617 THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE

23 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, MORNING

I didn't know it at first, but today would turn out to be the worst day of my life.

I mean, it started with little things, like getting grounded, and then accidentally overhearing Elena tell some of the random girls why she stopped hanging out with me, "She is always copying me. It's annoying."

I pretended I didn't hear her, but wth? I copied how she wrote her name in capital letters ONCE. Well, I was still doing it. I decided I would stop. So there!

And then the cool girls didn't come to my desk to hang out. Zara had tried to make conversation but neither Leia nor Krystal paid her any heed. Jasmine avoided the entire potential conflict by only entering the classroom at the homeroom bell holding hands with Liam.

The history paper had to focus on the few chapters I hated. The ones full of lies, but I've studied them and decided to just regurgitate the lies back out on the stupid paper for them.

It didn't help that sometime during the recounting of Lycan betrayal, I felt a weird sensation in my chest. I couldn't figure out why. Like it was suddenly tight and hurt to breathe, and then it was okay. Maybe it was heart burn. Beta Lucas said it was quite common under stressful conditions.

During the break between papers, Henry tried to be friendly and joked, "What the hell Sam. You look like you were constipated on the hist paper."

I flared and shot back, "If I have to s*** one more lie on that thing, I'm going to kill someone."

Henry and Marcus stopped laughing and backed off.

Even Fluffy and EJ were rather subdued - which p***ed me off even more. And then EJ tried to clown a bit and I actually growled at him. I guess I was just not in the mood.

I hadn't studied for the geography paper, but it turned out to be just forty multiple choice question and I totally filled everything in relying on my luck. I didn't even bother to read any of it. My chest hurt a lot by the end of the exam and Boo had long retreated, I don't think Boo was good at handling pain.

Who knew exam papers would stress me out so much?

Once the exam was over, I picked up my stuff and left the classroom. I had expected EJ and Fluffy to kick up a fuss about me not waiting for them, but they were at the ready by the door. Fluffy smiled because he was an expert at hiding his feelings, but EJ was making a particularly dark expression which I had never seen him wear before.

Was it my fault? Because I didn't laugh at his joke earlier?

By now, I just want today to end. All I wanted was to go home and hide myself within my sheets - if my golden clam shell bed could shut, I would shut myself in it.

I was almost relieved to see Harvey. Harvey my calm and steady beta, Harvey with his wry smile and schedule updates that would make everything sound like it was going exactly as it should.

But today was such a bad day, even Harvey forgot to smile. He nodded a bow, "This way, Alpha."

And opened the car door for me, his expression sombre.

"Who died?" I joked. And regretted it immediately when Harvey's expression became hooded.

Wait, did somebody die?

What's going on?

When the car pulled away from the curb and we were heading out of the school, Harvey began updating me as usual, but this time, his update began in a grave tone, "Your Luna Bell has returned from his mission."

Normally this would be good news, right? (At least it meant Bell wasn't the one who died.), But Harvey had said it so gravely, that I knew at once something had gone awry.

"What happened?" I asked.

Harvey hesistated before elaborating, "The mission was largely successful. The vampiress' diary has been returned and the vampiress' herself smuggled to the Ciara Coven single handedly."

And then Harvey winced, and apologized, "Apologies, alpha. I meant your Luna managed to bring the vampiress' sleeping body across the border to the Ciara Coven."

Yes, I knew what single-handedly meant. But I held my tongue because Harvey hesistated again.

"What?" I asked.

"There is some bad news." Harvey conceded.

I waited while Harvey looked very reluctant to tell me, "Perhaps you might already know, Alpha."

How should I know if he hadn't told me?

"Your Luna..." Harvey sounded very reluctant to tell me. He glanced quickly over from the wheel, just to guage my reaction better, and then he said, "Your Luna had some trouble with the dark curse trapped in the cave. Unfortunately, he..."

Harvey paused again.

"He what?" I snapped now. What happened to my Luna? I felt the bad feeling in my gut return and the heart burn start all over again.

"Alpha, are you alright?" Harvey's crinkled brows creased further.

I took a deep breath and release the fabric I had been clutching over my coat, "Yeah, you better just tell me straight."

"Luna Bell had an overexposure to the dark curse. It affected his arm. He cut it off."

"HE WHAT?" I pretty much yelled at Harvey.

Harvey winced, "Ki has rushed him to the Lorents for immediate medical attention. I believe they are attempting to regrow his arm."

To regrow... Was that even possible? Okay, breathe Sam. It's alright, he's alive.

"Besides this, Luna Bell is a stable condition." Harvey's words were somewhat reassuring.

Okay, he's going to be okay. Just breathe.

"Alpha?" Harvey glanced over again.

"Okay." I said stupidly. What else could I say? I knew it was a bad idea from the start. Wth.

"Should I continue, Alpha?" Harvey asked. He cast yet another worried glance in my direction.

I nodded dumbly, and when Harvey didn't continue speaking immediately, I managed to croak, "Go on. Report."

My chest felt really tight. I had to conciously breathe in and out, keeping it low and slow.

Harvey went on to report that the dark curse was reportedly in a bad way as it was. It had stained the ground in the cave and continued to seep out through the cracks.

It seemed that Alpha Solomon's team had entered almost straight after Bell had left with the vampiress' sleeping body in a bodybag. He had hid and watched Alpha Solomon send his men into the cave. He waited fifteen minutes, and when Alpha Solomon's tent was set up, and the Alpha was sat down to eat his brunch while awaiting his men to return with the treasure, Bell made his escape and got through to Gold Packland's border on foot.

Lord Edward was good enough to meet him there to receive his aunt.

Unfortunately, Bell had not noticed that the Dark Curse had stained his sleeve. He hadn't even noticed it at first. It was not until he felt the painful sensation that he tore off his sleeve to find his arm blackened by the curse. Lord Edward said it was coming from his aunt. Luckily the vamp lord had a crypt lined wih argon. Why would anyone own such a thing? But I guess Lord Edward was a vampire lord, so I wasn't going to raise my eyebrow over it.

The arm though... Bell had no choice but to severe it off. He burned it in a fire, and scooped up the cursed ashes, and then woke up in his bed without an arm.

Because he was a healing wolf, he could stop the bleeding and seal the wound temporarily. He then called Ki to assist him. They've brought the cursed ashes to the Lorent Pack without anyone being the wiser and now the real Donovan ring was sitting in the remains of my mate's arm in the argon box Bell kept in his safe at the Lorents.

So I needn't worry. The dark curse was contained.

To be honest, I didn't care a whit for the dark curse. More like, my mate just lost an arm? Wth. Wth. Wth.

At this point, a few good morale of the story sprung to mind. Particularly, the bit about how messing with fire (or the dark curse) can get you burned, and how those who dig a pit to trap others, often fall into it themselves.

Which was rather parallel to what happened to the elder vampire sister too. Who knew that one could draw so much life wisdom from a vampiric theatre production.

I think the worst part about the whole thing was that I knew it was a bad idea from the start, but I didn't stop Bell. And now he was one arm less.

This was all somewhat my fault too. I should never had let him go. I was distracted by all the other things that happened when I woke up that I left it to Bell and my betas to sort it out on their own.

I was having the worst day of my life. I wonder how Bell was feeling about it. For one thing, our mating bond had been firmly and irrevocably sealed all day. This in itself wasn't new. Bell often clammed up even on our mating bond. And it wasn't like this was the first time he did anything dangerous... The guy hunted rogues as the death god on a motorbike for a living.

I mean, batman went about living his double life, black mask and cape inclusive, and HE had never come home without an arm!

Wth. How could this have happened? The more I thought about it, the more I felt myself grow upset.

And what did they mean "regrow" it? It's not like Bell were a lizard regrowing its tail, you know.

Meanwhile, Harvey was trying to tell me something important. I think it was something to do with Bell ordering a blackout on the incident so now all my betas have their lips seals except by my command.

Alpha Lorent had also ordered a blackout on the incident. No one must know that Bell had returned home unarmed.... Hahaha. I mean without an arm. It would be best if they could regrow a new one without anyone being the wiser.

The Lycan healing art had always been shrouded in mystery. It was said there were healers so powerful they could ressurect the dead. And dark stories about bodies sewn from various parts coming to life. Needless to say, these practices were forbidden. Some say they were a lost art. Others say they were only exaggerated legends.

My heart burn had returned with a vengeance. I can't believe my mate was hurt to such an extent. I neve should've let him go.

"Alpha? Alpha, we're arriving." Harvey's voice pulled me back to the reality. I looked out of the window. We were pulling up the driveway to our Alpha House.

"Your parents are about to leave for the Lorents..." Harvey started saying again, but I was too busy blinking away the hot tears. Can I dream travel back in time and protect my mate? Its not fair! I want a do-over. I knew dream travelling was dangerous, but it had never occurred to me that Bell would not have returned in one piece.

I looked at my own hands and unclenched them. This was all my fault. I got distracted when I woke up, by Savy and then getting grounded by my parents and then the exams. I forgot to followup from where I last left Bell and my betas. If only like Savy said, I had kept my mindlink open, I could've stopped Bell with one word. I was the alpha. My betas would have stopped him if I had insisted.

I really hated myself atm. I got distracted, and now my mate was irreversible hurt. Which arm did Harvey say was lost? I had been too stunned to hear out the details. Grrr... So this was the meaning of regret.