CHAPTER 218: EVENTFUL ARRIVAL

...Or so Felix thought.

Until two days later, when Jared finally arrived.

He didn’t come straight to the Bloodmoon Pack’s pack house, of course. Although everyone knew where the Bloodmoon Pack’s territory was, the exact location of the pack house was kept a secret. They weren’t just going to hand the coordinates to a random person.

And yes, in the eyes of the powerful Bloodmoon Pack, the young leader of some medium-sized pack was more or less a random person. With only a sliiightly more significance than the rest. Not enough to let him drive straight into the heart of their territory on his own, though.

So, instead, they arranged for him to be picked up by Einar’s assistant and a guard in a van with the back windows covered up, so that Jared wouldn’t be able to see where they were going.

Felix was aware of that fact, of course. Including having detailed information as to when they would be arriving. He even got a live update about their distance, courtesy of that damned fated mate bond that still connected him with Jared, so when the van approached the pack house’s gates, he was already on the roof of the guest house, watching the situation from above. He didn’t want to face Jared, at least not right away, but he still wanted to know what was going on... There was no use hiding anyway, since the Alpha surely must have sensed his presence as well.

He could tell that something was wrong right from the moment the van parked in the guest house. The driver’s door opened, and the assistant rushed in. Clearly in a hurry, leaving the guard and the guest behind in the van. As to what was going on inside, Felix couldn’t tell because of the covered-up windows...

But his wolf stirred uncomfortably. Although why, Felix couldn’t quite tell. After all the disagreements they had in the past over fated mates, there was still a bit of disconnect left between them.

The assistant returned a few minutes later, together with three more guards, as well as Kade. Two of the guards watched over the area, chasing away any passing pack members to ensure that there weren’t any witnesses, while the third guard swung the van’s back door open, taking a look inside together with Kade...

Felix still couldn’t see inside, not from his point of view. However, he could at least hear their conversation.

"How long has he been like that?" Kade asked, the tone of his voice serious on the surface... But with a hint of suppressed schadenfreude-like amusement hidden underneath.

"Almost since he got on the van, Young Master. He had started throwing up after a few-minute ride, and had been consistently throwing up until he fainted a moment ago..."

Throwing up? Fainted?

Understanding started slowly dawning on Felix. Still, he didn’t have confirmation until Kade had ordered, "Let’s bring him in first," and two of the guards pulled unconscious Jared out of the van...

His whole chin and his clothes were covered in a black, viscous substance.

A substance Felix was rather familiar with, as it was exactly the thing that Remi had made the Alpha throw up back when they had been interrogating and threatening him in Felix’s house.

...Could it be that the curse that forbade Jared from approaching Silverfall wasn’t actually tied to the town, but rather to Felix? Or perhaps both?

"Oops."

Felix pressed his lips, watching as the guards rushed Jared inside. He was quite certain that when he had been planning the curse with Remi, they had discussed ’Silverfall’ as the forbidden zone, not anything else... Could it be that the fox took some liberties with the spell, expanding it to include a variety of circumstances?

Now that made things complicated. How were they supposed to negotiate when Jared was going to be constantly throwing up thick liquid, then fainting, only to throw up once again upon waking up? Any conversation was pretty much impossible this way!

...Of course, Felix didn’t actually feel regretful for putting Jared in such a miserable state. Rather, he felt a warmth spreading in his chest... Not only was the curse still in place, but it was even better than he thought it would be! Remi really took care of him well...

When he wasn’t secretly stealing his blood, and then pretending that the itchiness was just Felix’s nervous reaction, that is.

Still, as reassuring as it made him feel, he had to find a solution. Either he would have to temporarily leave the pack, and thus be unable to participate in any negotiations, or he would have to find a way to contact Remi to ask for help... A temporary antidote would be nice, one that could last for the period of Jared’s stay at the Bloodmoon Pack. Perhaps he could leave a letter in his room addressed to Remi? Then, he could offer an appropriate amount of his blood as a payment...

As he was considering all the options, he left the roof, stepping back into the guest house. He was already on his way down, when he came face to face with Kade.

Kade, who was no longer even trying to pretend to be serious, and instead, was beaming with satisfaction, amusement, and happiness.

"I must say, the Moonhill Pack’s leader is even more pathetic than I thought!" he said as soon as he saw Felix, laughing at Jared’s misfortune.

Pathetic? Yes, Felix could agree with that. He also thought that Jared was pathetic... Although for a different reason. After all, this curse wasn’t something he could resist. If anyone were to be placed under it, be it Kade or Felix, or anyone else, they would be just as weak and miserable...

But he didn’t argue about it. Why would he ever defend Jared, regardless of the circumstances? He just observed Kade carefully...

"What?" Kade lifted his brows, confused by Felix’s reaction.

Felix hesitated for a moment, unsure whether it was a good idea, but in the end, he decided to ask, "You know that it’s a curse I have placed on him with the witch’s help, right?"

"Yeah, and?"

"You’re... fine with it?"

Kade shrugged his shoulders. "Why wouldn’t I be?"

"Well, I mean..." Felix glanced around. There was no one in sight, but he still lowered his voice, and kept his words ambiguous. "Considering what had happened before, with you know who..."

Einar’s curse was supposed to be a secret, so he couldn’t bring it up openly in public. Luckily, Kade quickly understood what he meant. His expression faltered for a second, but soon enough, he waved his hand dismissively.

"I get what you mean, but it’s fine, really. My parents and everyone else would also feel the same, so you don’t need to worry about it," he reassured Felix. "We wouldn’t want any member of our pack to be affected by any curse, but everyone else is fair game!"

’Especially my future cute little mate’s ex.’ Although Kade didn’t say it out loud, it was clear what he was thinking from the look on his face.

Felix couldn’t help but sigh, shaking his head. Still, it was good to know that he wouldn’t be hated by Kade’s family for resorting to curses.