Book 2 of the Cursed Series: The Mark Of Fate

Raymond's POV As I finished my 25th lap around the training course, I slowed my run to a jog, sweat dripping from my brow. My heart pounded in my ears, but it wasn’t just from the exertion. “Alex, what time is it?” I asked my wolf, my lungs heaving. “Almost 5:30. Training’s about to start. You better move your ass,” Alex grunted back. “Thanks,” I muttered, grabbing the towel from the ground and wiping my face. My water bottle sat nearby, half-full and warm, but it would have to do. I took a long swig before jogging toward the training field. Beta Tom was already barking orders. “Future Alpha! Are you gonna stand there looking pretty or join us?” I laughed breathlessly. “I’m here, Tom. I'm just finishing some warmup laps.” Tom clapped me on the back. “Man, you look like a damn machine. You overtrain like you’re preparing for war.” “Maybe I am,” I said with a grin, though there was no humor in it. I am Raymond, future Alpha of the Blood Fang Pack. Six-foot-four. Chocolate curls, short on the sides, wild on the top. A low beard carved around my strong jaw. Dimples, abs like granite, and the kind of face that made girls trip over themselves. But f**k all that. I wasn’t training for vanity. I trained to survive, to outlast, and to prove I was better than the tyrant who called himself my father. Our Western Pack is in disarray. The other territories look down on us like we’re a bunch of mangy rogues. And you know what? Maybe they’re right. Rogues circle our land like vultures. We’ve asked the Western Alpha King for help more times than I can count, but that motherfucker is too busy humping his latest mistress to even acknowledge our existence. I heard he has three kids with her now. Real cute, considering he already has a Luna. Queen Lisa’s probably boiling in her damn skin. I dropped to the ground to stretch, but my mind didn’t settle. I scanned the field. “Where the hell are my sisters?” I asked. Tom shrugged. “You try mind-linking them?” I narrowed my eyes and nodded. Rachel. Raquel. Answer me. Nothing. Where the f**k are you two? Still nothing. I exhaled sharply. “Shit.” Because I already knew. My father, Alpha Philip, would blame me. Like always. Flashback. Age 12. Rachel was 9. Raquel was 8. “Where the f**k are you, you lazy bastard?!” His voice thundered through the house like a f*****g earthquake. I stumbled out of my room just in time to see him storming down the hall, yanking Rachel to him. “What the f**k happened to her face?” “I...I don’t know, Dad,” I said, hands shaking. “Stop calling me Dad! I’m Alpha, you little s**t. Try again. What the f**k happened to my daughter’s face?” “I don’t know, Alpha! I was at school, she was with the sitter—” SMACK! My face whipped sideways. Blood filled my mouth. “Don’t talk back to me, you ungrateful son of a b***h!” SMACK! I barely stayed on my feet. “Clean her face up. Take her to the pack doctor. And if this ever happens again, I’ll beat you so hard you’ll forget your own f*****g name.” Flashback over. Yeah. Even when nothing happened, I still got the s**t end of the stick. My father beat me for sport. For f*****g breathing wrong. My mother, Luna Sue, would sit there sipping her tea, watching me bleed, saying it would “make me stronger.” Fuck that. f**k them both. All I ever did was protect my sisters. And they used it. Rachel especially. She walked around like a princess, never getting her hands dirty, knowing I’d take every hit for her. She got a f*****g Porsche on her 16th. Me? I got a rusted-out Bronco that barely turned over. But I’m done. I’m f*****g done. I already registered for Alpha University. Pushed it off for two years, but not anymore. I was accepted, and I leave next week, whether my father likes it or not. People ask why I don’t fight back. I’m bigger than him now. Stronger. My wolf is ten times more powerful. You want to know why I don’t fight back? Because that piece of s**t Alpha commanded me to obey him before I even got my wolf. Before, I had a chance to fight. Before I could even defend myself. The day I finally shifted, his face turned pale. My wolf, Alex, stood tall. A towering black beast with glowing emerald eyes, eyes not seen in the Western Pack. Not since the days of the old kings. My father’s wolf didn’t even come close. He knew it. I’m a f*****g Alpha Royal. I don’t know how, or why. But he knows it too. That’s why he hates me. “Get your ass over here,” he growled through the mind-link. I jogged toward him, heart pounding, fury simmering just beneath my skin. “Yes, Dad.” “Where are my daughters?” “I’m not sure, Dad. I tried to wake them, they didn’t get up...” “Don’t worry about it.” That’s how I knew. That quiet, that smile. That meant hell was coming. We trained hard. I was the best fighter in the pack, besides him. When we finished, he mind-linked me again. “You know what to do.” “Yes, sir,” I replied automatically. I walked to his office, opened the panel behind the bookshelf, and descended the cold metal stairs. The smell of blood and sweat hit me before I reached the bottom. I pulled my shirt off and faced the wall. The cuffs hung there, waiting. My wrists slid into them with the ease of routine. He walked in, footsteps heavy. “You better remember,” he growled. “This is the only way you’ll never forget what real failure feels like.” CRACK. The first strike from his fist landed on my back, but I didn’t flinch. Because next week, I leave. And I swear to the f*****g Moon Goddess, I will never come back the same.