Levi stopped trying to get away from Shara's control and looked at me with narrowed eyes and lips pressed into a thin line. "You called me, Levi," he said and searched my face for something that I did not know I held.

"I did." I nodded and pressed my lips into a thin line while I slowly blinked before I furrowed my brows and cocked my head to the side while I studied him. "What is so wrong with that?"

"Nothing," he said and shook his head. He cleared his throat and shifted on the ground. "However I am still being controlled by the same people th-" He stopped talking when he tried to tell me that I was being controlled by the same people that he was being controlled by and groaned. He gritted his teeth and moved a hand through his hair, and blood continued to pour from his nose. "Please. I-"

"Shut. Up," I said, interrupting him while I shook my head. I pursed my lips in annoyance, biting back a small growl. "I do not need you to tell me anything that you think I need to know. I will find out eventually, even if this said person tries to have it hidden from me."

Levi pressed his lips into a thin line, and tears pricked the corner of his eyes with his bottom lip quivering. He didn't say a word and stared at me with pain and sadness filled his eyes.

I scoffed a laugh and held back an eye roll before I turned to look at my grandmother. "Can I have that paper towel in your hands, please?" I asked and raised an eyebrow in question, and my grandmother nodded in confirmation and handed it to me.

"Thank you, Grams," I said and started to wipe my mate's nose, and he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth while he bit back a small groan of annoyance. "Are you going to stop now?" I asked and raised an eyebrow in question. "We don't need you losing the few brain cells you have left in your head."

He growled teasingly and placed his hand on mine, and I bit back a small smirk while I tucked my head closer to my chest. "Very funny, Alexandra," he said and bit back a tired sigh while he closed his eyes.

"Well, does that mean are you going to stop?" I asked and raised an eyebrow in question while I studied him, and he pressed his lips into a thin line before he slowly nodded. "Good."

"I'm sorry," he said, and I held back an eye roll, biting back a small snort. "I want to help."

"Just staying alive is all that you need to do to help my granddaughter," my grandmother said and shook her head. "I am sure that she agrees. Right, Alexandra, Dear?" She went over to the tea when it started to boil, and I nodded in confirmation while I pressed my lips into a thin line.

Levi bit back a tired sigh and slowly nodded, relenting. "I don't like this at all," he grunted before he started to sit up with a small groan of annoyance, and I bit back a small sigh while I slowly nodded.

"I know, Alpha," I said before I cleared my throat and shifted on the ground. "Now, are you able to get yourself to the chairs by yourself?" I asked and raised an eyebrow in question while I studied him.

Levi hesitated before he slowly nodded. "Yes," he said before he cleared his throat and licked his lips. "I can sit down at the table by myself. However, will you need help over there?" he asked and raised an eyebrow in question while he studied me. "I know you said that you are fine, but I can see that you are not." He gave me a pointed look and raised both eyebrows in unison. "I can help you over there if you would like. I do not mind at all."

Shit...

I hesitated, not knowing if I wanted to take him up on the offer or not. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get to the table on my own, but I didn't want him to know that I actually needed help.

"Yes, she does," Grams said and made her way back to the table with two cups of tea. She placed them on the table and bit back a small smile while she tucked her head closer to her chest, looking at us. "I would appreciate it if you help her to the table because you are next to her."

Levi turned to look at me and narrowed his eyes. "So you aren't fine," Levi said coldly and bit back a small growl of warning. "What happened?" he asked and bared his teeth. "And do not lie to me. Is that understood?"

I rolled my eyes and scowled, pressing my lips into a thin line. "I had a force shift happen to me," I said coldly and bit back a small growl. "Is that what you wanted to hear, Alpha?" I asked and raised an eyebrow in question while I studied him.

Levi furrowed his brows and cocked his head to the side while he studied me. Worry flashed through his eyes, and a look of nervousness appeared in his eyes. "Force shift?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper, and I nodded in confirmation. "What do you mean by a "force shift," Alexandra?"

"Whatever it sounds like," I said sarcastically while I held back an eye roll, biting back a tired sigh. "I can be forced to shift into my wolf form if my wolf gets pissed off long enough. It has happened on more than one occasion, and he has been there for one if you want to ask him." I gave him a pointed look and raised both eyebrows in unison.

'However, he has not been there for the whole thing,' Grams said and shook her head. 'He has only been there for the beginning part, but it is enough for him to get the gist of it.'

Levi paused, and his face seemed to become glazed over while he talked with my mate and to see whatever he remembered of it.

I watched the dread and horror appear on his face when Levi showed the memory to him, and he grabbed my arm tighter.

'Are you sure that this is fine, Grams?' I asked my grandmother while I looked at her, and dread filled the pit of my stomach. I bit back a small gulp and shifted on my knees. 'What if they find out?'

My grandmother offered me a tight smile and shook her head. 'It won't affect anything, Dear,' she said with a small hum in her voice. 'He hasn't seen the whole thing but does know that you have shifted. They can know that, too.'

'What about the shadow form?' I asked and furrowed my brows while I tucked my head closer to my chest. 'Are they going to know about that?'

'No,' Grams said and shook her head. 'They are not going to know about that. Even Leviathan doesn't know that that was the form you had shifted into and not your actual wolf form.'

'Which also happened earlier than sixteen,' I grumbled, earning a small chuckle from her, and she slowly nodded.

'Yes,' she said before she cleared her throat and grew serious. 'But he doesn't know about that because you weren't here when that happened.'

Finally, Levi seemed to come back to the real world while he looked at me with a pained look on his face. "You shifted at a young age," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I did," I replied and nodded in confirmation.

"How come?"

I shrugged and grimaced, pressing my lips into a thin line. "I don't know, Alpha," I said. "My parents didn't tell me, and Grams said that I would know in due time. I thought that would mean when I was eighteen, but that did not happen at all." I gave her a look and raised both eyebrows in unison.

My grandmother chuckled and shook her head. "It is still all in due time, Dear," she said. "Now, come, come, go ahead and sit down. Levi, be a good boy and help her into a chair before you sit. Poor girl is still weak and can not get up on her own."

I rolled my eyes and let Levi help me up, knowing full well that I couldn't do anything against what she told us to do. "If I hadn't had a force shift, then I wouldn't be as weak," I grumbled under my breath, earning a small chuckle from my grandmother. "Is the tea supposed to help with that?"

"Yes, Dear," she said and nodded in confirmation. "Go ahead and drink both of you. Drink all of it for me, will you?"

There was something in her look that I recognized when she looked at Levi, and I couldn't help but narrow my eyes and scowl while the hair on the back of my neck stood up at attention.

'What did you do to his cup, Grams?' I asked, and my grandmother looked at me while Levi set me down in the chair I had been in before he sat down beside me. 'Did you poison it?'

My grandmother bit back a chuckle and mentally shook her head, and a small smile appeared on her face. 'No, Dear,' she said. 'You will find out all in due time. Go ahead and start drinking your tea.'

I bit back a tired sigh and held back an eye roll before I did what I was told to do and started to drink my tea, and Levi followed suit and started to drink his.

"So why did you shift at a young age?" he asked, not phased about my grandmother and I talking to each other through our familial bond in front of him. "Or are you allowed to tell me?"

I shrugged and grimaced, pressing my lips into a thin line. "I don't know," I said and took another sip of tea while I shook my head. "It happens in our family on both sides. There is no explanation for it but only that it happens."

"And you are saying that it is on both sides of your family?" Levi asked. He looked at my grandmother and furrowed his brows while he cocked his head to the side while he studied me. "Does that mean you shifted when you were young, too?"

My grandmother smiled sadly and nodded in confirmation. "I did," she said before she cleared her throat and shifted on her feet while she grew serious. "I have shifted at a young age just as her mother did before her and so forth."

"Why?" he asked.

My grandmother shrugged and shook her head, pressing her lips into a thin line. "No one knows," she said, and for some reason, I could tell that was a lie, even if Levi didn't. "No one knows why we had shifted at a young age, but it did. It has happened for generations upon generations of our family members where we shifted at a young age. It didn't matter if the other side of the family tree didn't. We all did."

"Hmph." Levi took another sip of his tea while he thought about what my grandmother had said.

"We are also plagued with miscarriages and whatnot," I said and held back an eye roll. "That is why I am an only child." I took a sip of my tea before I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat.

My grandmother chuckled and nodded. "Even though some of us were blessed with more than one could." Pain and sadness flashed through her eyes, and I knew that she was thinking about her other children that she had but lost at such a "young age."

"How many children did you have again, Grams?" Levi asked and took another sip of his tea.

"Three," she said and tucked her head closer to her chest. She cleared her throat and shifted on her feet. "Two boys and one girl."

"And your daughter was Alexandra's mother, correct?"

"Yes," she said and nodded. She blinked back tears and cleared her throat, licking her lips. "Her mother was my daughter." Her voice cracked, and my heart broke with the thought of us missing my mother, her daughter.

"Hmph." He took another sip of his drink before he looked at me. "Is your father's side of his family plagued with this curse, too?" he asked and raised an eyebrow in question while he studied me, and I slowly nodded in confirmation.

"Surprisingly, yes," I said and licked my lips before I took another sip of my tea. "However, I am not sure what side of that family is still alive or not because they don't contact us, well me, at all."

"Why not?" he asked, and I shrugged and grimaced while I pressed my lips into a thin line.

"Don't know," I replied with a shake of my head. "All I know is that is what happens, and I haven't been able to figure out why."

"But you will find out," he asked and raised an eyebrow in question, and I bit back a small laugh and nodded in confirmation.

"I have to," I replied and leaned back in my seat, biting back a tired sigh. "I have to figure out why they haven't been in contact with me for all of these years and if they are still alive.

"And until that happens, you both have to finish your teas without another word; is that understood?" my grandmother asked and scowled, narrowing her eyes while she studied us. "We can chit chat about everything later."

I held back an eye roll but did what I was told to do while my mate did it too.

Neither of us said a word while we continued to drink our tea, and I kept an eye on both my grandmother and my mate, watching how she started to become expectant, hopeful, even as if what she was trying to do was going to work in the end.

Finally, Levi took the last sip of his tea and grimaced while he shook his head and shuddered when he swallowed the last bit of his tea.

"Mmph, Grams, that was horrible," he said, sounding like himself and not the controlled person that he had been portraying as. "Why would you want me to drink something t-"

He stopped talking and blinked before he started to look around the room with a confused look on his face.

"Well?" my grandmother asked while he looked at his hands and then at her. She seemed to relax and grow younger in front of us, and we looked at her and not anywhere else, not even looking at each other. "How are you feeling, Dear? What do you hear, feel?"

My mate furrowed his brows and looked at his hands, pressing his lips into a thin line. "Confused..." he said before he looked at her. "I am confused because I hear nothing and do not feel a hum or whatever like I have felt in the back of my mind for years when I was "free.""

He looked at his hands, pressing his lips into a thinner line before he looked at me and then looked at her. "What have you done to me, Grams? What did you do with that spell that I had been under for the past two years?"