you needed them to

survive. That was exactly how I felt. | missed my mate badly.

And these few days away from him maderealize the bond between us was something that couldn't be easily

severed. And | had made my decision. | wanted Killian.

| shifted my attention to the door when | heard ssounds coming from outside and almost immediately, it

pulled open and Valerie stepped in.

I pulled myself up on my feet to greet her, pulling her in for a hug even though I just saw her the previous day.

"What brings you here?" | asked quickly, sensing there was a reason for her abrupt arrival. Did something

happen at the pack? Before | could ask, my emotions were visible on my face.

"Everything is fine, Sheila. But | can't say the sfor the Alpha," she said and at her words, | felt a churn within

me.

"Well, how is he?" | asked casually, folding my hands against my chest while returning Valerie's stare.

"Worse than you are," she muttered, pulling out a brown folded paper from her cloak. She handed it to me.

"What is this?" | asked, examining the folded paper.

"It's from Killian, and he beggedto ensure this got to you," Valerie said, regarding me. "You know | never

fancied that other woman, just don't let her get everything so easily," she voiced, letting out a small smile. "I

can't stay long, I have to go,"

"Thanks, Val," | hugged her once more, before she went to the door, pulling it open, and to our surprise,

Leonardo was right outside.

Valerie senta final glance before leaving. | placed Killian's letter on the shelf as my brother gaited in, his

eyes moving from the letter to me.

"You look terrible Sheila, you should get srest," he offered, and | wished I could. But | couldn't, without

having dreams about someone | shouldn't. And the worst of it all was, in those dreams | found myself making

love to the golden-eyed bastard.

"I will try, but | keep having bad dreams," | mutter carelessly, arranging mother's stuff | had removed from the

shelf.

"Dreams? What dreams?" Leo asked his blue eyes that were identical to mine watchingcautiously.

| didn't think it was wise to let my brother know | was having indecent dreams about someone that was after my

life and wanteddead. Bad idea.

"What if they aren't just dreams?" Adie said, and | couldn't help but roll my eyes at her words. There she goes,

disappearing when | need her and suddenly resurfacing when | don't need her. "I'm being serious here,"

"So what are they?" | asked sarcastically since she was now the smartass. "Don't tellthey are visions of the

future | haven't experienced yet?" | muttered in a sarcastic tone, pulling my attention back to my brother.

"Dreams about someone | shouldn't be dreaming about," | replied.

"Killian?" He asked, and thankfully, there wasn't an atom of rage in his eyes.

I nodded, nonetheless. Only if my brothers didn't hate my mate, | could appreciate ssincere advice, even

though as it is, | wanted to go back to Killian.

"Well, he's been a complete wreck," his words caused my gaze to shift to him abruptly. | wasn't surprised how he

knew this, he had people always stalking Killian's pack, but I didn't think he'd be honest about it.

"So | heard," | mutter back.

"I really preferred you stay, and never go back to him, sister," he said, moving closer to me. | didn't say

anything, having a feeling he had more to say. "But whatever you decide, I'm going to stand with you, regardless

of if I liked it or not,"

| smiled. "Thank you, Leo," | said to him, settling on the chair in the spell room. "Now could you tellwhat

happened with the friend Valerie, Kaiser and Lorenzo went to see?" | asked, "Valerie won't say anything, and

neither would Kaiser, what happened?"

Leonardo clenched his jaw, pulling his eyes away from me. "It's nothing serious. The witch was a friend of our

mother's. You might remember her, she was there that night you were taken,"

"And?" | prodded.

Leonardo's eyes fell on me, and for a second it looked like he had something to say, but he changed his mind. "It

doesn't matter. Everyone seems to have something different to say, it's utterly frustrating," he took a seat

opposite mine.

"Are you talking about the Council or our mother's friend?" | was confused because Leonardo wouldn't tell me

what happened at the last Council meeting, and it seems as though he was talking about both the Council and

mother's friend.

"I guess both," he was up immediately. "That's not important Sheila, don't worry yourself about anything. Let me

do the worrying," his eyes held the familiar sadness | have always seen in his eyes. One could see the burden of

guilt on his shoulders.

He began to move to the door, but my call made him stop. "Leonardo," he swerved around, peering atwith

his blue crystals. "You do know what happened that night wasn't your fault, right?" | said. | wanted him to know

what happened that night wasn't anyone's fault, because both he and Kaiser seem to think differently.

"I just know things would have turned out differently, had it been father and | were there that night when they

attacked," his words causedto drown in my thoughts.

| couldn't help but wonder if things would have turned out differently had it been father and Leonardo were

around that night. Would mother and father still be alive? Would | have been taken that night?

Whatever the answer was, there was no point thinking about it, no one could be certain of what might have

happened.

"There's no point thinking about it Leonardo, and believe me, you've done enough for me. Both you and Kaiser,"

I said, fighting the stinging in my eyes, but that was the truth. The fact they never kept searching forwas

enough. And still, they foundand maderemember what it was like to have a family that cares.

Leonardo released a small smile, walking to the door, before stopping. He spun around, "Oh yes, | almost forgot.

How much do you know about Killian's lover?"

| creased my brows, "Thea?"

Leonardo nodded.

"Not much, | just know what a bitch she is, and she's obsessed with Killian," | said, "Why?"

"I tried to learn more about her in the past, but there wasn't much on her before she arrived at Killian's pack.

And | don't trust people with little past," Leonardo said. "She's always been after you and Killian—"

"Yes, it's like she made it her personal vendetta to split us apart," | was up from the chair.

"There you have it, sister. Are you really sure she's expecting Killian's child?" He asked again.

| nodded. "Yes, | confirmed it. She's pregnant—"

"And it's Killian's?" Leonardo asked again.

"Yes, she is—" | paused halfway through my words. | wasn't sure. But | doubt if Thea was capable of pushing

someone else's child to Killian, just to keep us apart.

No. | shook my head. That was impossible.

Firstly, it would mean Thea has a lover in Killian's pack, and secondly, it would be utterly sick and wicked to do

such a thing to Killian.

Oh, goddess, what was | thinking? | knew best what darkness lay within that woman. And it scaredto think «

she would go to that extent to separate Killian and me.