Episode 1 — Marked by Fate

The forest was too quiet.

Rose tightened her hold on her small lantern as she stepped deeper into the forbidden woods. Everyone in the village said these trees were cursed, that strange creatures roamed under the full moon. But she didn’t believe myths.

At least… not until tonight.

A sharp rustle came from behind her.

Rose froze.

Before she could turn, a voice—deep, rough, and dangerously calm—spoke from the shadows.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Her heartbeat slammed against her ribs.

A tall figure stepped forward. Moonlight spilled across his face—sharp jawline, messy dark hair, and eyes that glowed silver like liquid metal.

Not human silver.

Something else.

Rose stumbled back. “Who… who are you?”

He stared at her as if she was both a threat and a miracle.

“My name is Kael,” he said quietly. “And you need to leave.”

Rose swallowed, trying to steady her voice. “I’m just lost. I didn’t mean to—”

Kael moved closer.

Too close.

Her breath caught when she felt his warmth. His presence made her skin tingle, her chest tighten. She didn’t know him, yet something inside her reacted like it had always known him.

Kael suddenly inhaled sharply.

Like he smelled something impossible.

Then—

His eyes widened.

His body tensed.

His voice dropped to a whisper.

“…Mate.”

Rose blinked. “What?”

Kael stepped back as if fighting some invisible force inside him. “No. Not a human. The Moon Goddess wouldn’t—she couldn’t—”

“I don’t understand,” Rose said.

“You’re not supposed to.” His voice trembled with anger—or fear. “But fate clearly didn’t care.”

Before Rose could ask anything, a howl echoed through the forest.

Sharp. Furious.

Kael’s expression darkened instantly.

“They found me,” he muttered. Then he grabbed Rose’s wrist, pulling her behind a stone pillar. His hand was strong, warm, sending sparks up her arm.

She gasped.

“Stay here,” Kael ordered. “Don’t move, no matter what you hear.”

“But why are they after you? Who are ‘they’?”

Kael looked at her with eyes full of a sadness no one his age should have carried.

“My pack,” he said. “I’m the cursed Alpha. The one fated to betray them… or save them.”

Rose stared at him, unable to breathe.

Cursed Alpha?

Kael hesitated—then reached out, brushing his finger gently across her cheek. Electricity shot through her whole body.

“Rose…” he whispered her name like he’d known it forever. “I don’t want to lose control around you.”

“Kael, please—”

A massive shadow leaped from the trees.

Then another.

Huge wolves with red eyes, fangs bared.

Kael looked at her one last time. “Don’t come out. Don’t try to save me.”

Then he stepped away from her—and his body began to change.

Bones cracked.

Muscles shifted.

Fur spread across his skin.

In seconds, he was a massive black wolf with glowing silver eyes.

The cursed Alpha.

The enemy pack snarled and lunged at him.

Rose screamed his name as the forest exploded with violence.

And fate sealed their bond under the broken moon.

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