The Alpha’s Cursed Bride

They say a fall can kill you. I was hoping it would. Because what they were about to do to me was much worse. The wind clawed at my face as I ran. Snow, sharp as glass, sliced against my bare arms. My boots, torn at the seams, barely clung to my feet as I stumbled through the dark forest , deeper into wolf territory, deeper into death. But anything was beter than going back. Back to the cell. Back to the collar. Back to them. Behind me, I heard the hounds. They howled like they knew me, like they’d tasted my blood before and wanted more. Don’t stop. Don’t look back. Don’t let them catch you. I kept on saying in my mind. Behind me, the forest echoed with howls, not wolves. Hunters. Their dogs had my scent. Their guns had silver. I was marked. Labeled. Hunted like a rogue wolf, though I wasn’t one. I wasn’t anything anymore. “C’mon Camilla, you can’t run for ever.” That was commander Rourke. The man who raised me. Who lied to me. Trained me to be a weapon. Now hunting me like a rabid animal. A gunshot rang out. Close. My shoulder flared with fire. I didn’t stop. 1 Then the voice came again. “You can’t outrun fate girl. You were born for this. Finish what you started. You know there’s no place for you on Earth. We are your only family.” Something tackled me. I hit the ground hard, snow rushing into my mouth, lungs heaving, body trembling. A Hunter stood above me, with his blade drawn. He smiled. I didn’t. I kicked him between the legs, rolled, and ran again, blood trailing from a cut on my cheek. My legs burned. My chest felt like it would collapse. But I didn’t stop running. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I got to a dead end. It was a cliff. I stopped. My heart beating extremely fast, my clothes drenched in sweat. I had bruises all over my body, but that wasn’t my concern….yet. I felt tears sting the corners of my eyes. I didn’t cry. I never cried. Not even when they first branded me. Not even when they said I wasn’t fully human. Not also when they tortured me. But this betrayal? It cracked something open inside me. I only had one thing in my mind at that moment – To escape. Is this really my end? I can’t die yet. I can’t die now. I must find a way. “Told ya there’s no escaping. You’re bound to be a weapon.” Said Commander Rourke, who stood some feet in front of me, with his army of hunters and dogs. Their eyes, all on me. “I never chose this. None of this. I get to choose my own life. I’m tired of being just a weapon.” I yelled “But that’s what you are. Come home to us. You are our most priced weapon.” He said again, this time, bringing out his hand. But no. I’d rather die than go back with them. I am tired of everything. Not after the lies I had been fed with. I took one last glance over the cliff, then I saw it. A ravine. Deep, jagged, frozen at the botom. “Don’t you dare!” Rourke’s voice broke. “You think dying will save you? You’re already cursed, girl!” Cursed. That word had haunted me for years. Whispers when they thought I wasn’t listening. Eyes full of fear, even when I smiled. I never understood it. Until the mark started burning. “You lied to me‼! All of you!. I’d rather die than take your hand, not again.” If I jumped, it would all end. No more running. No more monsters in my blood. No more pretending to be normal when I wasn’t. I stepped to the edge. Behind me, they screamed my name again. I took one breath. Then I jumped. The cold hit like a fist to the lungs. I crashed through branches, slammed into snow and ice, everything going white and black and red. I saw many colours in a go. I waited for death. Begged for it. But something in me refused. I laid there for some minutes. In pain. Quiet. Scared. And then… I felt him. A presence. Not human. Not safe. Something dangerous and unsafe. My eyes blinked open to see a wolf standing in the snow. No – a beast. Midnight-black fur streaked with silver. Shoulders broad enough to crush bone. Eyes like molten gold, fixed on me like I was prey… or something worse. He moved toward me, slow and silent. I couldn’t breathe. I had jumped from frying Pan to fire, just when I thought I had made it. “Do it,” I whispered. “Kill me.” I closed my eyes tight, my heart beating very fast, blood rushing through my veins. This is the end. I had thought. But instead, the beast shifted. Bones cracked, fur vanished, and standing over me now was a man. Alpha Ronan Vale. Tall. Shirtless. Snow clinging to his scars. Hair black as ink. His chest rose and fell slowly, like he was holding back something violent. He looked at me like I was a disease. A pandemic. “You crossed into my land,” he said. His voice was low. Rough. Dangerous. I have never been afriad of a voice until now. His voice carried authority. “I didn’t mean to,” I whispered. “Please, I was running- ” He walked around me, sniffing me. Maybe trying to know what or who I am. He circled me like a predator marking his prey. Dear God. If you’re watching, help me survive this too. “You. You’re human.” He said but I kept mute. He grabbed my wrist, trying to lift me up, but something in me ignited. I screamed. So did he. A red-hot sigil lit up my skin. A jagged mark, glowing like it had been carved into me by flame and fury. His hand yanked back. He stared at me like I’d just bled sunlight. “What the hell are you?” he breathed. Around us, the wind changed. Trees groaned. And somewhere, deep in the forest, a howl rose, not a wolf. Not anything natural. “Mine,” he mutered. He looked at the mark, then at me — and in that moment, his voice dropped an octave. “You crossed the border. Only cursed ones make it this far. And the cursed belong to me.” And then everything went black.