Heir To The Pack (The Cursed Pack Book 1) by Laura Welling Read Free Book Online Page A

looked at her son’s face, now unveiled, and pressed him close.
    “What’s wrong, Mama?” Jack
said, sleepily.
    “Nothing, baby,” she said,
huskily, and swept her hand across his forehead where the shadow had lain. Where
she now knew the shadow lay.
    She sank down into a
chair, cradling him against her. He snuggled his face into her neck, and let
out that little shuddering sigh that meant he was falling asleep.
    Marjie, too, eased herself
down, one hand on the arm of her own chair as she sat.
    The shadow was real. She’d
seen it and touched it, and the horror of it would stay with her forever.
    And she hadn’t thought she
believed in magic.
    “What does it mean?” Annie
kept her voice low, squashing the panic down into her brain. She would think
logically through her emotions later. And find a quiet place to scream into a
pillow. Werewolves were real. There was a shadow on Jack’s soul. Holy shit.
    “What does what mean?” Dash
walked up to her. “What did you see?”
    She couldn’t believe what
she'd seen. But she knew she’d been privy to a vision. And something that Dash
himself couldn't see.
    “The boy,” the old woman
said, her voice husky. “His future is not known. There is a darkness upon him.”
    “That’s what’s making him
ill?” Her voice shook, and Annie despised herself for it. She had to be strong
now, for her son.
    “It’s likely. I can’t tell
you any more.”
    “Why not?” The words came
out much snappier than she’d intended. “I’m sorry. And I’m...” She took in a
deep breath. “I’m sorry for doubting you. All of you. You have to
understand…I’m so far out of my depth here. I’m sorry I lost my temper.” Her
cheeks heated. But apologizing was the right thing to do. She’d behaved like an
ass. “I'm a scientist, and to me this should all be…simply impossible.”
    Dash nodded. “It doesn’t
matter. What matters is that now you understand. And now we can work on helping
Jack, together.”
    Annie turned back to
Marjie. “Can you help him?”
    Marjie looked up at her,
and Annie noticed shadows under her eyes and a tremor in her hand that hadn’t
been there before. “I don’t have the power to heal.”
    “Annie,” Dash said. “My
aunts are the witches—wise women, if you prefer—of our pack. Marjie
sees, and Elaine, well, Elaine does other things. But they are not
all-powerful. Every vision has its limits, and its price.”
    If he’d said that to her a
day ago, she would have laughed in his face. Now, though, now, she had no
retort.
    “How can we find out? How
can we make him better?”
    Dash rubbed his hand over
his hair, pushed himself explosively off the couch, and stood, twitching, his
hands fisting at his sides. With what Annie read as an apologetic glance in
Jack’s direction, he paced over to the window and stared out into the woods. “I
have an idea, but you aren’t going to like it.”
    Elaine put down her teacup
with a clink. Annie had quite forgotten she was there, and had to suppress a
start.
    “You want to take them to
the Gathering.”
    “I think we should speak
with the Oracle.”
    Elaine hissed between her
teeth. “I see.”
    Daisy got up from her seat
and came over to Annie. She sat down on the arm of her chair, and put an arm
around Annie and Jack. “He’s out like a light,” she said. “Is there somewhere
we could lay him down?”
    “Of course,” Elaine said. “I’ll
show you to a guest room.”
    “I don’t want to leave him
alone,” Annie said, involuntarily clutching at him.
    “I’ll sit with him,” Daisy
said. “All this is very, um, interesting.” Her eyes were as big as serving
plates, and her face white as a bathtub. “Why don’t you finish this
conversation? He’ll sleep better lying down. I could do with a rest, myself.”
    “What if something
happens?” Annie couldn’t help but worry. And now she was worried about her
mother, too. “We still don't know why those men tried to take you. They