Thane's POV
The old bond scroll crumbled between my fingers as I unrolled it.
At seventy-eight years old, I'd hoped never to see these marks again. But the magic in the air told me everything I needed to know. After three generations of silence, the Blackthorne curse had woken once more.
My grandson was forming a mate bond.
I set the fragile paper on my desk and rubbed my tired eyes. The hiding room beneath the pack house held secrets that most werewolves couldn't handle. Records of bloodline curses, illegal magic, and mistakes that still haunted our family after a hundred years.
Mistakes that Darius was about to make if I didn't stop him.
The bond scroll showed the truth in faded ink and old symbols. Every Blackthorne Alpha for the past century had faced the same decision. Love or job. Heart or pack. And every single one who picked wrong had paid a terrible price.
My own father, Alpha Nathaniel Blackthorne, had fallen for a moonfire omega named Isabella Moonweaver in 1924. He'd tried to have both her and his political marriage. The attempt to split his loyalties had broken the mate bond, driving him mad with grief and rage.
Isabella died in childbirth, alone and abandoned. My father lived another forty years but never recovered. He ruled through violence and fear, becoming the monster that Darius still had dreams about.
Now history was repeating itself.
I could feel the mate bond's energy running through the pack house like a heartbeat. Strong, desperate, and totally out of control. Darius didn't even understand what was happening to him yet, but his wolf knew.
The question was whether I should warn him or let him find the truth on his own.
A soft knock stopped my thoughts. "Enter."
Darius stepped into my private study, looking tired and desperate. "Grandfather, I need to ask you something."
"About the girl."
He went still. "How did you—"
"I'm old, not blind." I pointed to the chair across from my desk. "Sit. We have much to discuss."
He sat down heavily, running his hands through his hair. "Something's happening to me. Something I don't understand."
"Tell me."
"There's this omega, Sera. When I'm near her, I lose control. My wolf goes crazy, and I can't think about anything except keeping her safe." He looked up at me with desperate eyes. "Is this normal? This... obsession?"
I studied my grandson's face, seeing so much of his father and grandpa in his features. Strong jaw, green eyes, that stubborn set to his shoulders that meant he'd fight the world before accepting weakness.
He was going to hate what I had to tell him.
"What you're experiencing is a mate bond," I said carefully.
"That's impossible. Mate ties are rare. Most Alphas never find their true mates."
"Most Alphas don't carry our bloodline." I pulled out a leather notebook filled with family records. "The Blackthorne line is cursed, Darius. Has been for over a century."
His face went pale. "Cursed how?"
"We bond once. Completely. Permanently. When we find our true mate, there's no fighting it, no managing it, and no breaking it without consequences."
"What kind of consequences?"
I opened the book to a page I'd hoped never to show him. A picture of my father in his later years – wild-eyed, violent, more monster than man.
"This is what happens when a Blackthorne Alpha tries to deny his mate bond for duty."
Darius stared at the photo, his face getting whiter. "Father always said Grandfather went mad from grief after Grandmother died."
"Your grandma wasn't his mate. She was his political wife." I turned the page to show him another picture – a beautiful woman with dark hair and sad eyes. "This was Isabella Moonweaver. His true mate."
"Moonweaver." Darius's voice was barely a whisper. "That's... that's Sera's mother's maiden name."
My blood went cold. "What did you say?"
"Sera Nightfall. Her mother was a Moonweaver before she married. " I felt the world shift around me as parts of an ancient puzzle clicked into place. "Show me her picture."
Darius pulled out his phone with shaking hands. The moment I saw Sera's face, I knew.
She looked exactly like Isabella. Same dark hair, same enormous brown eyes, same delicate features that hid surprising power.
"Dear goddess," I breathed. "She's Isabella's descendant."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you're not just experiencing any mate bond." I stood up, my old bones protesting as the full weight of fate settled on my shoulders. "You're feeling the same bond that destroyed your great-grandfather. The same link that's been dormant in our bloodline for three generations."
Darius shot to his feet. "Are you saying this is some kind of family curse?"
"I'm saying that Moonweaver genetics and Blackthorne bloodlines produce bonds that can't be broken or denied. Your great-grandfather tried to marry for duty while keeping Isabella as his lover. The attempt to split his loyalty broke both bonds and drove him insane."
"Then I won't split my loyalty." His jaw set firmly. "I'll break the engagement with Celeste."
"And start a war between the territories? Destroy the partnership that's kept peace for five years?" I shook my head. "Your duty to the pack—"
"My duty is to my mate!" His Alpha power flared, making the air in the room crackle with energy. "You just told me she's meant for me. That fighting it will drive me crazy. How can you expect me to choose duty over—"
"Because that's what Alphas do!" I slammed my hand on the desk. "We trade our happiness for the greater good. We put pack welfare above personal wants."
"Even if it destroys us?"
"Especially then."
We stared at each other across decades of family pain and impossible decisions. I could see the fight raging in his eyes – the man who wanted to claim his mate against the Alpha who'd been raised to put duty first.
"There has to be another way," he said eventually.
"There is." I pulled out the oldest paper, the one written in Isabella's own hand before she died. "But you won't like it."
He read over my shoulder as I translated the old text. With each word, his face grew more terrified.
"She found a way to share the bond," I explained. "To split the connection between two worthy males instead of trying to deny it completely."
"A triad bond." His voice was flat with shock. "That's forbidden."
"By pack law, yes. But according to Isabella's research, it was the only way to maintain everyone's sanity while honoring the supernatural connection."
"And what happened to her?"
I closed the scroll carefully. "She died before she could test the idea. Alone, heartbroken, and sure she was a monster for even considering it."
Darius was quiet for a long time, staring at the old texts that held our family's darkest secrets.
"Who would be the third?" he asked eventually.
"That choice would be hers to make. The omega's heart decides who can share the bond."
"And if she chooses wrong?"
"Then the bond shatters completely, and everyone involved goes mad."
He sank back into his chair, looking like I'd just given him a death sentence. "So my choices are: abandon my pack duties to claim my mate, split my loyalty and go insane like my great-grandfather, or somehow convince Sera to attempt an experimental triad bond that might kill all of us."
"Those appear to be your options, yes."
"There's a fourth choice." His voice was deadly quiet. "I could mark her in secret. Keep the mate bond hidden while keeping my engagement. Give her the connection she needs without destroying the union."
Horror poured through me. "Darius, no. That's exactly what your great-grandfather tried. hidden bonds never stay hidden, and when they're discovered—"
"I'm not him." He stood up, his Alpha power radiating dangerous resolve. "I'm stronger than he was. I can control this."
"You can't control a mate link! It will demand more and more until—"
But he was already walking away, his mind made up.
I sat alone in my study surrounded by the ghosts of our family's mistakes, knowing I'd just watched history prepare to repeat itself.
Unless I acted quickly.
I picked up my phone and called a number I hadn't used in five years.
"Kieran? It's your grandfather. I know you're back in the area, and I know why." I took a deep breath. "We need to talk. Tonight. Your cousin is about to make the same mistake that destroyed our family, and you might be the only one who can stop him."
The quiet stretched so long I thought he'd hung up.
Finally: "Where do you want to meet?"
"The old temple in Moonweaver Grove. Where it all began."
"I'll be there."
As I gathered the ancient texts and prepared for the most important talk of my life, one thought echoed through my mind:
The curse was rising. And this time, it might take all of us down with it.