Niko's breath caught in his throat as Rafael sank his teeth into her again, ripping through her flesh so violently without hesitation.
Niko immediately shifted back to his human form and grabbed the pouch that he had carried with necessary items for rescue.
"Rafael!" Niko shouted, stepping forward but Rafael didn't even flinch, he was still completely lost.
without thinking, Niko reached for the wolfsbane he had carried (at the risk of knowing that it would also affect him terribly), knowing it was the only thing strong enough to force Rafael back, it was Niko`s last resort...he immediately struck Rafael with powder that was made from wolfsbane, it sent Rafael staggering back, he shouted in agony as his skin burned terribly while he shifted back into his human form, Niko was not unaffected, the wolfsbane had burned his hands so terribly and some got to his face and legs but he didnt care, Rafael was his main priority.
By the time Rafael had fully shifted into his human form, Niko ran over to the girl to check on her while Rafael sat there in the corner, petrified but it was already too late, the girl wasn't breathing anymore and her blood already began to sip into the earth.
As if things couldnt get any worse, footsteps that were terribly fast and desperate began to approach them, they worried it might have been a human, Niko looked terrified trying to find a way to cover the tracks because the last thing they wanted to do was alert humans that there were wolves in the county, just as he was about to grab Rafael and run away, a woman burst through the trees and she instantly froze when she saw the body, her eyes became wide with horror and tears, she screamed in agony.
"Nooooo!....Anne!!"
She dropped to her knees, pulling the girl into her arms and rocking her like she could somehow bring her back, her cries were filled with brokenness and they cut through the silence as Rafael and Niko just stood there, watching.
After a while, the woman lifted her head and her face streaked with tears but her expression changed.
"You," she breathed silently with her voice shaking with rage. "You did this!"
Rafael didn't move, Niko stepped in front of him "I can explain..." but before he could finish his sentence, the air around them felt thicker, everyone felt it.
Then she began to whisper something under her breath, incantations in a language neither of them recognized but the weight of it settled in their bones so terribly.
That's when they realized—
She was a Mystic Shaman.
and the girl that Rafael had just killed? that was her sister.
"She only came into the woods for herbs," the woman whispered with her voice trembling. "She didn't deserve this."
She stood up slowly with her eyes burning into Rafael's.
"You have taken my beloved, the only person whom I have truly ever loved with all my heart, soul and being" she said "So I vow, for as long as you shall live… any woman whom you love, any woman you call beloved shall die by your hands...I would like to see how you would survive as an alpha without a mate"
Her voice grew louder,
"YOU SHALL KILL THE ONE THAT YOU LOVE." she said as she continued to utter incantations in the unrecognisable language that they had just heard.
Everything happened so quickly, before they could stop her, she took a blade from her cloak and drove it straight into her heart, the moment the blade pierced her chest, the ground trembled and a gust of wind howled through the trees,
The curse had been sealed.
It was a known fact that if a Mystic shaman were ever to curse you, the way for them to seal it forever is by killing themselves, that way, whoever was cursed is doomed forever and there would be no coming back from it.
In that moment, Rafael knew he was doomed to never truly experience love.
From that night forward, at least he learned something, Rafael was never the same again, his powers never spiraled out of control again, he became stronger and more disciplined, more...In control.
Ever since then, the curse had loomed over him and he knew that one day, it would come for him.
But for now, he and Niko never ever brought it up to another soul, it was a secret that they shared as brothers and were going to die with,
Until...