The night was cold, the kind that seeped into your bones and reminded you that you didn't belong anywhere. I stood at the edge of the training grounds, watching the other wolves spar. Their laughter echoed in the crisp air, but none of it was meant for me.
I had been cursed since birth.
Born under the blood moon, the elders whispered that I carried darkness in my veins. My own parents had abandoned me when I was barely old enough to walk, leaving me to be raised on scraps of pity. Wolves avoided my gaze, as though even my eyes could poison them.
"Stay away from her," one of the girls hissed when I walked past. "She'll bring misfortune."
I lowered my head, swallowing the pain that burned my throat. I should have been used to it by now, but no matter how many times I was pushed aside, the sting never dulled.
But that night… something changed.
The ground trembled faintly, a warning growl from the earth itself, and the air grew heavy with the unmistakable presence of dominance. The scent hit me first—dark pine and smoke, threaded with danger. Every wolf in the training grounds stilled, their postures lowering in submission.
The Alpha had arrived.
Not just any Alpha. Damien Blackthorn, the most feared leader in the region. His reputation was drenched in blood, his enemies reduced to ashes, his pack stronger than any other. And for some unfathomable reason, his piercing midnight eyes locked onto me.
My heart stuttered.
Why was he staring at me?
I took a shaky step back, but it was too late. His power wrapped around me like chains, pulling me toward him. And when his voice rumbled out, deep and commanding, the world seemed to still.
"You," he said, his gaze never wavering.
"You are mine."
My breath caught in my throat.
Mine? He couldn't mean it. He didn't even know me. I was the cursed outcast—the girl everyone avoided like a shadow of death.
The pack warriors glanced between us, disbelief and fear flickering in their eyes. Whispers broke out, sharp and frantic.
"She's cursed!"
"The Alpha can't mean her!"
"This will bring ruin…"
But Damien Blackthorn didn't flinch. His tall frame moved through the crowd like a predator among prey, each step sending shivers down my spine. His aura was suffocating—wild, dominant, untamed. And yet… it pulled at something deep inside me, something I had spent my whole life trying to bury.
He stopped right in front of me, so close I could feel the heat radiating from his body. His eyes, dark as midnight storms, searched mine as if he were reading every secret I had ever tried to hide.
"Do you feel it?" he murmured, his voice low, dangerous, yet strangely intimate.
The bond. The connection. The impossible truth.
"Yes…" The word slipped past my lips before I could stop it.
Gasps rippled through the crowd. My knees trembled under the weight of their stares. My heart screamed at me to run, to escape before the curse inside me destroyed him too.
I shook my head violently, backing away. "No, you don't understand. I'm not… I can't be your mate. I'm cursed."
For the first time, something flickered in his eyes—not anger, not disappointment, but hunger. A dangerous kind of hunger.
His lips curved into a dark smile. "Cursed or not… fate has chosen. And I do not reject what's mine."
Before I could speak again, his hand closed gently but firmly around my wrist. The touch sent a fiery jolt racing through me, igniting every nerve in my body. My wolf stirred restlessly inside me, howling in recognition.
The pack fell silent, horrified, as the bond shimmered in the air like an unspoken declaration.
From that moment on, my life would never be the same.
The silence was deafening.
Every wolf's eyes bore into me, filled with shock, fear, and disgust. I wanted to shrink into the shadows, to disappear before the hatred swallowed me whole. But Damien's grip on my wrist held me steady, unyielding, as though he dared anyone to challenge him.
"She'll bring ruin to us all!" someone shouted from the back.
"She's cursed—she'll destroy the pack!" another voice echoed.
Damien's head snapped toward them, and the growl that rumbled from his chest silenced the crowd instantly. It was primal, dangerous—the kind of sound that made your wolf bow without thought.
"No one," he said, his voice like thunder, "questions my choice."
I flinched at the raw authority in his tone. My heart raced, but the bond between us pulsed stronger with every passing second, an invisible thread tying me to him. I didn't want this. I couldn't want this.
"You don't understand," I whispered, my voice breaking. "If you stay near me, something terrible will happen. It always does."
Damien leaned closer, his breath brushing against my ear, making my skin shiver. "Then let it happen. I am not afraid of curses… and I will never fear you."
For the first time in my life, someone's words didn't carry pity or scorn—they carried conviction.
My wolf howled within me, claws scratching at the edges of my control. She wanted him. Needed him. But deep inside, I felt it—the curse stirring awake, darker than ever, as if it recognized his presence.
The ground trembled beneath us, subtle but real. A low wind howled through the trees, carrying whispers only I could hear. My chest tightened, panic clawing at me.
No. Not now. Not here.
I yanked my wrist from his grasp and stumbled back, breathing hard. "You don't know what you've done…"
Damien's eyes narrowed, sharp and unreadable, but before he could speak, a blood-curdling howl split the night.
Every wolf turned toward the forest's edge, hackles raised. Shadows slithered between the trees, thick and unnatural, the air heavy with menace.
The curse had awakened.
And it had chosen that exact moment to reveal itself.