Marked by the Cursed Alpha

004

DESMOND.

“You need to hasten the search, Alpha,” the seer said, his wrinkled voice cutting through the existing silence.

“The lady you met five years ago, she must complete the sacrifice, or your freedom will never come.”

His words weren’t new. I have heard them a thousand times before. But they still weighed heavily on me, pressing against the stone wall I called a heart. Freedom. It felt like it was never going to come.

The curse was killing me. It was weighing down on me.

I didn’t know what it felt like to smile anymore. I didn’t know what joy or sorrow meant. My heart beat only to keep me alive, not to make me human. Even pleasure was a lie. Women did not bring me satisfaction. I couldn’t feel the thrill of having s*x or whatever.

There was no warmth, no spark, or satisfaction. Just emptiness.

And so, the world whispered lies. They said I was impotent. That I was half a man. That the great Alpha Desmond had no fire left in him. But they didn’t understand. It wasn’t weakness. It was the curse, the damned curse that chained both my body and soul.

And then it wasn’t just that.

My wolf, my other half, was imprisoned deep within my soul. I could hear him sometimes, snarling and clawing, begging for freedom. Every full moon, his agony burned through me, eating at my life force, shredding my sanity piece by piece.

I couldn’t shift.

I couldn’t heal.

Each month, I weakened, and each year, the curse sank deeper into my veins. My emotions had turned to stone, and my wolf to madness.

It began generations ago, a punishment laid by the ancestors of a damn family.

And the prophecy… the prophecy had mocked me with hope. It said that only one woman, a descendant of the same bloodline that cursed my family, could awaken both my heart and my wolf. But if she did, she would be bound to me by fate only for the curse to demand her life in exchange for my freedom.

The only woman who could make me feel alive again had to die for me to live.

I clenched my fists as I stared at the floor.

“How many years do I have left if I don’t find her?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

The seer hesitated. “Your body should still endure five more years, maybe less, Alpha. But the curse feeds faster now. Each moon, your strength wanes.”

I nodded slowly. Five years. Five years to find the woman who both cursed and could save me. Five years to make her love me willingly because that was the condition. She had to love me, truly and freely. Only then could the sacrifice be complete. Only then could her death break my chains.

I leaned back in my chair, exhaustion tightening my shoulders. My thoughts drifted to the night I first met her, her name was Anna. She had disguised herself that night, hiding beneath a baggy outfit at the underground auction.

But when I tore that disguise away… gods, the shock that hit me. The woman beneath the rags had skin like moonlight, soft and pale, and eyes that carried the stars themselves. Although I barely saw her face that day because of all the makeup she had on.

We had been strangers, yet something ancient stirred inside me, something my numb heart had no name for. For the first time in my life, I felt something, but it was toward an enemy and a saviour in one person. I needed to find her. It took some time for me to realise what was happening between us. If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have let her go.

“She will pay for what they did to me,” I whispered under my breath, more to myself than to anyone else.

“If her ancestors hadn’t cursed my bloodline, I would not bear this emptiness. She will pay for what they did to me.”

The seer watched me quietly. He knew better than to argue.

Just then, the door burst open and my Beta, Caleb, rushed in. His breathing was heavy, his expression tight with urgency.

“Alpha,” he said quickly, “we found her.”

I froze. “What?”

“Yes,” he continued.

“Her name is Anna. She is Alpha Jeff’s mate. Their wedding is set for two weeks from now.”

For a moment, my heart actually skipped. It was the first real sensation I had felt in years, even if it was just shock. My wolf growled faintly in my soul, reacting for the first time in ages. Anna. She was alive. We had been searching for her for five years now, looking around but we never found her.

My voice was low when I spoke.

“We must stop the wedding.”

The seer frowned.

“And how do you intend to do that, Alpha? You cannot just barge into another pack’s ceremony.”

A cold smile curved my lips.

“By proposing marriage to her myself.”

Caleb blinked. “You….what?”

I rose from the chair, pulling on my dark coat. “She cheated once,” I said flatly. “She let another man touch her heart when she was supposed to be married all because of money. There is no reason she won’t choose me again. I can give her more than Jeff ever could.”

Caleb only stared at me, he said nothing.

“She owes me everything,” I said sharply.

“Her ancestors bound me to this fate. Her bloodline holds the key to my suffering. She will love me. She will give herself to me willingly. And when the time comes, she will pay the price with her life!”

“Proposing marriage to her seems so impossible to achieve.” Caleb and the seer looked at each other, they were probably thinking in their heads that I was doing too much. However, I wasn’t. I could remember her telling me she was married the other time yet she slept with me. She did it for the money and since she could easily be swayed by money, I was going to do just that to her.

“I am going to get her!”

Anna, I am going to get you. I am going to make you pay for what your family did to me.