7 days till Heartbreak
Before the 7

Saturday ~ 8 days until rejection finalizes ~ 10:00 pm ~ Healer’s Hut

A woman sat by the bedside of a man, her fingers were curled around his hand. Holding it protectively as if she was afraid he would disappear. The woman’s red hair was tied up, her blue eyes were looking at the asleep man with concern. The door creaked open as the healer entered, “It’s going to start soon, are you sure you want to be here?” Her wolf growled at the thought of leaving her mate, she looked to him and nodded. The healer walked over to a cabinet pulled out a clipboard with some paperwork on it. He would stay here until it was over just to make sure it wouldn’t cause unnecessary injuries.

She understood the doctor’s concerns, this past year had been harder than the rest. The pain during nights was getting worse, their wolves were chipping away, piece by piece every gift given to them for being a wolf was being sucked away. One thing that they were permitted to keep was the soulmate bond, which ironically was the reason they were in this mess, to begin with. The goddess Mayari had cursed them, they had betrayed the mate bond spat upon the one chosen to help lead them. Each year it got progressively worse, and now they found themselves unable to heal as quickly.

The curse, the reason she sat next to her unconscious mate. He had been injured in a fight with the feral, a group of werewolves who have given into their more animalistic tendencies and have been driven insane. Her mate had come out of that fight with a cracked skull and fractured spine, now he was in a coma. But the worst was yet to come, the pain from the bond breaking between her brother and his mate was going to be felt throughout the pack. For the next 7 days, they will feel the backlash of the bond breaking, of their betrayal. She just hoped her mate would live through it.

As if on cue a sensation built up within her chest, it was like someone was twisting her insides. Her fingers feeling like they had been placed on a hot stove, it only lasted for a few minutes but it was clear. The week was starting soon. She looked to her mate only for a cord of panic to grip her, “Doctor.” He was at the bedside looking over him, something was wrong his body had moved his back was at a weird angle, blood was dripping from his nose. The healer pressed a button on the side of the bed and began to mutter to himself.

“The pain must’ve caused him to move and rupture something, we need to get a look at him fast.” The door opened and other healers bolted in, her heart was hurting as her wolf whined while trying to reach out to her mate with no response. The bond was weakening between the two causing her to stumble back in shock. ”He’s dying.” Time slowed it was getting hard to breathe, the healer said something but it was muffled to her ears, a pair of hands gripped her arms and held onto her. She fought him, recognizing her brother immediately but wanting to go after wherever they were taking her mate.

Her brother held her there until she calmed down, she was in no health to fight him as the hot tears streamed down her face. “Please, please no, he’s dying, Drayn! He’s dying!” Her brother winced yet continued his hold knowing his sister wouldn’t be allowed back there anyway. Eventually, she was reduced to just crying against him, he gently brought her over to the bed and sat her down. It took a couple more minutes for her to stop sobbing.

“He’s going to be okay, I promise.” He attempted to soothe her fears but even he knew there was a slim chance of that. “But what if he isn’t? I can’t take care of our child by myself.” He pulled his sister in after her hushed reply. “You won’t be by yourself, you have the pack. Everything will be okay, Val.” Her red eyes looked up at him and narrowed “You don’t know that we don’t have omegas anymore to take care of the children! They all left!”

Drayn sighed it was true, after the rejection of his mate all the omegas had left. They did not want to be apart of the curse put on by Mayari, the others did not leave. They did not believe that the curse would be this bad, they did not heed her warning. The first year the symptoms were few, people would take a little longer to heal from scratches, their strength got weaker, year two they began to lose the pack link the mental link between all pack members. Year three was one of pain, no one healed fast anymore, it was difficult to shift, their hearing reduced to that of a human.

No one believed it in the beginning, and now, they were all paying for it one painful death at a time. “I assure you we do not need omegas to help take care of the children, we have plenty of pack members-” “But how many would be alive by then?” Their numbers had dwindled from 100 to 50, most could not handle the sickness brought upon them, others tried to escape the curse by leaving. If it worked was unknown, but very few packs were willing to take in those were cursed by their goddess.

He took her hand and squeezed it, “If humans can do it with only 2 people so can we, it will be difficult yes, but by the time the baby is born the curse will be gone. There will be nothing to worry about.” Val nodded but still looked unsure, this went against everything a pack stood for, they raised the children together. The omegas would take care of them while the parents were away, the pack warriors would teach them defense, while their parents were in charge of teaching the hierarchy of their existence. They were a unit, and now that unit has been tainted.

They sat in silence for a while, both of them trying to reassure themselves that everything will be okay. Eventually, a voice broke the silence.“Alpha. Val.” They looked to the healer who stood in the doorway, he looked worried. “I apologize for interrupting, we have not found the source of the bleeding but we were able to replace the damage caused by the episode. It made the spine worse.” The healer said that last part hesitantly, “We do not know if he will be able to walk again. If these episodes get any worse they’ll, I am afraid they may cause further damage.”

Drayn nodded towards the healer. “Thank you.” The healer turned and left in a hurry no doubt to avoid the explosion that was going to come from his sister. The moment the door shut Val bolted up, grabbing the nearest item and throwing it against the wall. “This stupid fucking curse! Why us? What did we even do? What did I do? All we wanted was for the pack to be strong and we are getting punished for it?”

She began to pace back and forth stopping suddenly, wheeling on her heels. “You can stop this, you can cause the pain to go away.” He tensed his eyes narrowing knowing exactly what she was talking about. “Are you being serious right now? You’ve been the one convincing me night after night to not go after her and you are now saying to go after her for your mate? We are almost there! We have 8 days until this is over and the curse will start to disappear.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

There it was, the question no one wanted to ask. After all this, after the bond would break, would the curse evaporate? “You don’t get to ask that question.” His voice became hard. “You don’t get to ask that question, this was your idea from the start you said-” “I know what I said! How was I to know that you would go through with it?” He stood up a growl on the edge of his lips. “You talked us into this.” A frustrated sigh came from her but the tears said she was more hurt than anything. “And now I am talking you out of it, please, just try. Just try, for me, if you fail and if I am wrong and the curse does go away then we’re free.” “The past three years would’ve been for nothing.” She looked away her lip quivering. “I know.” She whispered. “I know.”

He growled again, but he didn’t like to see his sister upset. Putting a hand to his face he dug his fingers into his hair. “Fine. Fine. I’ll go tomorrow.” It was an excuse to go, other than the fact that his wolf was slowly breaking down and begging him constantly to go see her. To apologize, to woo her back into his arms. Val smiled at him and hugged him while whispering a soft. “Thank you.”