Star Cursed (Zodiac Wolves #2)(21)

"It's time for the Leo pack to gain its new alpha female," Jordan's voice boomed out.

The Sun Witches closed in tighter and began chanting, quietly at first, but growing louder with each verse in some language I didn't know. Once the other shifters heard the chanting they began to whistle and yell, the ones in their wolf forms howling. It was a cacophony, and it twisted something in my gut, making the nerves and desire flare up in equal measures.

“Please,” I said, pleading at Jordan with my eyes while tugging on my restraints. “If you feel a single thing for me, don’t do this.”

Jordan ignored my words, and to my horror, he began undoing his pants. I watched, that awful part inside of me howling along with the rest of the Leo pack, screaming finally! I swallowed and tried to push the lust down, but it was harder on the full moon. Even if I wasn't in heat, it made all shifters a little wild, as if we still had a trace of the Moon Curse in our veins we couldn't fully remove.

Roxandra stepped forward and looked down at me, face expressionless. “Her pack mark will change from Ophiuchus to Leo when you mate with her."

“Good,” Jordan said. “I don’t want any trace of the snakes on her.”

“Please,” I said again, louder. “Jordan, you're better than this. I know you are.”

Jordan’s eyes flicked up to my face, and for a second I saw something flash like hesitation. He paused, and I glimpsed the part of him that wasn't a monster. Then Roxandra put her hand on his shoulder and his face grew grim and determined again. He loomed closer, hand in his pants, and I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to watch what was about to happen.

There wasn’t going to be any way out of this. I was well and truly fucked—and about to be well and truly fucked. Everything I’d done over the past few months had been for nothing, and if Kaden ever saw me again, he’d believe that I’d allowed myself to be mated to the Leo alpha. That I wanted it.

A sudden commotion broke through the chanting and howling, and my eyes popped open. Jordan’s mom pushed through the crowd, and when she got to the gazebo, she shoved aside a Sun Witch as if she didn’t care who she was. I had to give the woman credit, she was fierce as hell.

“Stop!” Debra shouted, and her voice carried over the rest of the noise. “You can’t do this!”

Jordan growled at her, obviously annoyed by the interruption. “This is our destiny. The stars have chosen Ayla as my mate. I don’t care if she’s half witch, or from the Cancer pack. She’s mine.” He looked back at me with such possessiveness that my pussy clenched in excitement, while my chest tightened with fear.

“You don’t understand,” Debra said, her voice urgent. “You cannot mate with her."

"Why not?" Jordan asked.

"She’s your sister.”

My heart stopped. So did everything else. The whole garden fell silent. Even Jordan froze, his mouth hanging open.

His... WHAT?

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jordan asked.

For once, he and I had the exact same thought. Horror filled my chest as I stared at Debra. Her words didn't make any sense. It shouldn't be possible. Unless... Oh shit. “Are you my mother?”

She gave me a condescending look. "Don't be ridiculous."

Thank the goddess. But if she wasn’t my mother, that meant…

"How can she be my sister?" Jordan asked. "Are you saying we have the same father?"

Debra dipped her head and lowered her voice. “Yes. I had an affair with Harrison, the Cancer alpha.”

Several gasps went up around the shifters gathered there. Cheating on your mate was not only rare and unusual but considered blasphemous. The fact that she'd done it with the Cancer alpha, their pack's worst enemy, only made it more scandalous.

My head was spinning, trying to take in this new revelation, but I felt like a computer that had frozen and couldn't reboot. Jordan was my brother. No. Just...no. It wasn't possible. How?

HOW?

I wasn’t the only one who was dumbstruck. Jordan gaped at his mom, and I watched emotions flash over his face in quick succession. Shock and horror. Anger. Pain. He looked like he'd been betrayed in the worst possible way.

And that's when I saw his eyes. Blue, just like mine.

Dixon's had been brown. Debra's were brown too. But not Jordan's.

He wasn’t the Leo alpha’s son. He was the Cancer alpha’s son.

Oh god, oh god, oh, god. He was my brother.

Horror and disgust washed through me, and I wanted to go and scrub every single inch of my body and wash my mouth out with soap. We'd kissed. Multiple times! He’d been seconds away from having sex with me! The thought of what had been interrupted made me dry-heave. If I’d had anything at all to eat in the last few hours, I was sure I would have thrown it up.

While I gagged, Jordan just stood there, pants still unbuttoned, looking like his entire world was crumbling all around him. He glanced over at me and shuddered, then turned to the Sun Witches. “How did this happen?” he yelled. “How could I be mated with my own sister?"

The Sun Witches shared uneasy looks, and Roxandra said, “We're not entirely sure..."

Jordan grabbed his head like he might tear himself in two, and let out a roar that made the ground tremble. Then he stumbled off the altar, buttoning his pants before shoving through the line of Sun Witches. The Leo pack parted around him to let him pass, and Debra raced after him without giving me a second glance. Leaving me here to deal with this hot mess of a situation all on my own.