The curse in his blood

I didn’t sleep.

Not because I didn’t try, but because every time I closed my eyes, I saw his—those metallic, unnatural silver eyes burning into mine like they held the whole truth of my future. I lay awake until dawn, heart racing, sheets tangled around my legs, my wolf pacing inside me like a caged thing.

Mate… find him… mate…

“No,” I muttered, pressing my palms to my temples. “You don’t get to want him.”

She growled at me—low, warning, offended.

She didn’t understand fear the way humans did. Wolves feel the bond differently: primal, instinctive, unquestioning. She wanted him simply because he was ours.

I feared him because he was Kael Draven.

When the sun rose, I dragged myself out of bed and splashed cold water on my face. My eyes were red. My nerves were shot. I looked like someone who’d seen a ghost, and in a way, I had.

A living ghost.

A cursed heir.

A monster shaped by exile.

I tried to steady my breathing as I walked to the training grounds. But even the morning air felt wrong. Too heavy. Too still. Wolves trained in tense silence. Conversations were hushed. Heads kept turning toward the Alpha’s cabin—the one Kael had taken the moment he returned.

Everyone was waiting for something to happen.

Something always happened when Kael was around.

“Lira.”

I turned. Elder Meryl, her grey braid tight and her eyes sharper than knives, waved me over. Her face was unreadable.

“You look exhausted.”

“Not enough sleep,” I said.

Her gaze narrowed in a way that made my skin crawl. “Or too much thinking.”

I swallowed, offering a weak attempt at a smile. “Same difference.”

She didn’t smile back.

Instead she leaned in, her voice dropping low. “Has he approached you?”

My blood turned to ice.

I forced my expression to stay neutral. “Who?”

“You know who.” Her eyes bored into mine. “Kael.”

My pulse stuttered violently. “Why are you asking?”

“Because there is something you need to understand.” She exhaled, the sound heavy. “Kael did not return simply because he was ready. He returned because the curse is worsening.”

My stomach twisted. “What curse?”

Her expression softened with something almost like pity. And somehow, that terrified me more than any threat.

“His blood rejects every bond,” she whispered. “Every wolf he grows close to—every wolf he loves—dies.”

I felt the world tilt.

“Loved ones,” she continued quietly. “Packmates. Friends. His mentor in the north. Anyone fate ties him to… the curse tears them from him.” She held my gaze, unflinching. “And the stronger the bond, the faster the death.”

A chill ripped through my chest. My wolf whimpered uneasily.

“That’s why he left,” Meryl said. “To protect us. To protect you.”

I blinked. “Me?”

Her jaw tightened. “Lira, Kael asked about you the moment he arrived.”

My heart lurched. “Why?”

“I don’t know.” She paused. “But I know fear when I see it. And he was terrified.”

Kael. Terrified.

The idea didn’t fit. He moved like someone who feared nothing—not death, not exile, not darkness. But last night, when he’d whispered mine, there had been something in his voice I couldn’t forget.

A crack.

A wound.

A plea.

“He fears losing control,” Meryl said. “But the truth is… he fears losing you.”

“I’m not his—” I started, then choked on the word.

Mate.

I couldn’t say it.

If I said it, it would become real.

Meryl watched me closely. She saw the truth in my silence. Her breath caught. “Dear Goddess… it’s you.”

I stepped back. “Don’t—”

“It’s you,” she repeated, horror flooding her face. “The bond chose you.”

“No.” My voice shook. “I don’t want this. I can’t—”

“You must reject him.” Her hand grasped my arm, urgent, trembling. “Lira, if the curse doesn’t kill him, it will kill you.”

My chest tightened so sharply I had to force myself to breathe.

Reject him.

Walk away from the bond.

Cut the tether, sever the moon’s choice.

I opened my mouth to respond—but the air shifted again.

Not like last night.

Not painful.

Not cold.

Warm.

Pulling.

Drawing.

I turned slowly.

Kael stood on the edge of the training grounds, watching me.

He looked worse than I did—like he hadn’t slept in years. His hair was messy, his jaw shadowed with stubble, his clothes rumpled. But it was his expression that froze me.

Not anger.

Not threat.

Not hunger.

Pain.

Deep, quiet, and raw.

He lifted a hand slightly, almost as if reaching for me before stopping himself. His voice was hoarse, barely audible across the field.

“Lira.”

The sound of my name in his mouth did something devastating to me.

Elder Meryl stiffened. “Get away from him.”

Kael’s eyes flicked to her, glowing faintly. “This is none of your business.”

“If you care for her,” Meryl hissed, “you’ll leave her alone.”

A muscle jumped in Kael’s jaw. His voice was a low, dangerous growl. “If I leave her alone, she dies.”

The silence that followed was suffocating.

“What do you mean?” I whispered.

His gaze snapped to mine, and the bond sparked between us like a live wire.

Kael took one slow step closer. Then another.

“When the bond awakened last night,” he said, “the curse awakened too.”

My heart stopped.

“So if you stay near me…” I forced out, “I die?”

His throat bobbed. He looked away, pain flickering across his face.

“It’s more complicated than that,” he murmured.

“How?” My voice cracked. “Explain it.”

“I can’t.”

“Kael—”

“I SAID I CAN’T.” His voice boomed like thunder.

Wolves around us flinched. Some dropped to their knees under the weight of his Alpha aura.

I should have backed away.

I should have feared him.

But instead, I stepped forward.

“Tell me the truth,” I said quietly. “I deserve that much.”

He met my eyes, and something inside him broke open. His voice was almost silent when he spoke again.

“The curse doesn’t kill my mate,” he said. “It kills me.”

My breath caught.

He looked at me the way someone looks at the moon one last time before they die.

“And if I lose control,” he whispered, “if I let the curse take me… I become the thing everyone already fears.”

My wolf whimpered, pressing against my ribs.

Kael took a shaky breath.

“That’s why I should stay away from you,” he murmured. “But I can’t.”

The bond tightened, hot and desperate.

“And neither,” he whispered, “can you.”

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