Chapter Two – The Rival’s Claim
1159 Words
Darkness clung to me like tar, heavy and suffocating. Somewhere distant, I heard voices—shouts, commands, the rustle of feet—but they sounded muffled, warped by the curse tearing through my veins. My chest heaved, each breath like glass shredding my lungs.
I should have been free. That’s what I told myself as a girl, whispering it like a prayer. If my mate rejected me, the curse couldn’t touch him. I would be safe. He would be safe. But fate had twisted the knife.
“Stay with me, Vale.”
The voice cut through the fog. Deep, rough, laced with a command that sank into my marrow. I fought against the pull of unconsciousness, dragging myself toward it. When my eyes fluttered open, I found Kael Draven crouched over me, his storm-grey gaze locked onto mine.
Rival Alpha. Enemy. Wrong. Everything about him screamed danger. And yet, the moment his hand brushed mine, the crushing weight on my chest loosened. I sucked in a breath, ragged but real.
Gasps echoed through the Great Hall. “She’s breathing—” “What’s he doing—” “That’s Kael Draven!”
Elias stood a few feet away, frozen, golden eyes wide with disbelief. For a second, I thought I saw guilt flash across his face. But then his jaw tightened, his Alpha pride snapping back into place.
“Get away from her,” Elias growled, voice low and sharp.
Kael didn’t move. His grip tightened on my wrist, anchoring me. His expression was unreadable, but power radiated off him, thick enough to silence even the whispers around us.
“She’s dying,” Kael said, each word edged with steel. “And you think standing there, pretending you did nothing, is going to fix it?”
The hall went deathly still. No one spoke to Elias like that. No one dared. But Kael wasn’t part of his pack. Kael wasn’t bound by Elias’s authority.
I wanted to tell them both to stop. To leave me be. But the words stuck, strangled by the curse’s grip. Pain still licked through my body, though Kael’s touch dulled it, like a dam holding back a flood.
The Headmaster’s voice finally broke through. “Enough. Take her to the infirmary.”
Kael didn’t wait for permission. He scooped me up as if I weighed nothing, his arms hard as steel, his scent wrapping around me like smoke and pine. I should have resisted. I should have clawed my way free. But my body sagged against him, too weak to protest.
Tessa trailed after us, her face pale, eyes wide with panic. I caught the way students parted like water as Kael strode through, their fear of him palpable.
The infirmary was cold stone and bitter herbs, lantern light casting long shadows against the walls. Healers rushed forward, but Kael didn’t release me until one of them—a woman with silver-streaked hair and piercing eyes—demanded it.
“Set her down. Now.”
Kael lowered me onto the bed, his movements careful but sure. My body ached, my skin clammy with sweat. The healer’s hands glowed faintly as she passed them over me, frowning.
“This isn’t ordinary rejection sickness,” she murmured. “It’s deeper. Old. Cursed.”
Her words cracked through the air, sharp as thunder. Tessa’s hand clamped over mine, trembling. She knew. She’d always known.
The healer’s gaze darted to Kael. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” Kael said, his voice flat. “I touched her. She breathed.”
The healer looked back at me, suspicion flickering in her eyes. “Your bond should have broken clean. But something is holding it. Feeding on it.”
I swallowed hard, forcing my voice past the lump in my throat. “It’s my family.”
The words tasted like ash, but there was no hiding anymore. Not after this. “The Vale curse. Any mate who accepts me dies within a year. But rejection…” My chest constricted, breath hitching. “…rejection kills me instead.”
The room froze. Even the healers exchanged uneasy glances. Tessa squeezed my hand tighter.
Elias’s voice broke the silence, strained, raw. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I turned my head toward him, my heart twisting. He looked at me like he didn’t recognize me, like the girl he’d known his whole life had been replaced by a stranger.
“Would it have mattered?” My voice cracked. “You rejected me anyway.”
The truth stung both of us. His jaw clenched, but he had no answer.
Kael, however, stepped closer, his presence filling the room. “If the curse kills her for being rejected, then the solution is simple.” His gaze locked with mine, sharp and unyielding. “She can’t remain unclaimed.”
The words sank into me, heavy as stone. My heart stumbled. “What?”
“She needs a bond to survive,” Kael continued, eyes never leaving mine. “If her mate rejects her, another wolf can take his place.”
“That’s impossible,” Elias snapped. “The Moon Goddess chooses. Bonds can’t be replaced.”
Kael’s mouth curved, humorless. “Then maybe it’s time someone challenged the Goddess.”
The room erupted in protests. Tessa’s eyes flew wide, the healers hissed warnings, Elias looked ready to tear Kael apart. But Kael ignored them all. His focus was entirely on me.
“You can keep dying,” he said softly, almost like a dare. “Or you can let me claim you.”
The air fled my lungs. My curse pulsed like a brand, hot and unrelenting. The idea was madness. He wasn’t my mate. He was a rival, an enemy, everything I should fear. And yet, when his words wrapped around me, a spark flickered in my chest.
Elias stepped forward, fury radiating off him. “Over my dead body.”
Kael’s gaze didn’t waver. “Careful, Gray. The curse might oblige you.”
The tension between them was a living thing, snarling and dangerous. Power clashed, pressing against my skin until I could barely breathe.
“Enough!” the healer barked. Her glare sliced through both of them. “If she doesn’t rest, none of this will matter. Get out. All of you.”
Tessa stayed, but Elias and Kael were forced back. Still, I felt Kael’s eyes on me as he left, heavy with a promise I didn’t understand.
When the room finally quieted, Tessa leaned close, her whisper urgent. “You can’t even be thinking about it, Liora. He’s Kael Draven. He’s dangerous.”
Dangerous. Yes. But I remembered the way his touch had pulled me back from the brink, the way his voice had commanded me to live. Elias’s rejection had ripped me apart. Kael’s defiance had tethered me.
And I couldn’t shake the thought that maybe, just maybe, the curse wanted me to choose the wrong wolf.
- Writer
