In love with my StepSon

Mellisa I woke up to the sharp ache of swollen feet and a body that felt like it had been trampled by an entire pack. I tried to sit up but the pain shot through my legs and forced me back down onto the mattress with a gasp. I lay there for a moment and stared at the ceiling while I tried to gather enough strength to move. The sound of voices outside my door pulled my attention away from the pain. "The Alpha is gone now, we should rest," one guard said loudly. "It's your turn to watch the Luna's door," another voice argued back. "No, it's yours. I did it yesterday." "You're lying. I was here yesterday." I listened to them bicker back and forth like children and realized that this might be my only chance to do something for myself. I needed to know about the curse. What curse did Draven have and how was it going to affect me? The thought had been eating at me since Briston mentioned it the first night, and I couldn't just sit here and wait for answers that would never come. I forced myself to sit up despite the pain and swung my legs over the side of the bed. My feet touched the cold floor and I winced as I stood up slowly and walked to the door. I pressed my ear against the wood and heard them still arguing about whose shift it was. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. The arguing stopped immediately and I heard fumbling on the other side before one of them opened it. He looked at me with surprise and then glanced back at his companion who was still scowling. "Where are you going?" he asked halfheartedly. "I need some air," I lied as I stepped past him into the hallway. "Wait, you can't just..." the other guard started to protest. "It's your job to stop her, not mine," the first guard cut him off. "No, it's yours." They went back to arguing and I walked away from them without looking back. I followed the hallway past the dining room and the council chamber and kept going until I found a corridor I had never been down before. At the end of it was a set of large wooden doors that looked old and forgotten. I pushed them open and stepped into a library that was massive and dusty and completely empty. Rows of shelves stretched from floor to ceiling and the smell of old paper and leather filled the air. I walked between the shelves and ran my fingers along the spines of books while I searched for anything that might tell me about curses or Alpha bloodlines or Dark Moon Valley's history. I pulled a thick leather-bound book from the shelf without reading the title and opened it to the first page. My wolf Mia growled slowly in the back of my mind and the sound was so low and unsettling that I froze. What is it? I asked her silently. Danger, she whispered back. I placed the book on the nearest table and stared at it for a moment before I heard footsteps echoing through the library. I panicked and ducked behind the shelves and pressed my back against the wood while my heart pounded in my chest. Briston walked into the library and passed me without stopping. I held my breath and watched him move toward the far end of the library. He stopped in front of a shelf and pulled out a book as if he had been looking for it specifically, and then he turned his head slightly and looked directly at where I was hiding. Our eyes met and I felt my face burn with shame. He knew I was there. He had known the entire time. He didn't say anything. He just turned away and walked to the desk in the center of the room and sat down with his back to me. He opened his book and began to read. I stood there frozen for a long moment and debated whether I should run or stay, but something in the way he had looked at me told me that he wasn't going to report this to his father. I stepped out from behind the shelf and picked up the book I had placed on the table. I sat down on the floor with my back against the shelves because there was something about sitting on the floor that felt like a choice I was making for myself rather than a position assigned to me. The book turned out to be a werewolf council legal text about ancient bloodline curses and pack law. I opened it and began to read while Briston sat at the desk and we did not speak for the rest of the hour. The sound of running footsteps broke the silence and a guard burst through the library doors looking flustered and out of breath. "Luna Melissa," he panted as he looked at me with wide eyes. "You can't just leave your room without permission." Briston turned his head slightly without looking away from his book. "Log library access on the household schedule going forward," he said in a tone that left no room for argument. The guard hesitated and looked between us with confusion written all over his face. Briston turned his head fully this time and met the guard's eyes with a stare that could have frozen water. The guard pulled out a small notebook and wrote it down quickly before nodding and backing out of the room. I kept reading and did not acknowledge any of it, but I felt something shift in the room that I could not name yet.