The Alpha Who Cursed His Mate novel Chapter 7

"What do you think Mr Thompsons is going to say?" Nina sniggers.

"Eh, who cares? It was fun making it, but then again, I don't want another detention," I say, picking up the fallen book and placing it under the foot of the bent leg. The table is now levelled out.

We burst into laughter again, and the fluttering I feel inside grows. Mr Thomson walks into the classroom. 'I hope the table is… finished," he trails off, looking at the bent leg propped up on a book.

"Magnus and Nina, detention again next Wednesday."

"But!" we both try to argue with him.

"I told you both to fix it, not mangle it more! Now go home before I decide to call your parents," he yells.

Nina and I both gulp and run out the door together. Seeing as we both live at the Packhouse, we both walked towards home together in silence, but it was a pleasant silence though.

Walking along the grass, she sees a baby bird chirping near a tree and rushes over to it. I follow her and watch as she scoops it up.

"The poor thing has fallen from its nest," she says as she stares up at the tall tree, "I'm going to put it back in its nest,"

"You can't climb up there, Nina. This tree is taller than what I would climb," the bird chirps in her hands. It's pretty cute to look at. I gently scratch its little head to reassure it. It relaxes and snuggles further into Nina's hand. I can feel our bodies radiating warmth and realise how close I'm standing to Nina. I take a step back, giving her space.

"Well, I can't leave it here, Magnus. So I'm going up there with or without your permission," she says, grabbing onto the first branch.

"Fine, but I'm coming with you only because if something happens to you, I will get the blame for it."

Nina laughs. 'You won't get the blame for my actions, Magnus," she says, now on the third branch.

I climb below her in case she accidentally falls. I don't want her to get hurt.

"Yeah,"

"Well, Magnus, that was your idea to fill the washing machine up with bubble bath and turn it on, and if you remember, I took the blame for it."

I forgot she had taken the blame for it. She had to mop it all up and went to bed without supper. I snuck into her room and gave her a sandwich that night.

"And then there was the night we wanted to watch the moon from the roof. We climbed through May's bedroom window, but when you tried to open it, it wouldn't budge. You used such force that the whole window fell out and crashed onto the pavers outside. You went and hid in May's wardrobe, and I took the blame,"

She is right. I remember now. My parents would have been so mad at me for wanting to climb onto the roof in the first place, let alone breaking a window in the process of it all. I had run straight to the wardrobe, hid inside, and watched through the crack as Nina decided not to hide and took the blame instead.

"Well, I got in so much trouble because I wanted to protect you. You were my best friend. So I thought it would be fun to play a couple of pranks on you in return for some fun so that we would be even. The next morning, I heard the warriors say they would need to release some water from the dam. You were refusing to have your bath the day before anyway, so I thought it would be funny to have you stand in the creek while the water washed over you. I knew you were twice the size of most kids, so the water would only reach your waist. Still, you acted so dramatically that day as if you were going to drown when you could have just stood up and watched it flow past you, and you never spoke to me again until now," she says, giving me a sad look for a moment before looking away.

And then it happened. It all hits me at once, that dreaded feeling but tenfold. That feeling when a hole in the ground opens up and just swallows you whole. Guilt. What have I done? She didn't make the Pack think I was a joke. It wasn't her responsible for all the pranks. It was me all along.