BOUND BY THE ALPHA'S CURSE

CHAPTER TWO

The silence after Kael left was louder than his growl. Aria sat frozen, the weight of his threat“The only thing more dangerous than me… is losing me” pressing down on her. The healer, Elara, moved quietly, gathering her supplies.

“He won’t actually… keep me here, will he?” Aria’s voice was small, the plea of a child hoping a nightmare wasn’t real.

Elara’s smile was gentle but held a world of sorrow. “Child, he just declared you his fated mate in front of his entire pack. There is no ‘letting you go’. For a wolf, especially an Alpha, the bond is absolute.”

So the legends were true, all the stories I heard about werewolves and mates were all true and now I am the mate to an Alpha! How's that even possible? Aria thought to herself but she didn't say it out loud.

“But I’m not a wolf! I don’t want this bond!” The words burst from her, fueled by a fresh wave of grief. “My family is dead. I need to… I need to bury them. I need to go home.”

“This is your home now,” a new voice said from the doorway.

Aria flinched. It was the other one from the forest—Adrian. He leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed, his expression far more calculating than Elara’s. He held out a bundle of dark, soft fabric. “I brought you some clothes. Can’t have you running around in a nightgown.”

“I have no intention of running around,” Aria snapped, though she took the clothes. “I intend to run away.”

Adrian actually chuckled. “I’d pay good money to see you try. It would be the most entertaining thing to happen around here in decades.” His humor faded. “But he’d find you. And the state he’d be in when he did… you don’t want that. Trust me.”

“Why should I trust any of you?” She clutched the clothes to her chest like a shield.

“You shouldn’t,” he said bluntly. “But you should believe me when I tell you the truth. Kael is… unstable. Your presence is like throwing oil on a fire. It’s calming him and driving him mad at the same time. Right now, you’re the most dangerous and most protected being in this entire territory.”

Before she could retort, a low, earth-shaking roar echoed through the stone corridors. It was pure, undiluted fury. The sound made the vial on Elara’s table rattle.

Adrian’s posture went rigid. “Moon’s grace,” he muttered, pushing off the doorframe. “Elara, with me. Now.”

“What is that?” Aria asked, her blood running cold.

“That,” Adrian said, his face grim, “is what happens when someone challenges the Alpha’s claim. Stay here. Bolt the door.”

They rushed out, leaving Aria alone. The roar came again, closer this time, followed by the sound of shattering stone and panicked shouts. The possessive, terrifying energy she’d felt from Kael was now exploding through the fortress.

Her hands trembled as she quickly changed into the trousers and tunic, her mind racing. This was her chance. While he was distracted. While the fortress was in chaos.

She crept to the door and cracked it open. The corridor was empty, the torches flickering wildly as bodies rushed past the far end, heading towards the main hall. She could slip away, find a kitchen door, a servant’s passage… something.

She darted into the shadowy hall, moving away from the noise. She turned a corner and found herself in a narrower, darker passage. She ran, her bare feet silent on the cold stone, hope a frantic bird in her chest.

She rounded another corner and slammed directly into a solid, immovable wall of muscle.

Strong hands shot out, gripping her arms to steady her. She looked up and her hope curdled into pure dread.

It was the scarred warrior from the hall, Roric. His eyes, a cold, flat grey, swept over her with open contempt.

“Well, well,” he sneered, his grip tightening painfully. “The little human stray. Looking for a way out?”

“Let go of me,” Aria demanded, trying to pull back.

“Or what? You’ll call your Alpha?” He laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. “You’re the cause of this. He was a strong, if cursed, leader before you. Now he’s a beast on a leash, and you’re the hand holding it. Maybe the pack would be better off if you had a little… accident.”

He began to drag her down the passage, away from the main hall, towards a dark, descending staircase that smelled of damp and decay. The dungeons.

“He’ll kill you for this!” she cried, struggling against his iron hold.

“He’ll have to prove I didn’t find you trying to escape and you fell,” Roric growled, his face close to hers. “A tragic end for a fragile human.”

Suddenly, the air in the passage shifted. The temperature dropped. The distant sounds of chaos cut off entirely, replaced by a silence so profound it was more terrifying than any noise.

Roric froze, his head whipping around.

At the end of the passage, a shadow detached itself from the wall.

Kael.

He moved with a predator’s silence, his golden eyes glowing in the dim light. There was no rage on his face. It was a cold, dead calm, and it was a thousand times worse. Blood dripped from a gash on his cheek, and his knuckles were raw.

“Alpha,” Roric stammered, immediately releasing Aria and stepping back. “I found her wandering. I was just returning her to—”

“You touched what is mine.” Kael’s voice was soft, a whisper of death. It wasn’t a question.

“I was only...”

Kael moved.

Aria didn’t even see it. One second he was ten feet away, the next, Roric was pinned against the stone wall, Kael’s hand clamped around his throat, his feet dangling.

“You laid your hands on my mate,” Kael whispered, his face inches from Roric’s. The air shimmered around him, the outline of a massive, spectral wolf overlapping his form. Albert was right there, barely contained.

“Kael, don’t!” Adrian’s voice echoed from behind them, but he didn’t dare approach.

Kael ignored him. His gaze was locked on Roric. “What is the punishment for threatening the Luna?”

Roric’s eyes were wide with terror, his face turning blue. He couldn’t speak.

Kael leaned closer, his voice dropping to a intimate, horrific purr. “It’s death.”

Aria watched, paralyzed, as Kael’s free hand shifted, his fingers elongating into brutal claws. He was going to do it. He was going to tear this man’s throat out right in front of her.

“Stop!”

The word ripped from her, louder than she thought possible.

Kael froze. His head turned slowly, those burning golden eyes locking onto hers. The world narrowed to that single, searing connection.

“Don’t,” Aria pleaded, her voice shaking. “Please. Don’t kill him.”

For a long, heart-stopping moment, he just stared at her. The beast and the man warring in his gaze. The entire pack, gathered at the end of the passage, held its breath.

Then, Kael’s lips curled into a cruel, possessive smile.

“For you,” he said, his voice a low thrum of power that vibrated in her very bones, “I will spare his life.” He leaned in, his breath ghosting over her ear as he whispered the words that sealed her fate. “But you will owe me for this mercy, mate. And I always collect my debts.”