The Alpha Who Cursed His Mate novel Chapter 8

"There's the nest," she says, not realising the bombshell she just dropped on my head.

Nina hovers over the nest. I climb next to her as fast as I can. She stretches her hands out to put the baby bird back in its nest.

"Careful," I say, cupping my hands under hers. Nina looks up at me for a moment, and we lower our hands, gently placing the bird back in its nest.

"There you go, little guy," I say and give it another gentle pat on the head.

The sun is setting, and the moon is rising. It's a breathtaking sight. We sit next to each other and watch its beauty in silence, the comfortable silence. We lean back on our hands, and our pinkies touch, but neither of us moves our hand away. I want to apologise to her. As Josie suggested, I want to get on my knees and beg for forgiveness. Josie was right. I had been a complete dumbass.

"We should get back to the Packhouse. We will get into trouble for being late home," she says.

Nodding, I climb down first. A third of the way, Nina slips and falls. My hand wraps around her waist as she screams past me, and I pull her into the safety of my chest. Nina's arms cling back around my waist as she shakes from the fright of falling. She looks up at me, and I gaze into her eyes. Slowly, our lips draw closer like a moth to a flame. As they are about to touch, the branch cracks from the weight of both of us and breaks. I wrap my arms around her and land on my back, taking the brunt of the fall.

"Magnus! Are you okay?"

A few sharp pains bolt through my body as I sit up. I scrunch my face. 'I'll be fine," I say, clearly in pain.

"No, you're not fine. Let me help you," Nina says, putting my arm over her shoulder. 'You should not have done that,"

"Done what?"

"Take the brunt of the fall so I didn't get hurt,"

"It was nothing,"

"Sure…"

We make it back to the Packhouse grounds. Leon and two of his warriors run towards us.

"What happened, Magnus? Are you okay?" he says, taking over from Nina, helping to carry my weight.

"I'll be fine. I just fell over, is all,"

Nina gives me a confused look but says nothing.

"Well, we have all been worried sick about you two,"

"Sorry, Dad,"

"It's okay, Sweetie. I'm glad you helped Magnus home. Go to the dinner table. We will be there in a minute."

"I'd rather just rest my back in my room rather than sit at the dinner table, Leon,"

"Anytime,"

She frowns, "Well, I guess I'll leave you to it then," she says and walks out the door.

I'm such an idiot, “Anytime,” That's all I could say to her. I munch my meal down while I mentally scold myself. Maybe at school tomorrow I can make things right. There is another knock at my door.

"Nina?" I say.

"No, it's me, Josie,"

She walks in and sits in the chair beside my bed.

"I heard you fell over and hurt yourself, but I didn't believe Leon when he said that. My big brother and future Alpha hurt from a minor fall? No way, so I'm here to ask what actually happened."

"Josie… You were right about Nina. I've been a jerk and don't even know how to make it up to her. She will never forgive me."

"O.M.G Magnus, Are you okay? You must have hit your head. It's a concussion, right? Maybe a fever?" She says, placing her hand on my forehead. I whack it away.

"No, Josie, I'm not sick and don't have a concussion. After detention with Nina, we spent some time together. We climbed a tree, talked, and I realised I had made a mistake cutting her off seven years ago. She slipped, and I caught her, then my branch broke. I purposely took the brunt of the fall so she didn't get hurt."

Josie blinks rapidly, processing what I just told her. She grabs my shoulders and shakes me.