“Normally I can get the ‘gist’ of your slang, Violet, but my head is really fuzzy right now, so I’m afraid none of that made sense,” he says, leisurely sliding his hand up my thigh, as his eyes dip to my chest.

My chest that’s represented by one of my worst bras.

Maybe I should start wearing some of that sexy underwear the omegas keep buying me.

“Wait. You don’t remember?” I ask, as he remains distracted, his attention more trained on our intimate position than the conversation.

“Violet, I went to sleep and woke up with you mostly naked on top of me, a terrible migraine, and the undeniable need to have you under me,” he tells me, his tone almost absent.

He always knows when he’s gone down for the curse, and his legs aren’t weak…

I guess that last part is obvious, since his body is clearly mobile in all the best ways. Is it because I broke the curse?

He tilts his head to the side, as though he’s listening to something.

“You broke my curse?” he asks, his eyes moving to mine, the confusion in his expression doubling.

“Damien helped with that,” I state on autopilot, my own brow drawing down with some confusion. “You seriously don’t remember?” I ask on a sigh. “You even said you’d name a ship after me, and I was going to have fun mocking you for that.”

He blinks a few times, which means that probably doesn’t ring any bells. On the bright side, he doesn’t remember the camel-toe either. Though…Damien surely does.

Vance rolls his hips, reminding me he’s grown very hard inside me, and I forget what we’re even talking about in the next instant, because his lips are back on mine.

“Since I have you, I’m not going to waste this opportunity,” he murmurs against my mouth.

I put a pin in everything else, because I’m not sure I want to think about it too much. Apparently, this time is a much bigger deal than all the others.

I sometimes miss the days when not blowing myself up while trying to make shampoo was my biggest concern.

 

 

Chapter 19

 

EMIT

 

“She’s having mindless sex instead of saying anything else,” Damien says, his ear pressed to the door.

Arion is on the phone, ordering things for his “monster olympics,” after just telling us how important it is we take this seriously.

I’m idly stewing in a pile of jealousy, because my curse was broken too. On the same night. And Vance gets her to himself before I even have my chance to celebrate.

We’ve all gone mad.

“I think we’ve lived through too much and have become entirely too desensitized to all the crazy shit that woman brings into our lives,” I note aloud.

Damien nods, ear still pressed to the door.

“They’ve not been whispering,” I tell the fool deviant. “It’s unnecessary to keep pressed up to the door like an obvious creep.”

He glares over at me.

Arion gets off the phone, turning to gesture to the room. “He remembers nothing. His curse was broken, and he doesn’t even know—”

We all turn abruptly once we sense a very familiar presence, and stare directly at Zuela Van Helsing.

He wobbles, blinking as he clutches his head. Violet makes a very distracting sound that has my wolf damn near ready to break into the room and enjoy her as well.

“What the actual fuck are you doing awake?” Arion asks Zuela on a semi-loud pitch.

Zuela blinks some more, staring at us with some ire, since he’s clearly disoriented. No alpha likes being seen even slightly weakened.

“I was wide awake, and the next thing I know, I’m waking up from the floor. Which one of you dead prats do I get to kill?” he growls, glaring at us, even as he staggers to the right…a little drunkenly. “Clearly you have a death wish if you think you can get away with knocking me out.”

We all look at each other, and there’s a chill that slinks up my spine. Damien’s eyes connect with mine.

“Call one of your family. Now,” Damien says to me.

For once, I take an order, because…

I don’t know why.

My youngest brother answers on the first ring.

“What is it now, Emit? What law is Idun extorting that has you calling at such a terrible hour?” he asks around a yawn.

“Have you suffered the Portocale curse?” I ask quietly.

He grows really silent for a moment, and there are some sleepy groans in the background, as I hear the telling sound of sheets rustling.

“Not recently. Why have you called at this hour to ask such a random thing?” he asks, as the sound of a refrigerator opening registers.

Arion and Damien are staring at me with the same quiet dread and confusion.

“Did your family wake early when Violet broke your curse?” I ask Damien, and then give Arion a look as well, silently asking him the same thing.

Arion pulls his phone back out, angrily stabbing out a text.

Damien runs a hand through his hair, as he grinds out, “It’s not as though I keep in touch with my family.”

“Or the world in general,” my brother chimes in. “What’s all this about?”

“Indeed, what’s all this about?” Zuela asks, seriousness replacing his ire.

I hang up on my brother, unsure if I want to say anything at all.

“Violet broke our curses, and now we’re starting to wonder if the curses have been broken for the entire family as a byproduct,” Damien states in vague terms in response to Zuela.

Zuela says nothing, and when I look over at him, he’s glaring at Damien.

“Don’t promise such a thing with annoyingly uncertain, flippant conviction. How could our curses have broken?” Zuela bites out.

“Idun already knows about the curses Violet broke for Arion and I. She told it to Dorian,” Damien tells me. “Only—”

“Dorian isn’t a Morpheous and doesn’t have the same bloodline for the curse. He’d likely still be afflicted, even if this magic is real,” I state like I have any idea whatsoever about what’s going on around here.

It’s like the early days when we were guessing at things in an attempt to explain the new world we found ourselves faced with.

“What the bloody hell are you three on about?” Zuela grouses, slumping against the wall.

It’s apparent Vance isn’t suffering the same physical limitations as Zuela, since the first-born Van Helsing has our girl crying out in pleasure once more.

“Nothing important at the moment,” I tell him, my eyes cutting to the door once again. “The important part is the fact Violet may have broken all the Portocale curses, with the exception of one, due to a technicality.”

“Which means Dorian may attempt something again,” Arion says, eyes going black, as the hallway chills several degrees.

“He’ll never attempt anything of the sort ever again,” Damien says with more conviction than he has the right to use.

Neither Arion nor I trust his judgment on this matter, and now it’s more severe.

“The Neoprys still have a curse,” I note quietly.

“All, sans Idun, who has apparently been spared that curse this whole time,” I add in a sour tone. “The constant revelations and inconvenient surprises are starting to grate on my nerves.”