BOUND BY THE ALPHA'S CURSE

CHAPTER FIVE

The confession hung between them, fragile and profound.

It doesn’t burn.

For a long moment, they just stared at each other. The beast was gone, retreated back behind the walls of his control, leaving a man who looked… lost. Aria’s hand was still on his back, the heat of his skin seeping into her palm. It should have felt threatening. It should have felt wrong. But in the wake of his violent outburst, it felt like the only solid thing in a spinning world.

He lifted his own hand, hesitantly, as if approaching a skittish animal, and brushed a stray tear from her cheek with his knuckle. The gesture was so at odds with the male who had just backhanded a warrior across the room that Aria’s breath caught.

“I frighten you,” he stated, his voice low. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Good.” The ghost of a smile touched his lips, there and gone in an instant. “You should be frightened of me. But you should not be frightened by me. There is a difference.” He sighed, the sound heavy with a weight she couldn’t comprehend. “I will not mark you against your will, Aria. Not like that.”

It was the closest thing to a promise she’d gotten from him. It felt like a victory, however small.

He stepped back, breaking the contact, and the moment was over. The Alpha was back, his mask of control firmly in place. “Adrian!” he barked.

The doors opened immediately. Adrian entered, his eyes scanning the room, assessing the situation. “Kael?”

“Take Aria to the library. She may choose some books.” He looked at her, his gaze unreadable. “It will give you something to do besides plotting your escape.”

It was a peace offering. A tiny sliver of freedom within her gilded cage. She simply nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

The Blackwood library was a cavernous room, smelling of old leather and dust. Floor-to-ceiling shelves were crammed with books, scrolls, and maps. It was the first place in the fortress that felt… peaceful.

“He’s never allowed anyone in here except me and Elara,” Adrian remarked, watching her run her fingers over the leather-bound spines. “Consider yourself honored.”

“Honored is not the word I’d use,” Aria muttered, but her curiosity was piqued. She pulled a heavy, ancient-looking book from a shelf. Its title was embossed in faded gold: Lineage and Lore of the Blackwood Pack.

She opened it. The pages were filled with intricate family trees and histories. Her eyes scanned the most recent entries. Kael’s name was there, connected by a line to his parents, both marked with a symbol of a wolf howling at a crescent moon—the symbol for deceased. But next to Kael’s name, there was another, a female name, Lyra, also connected by a line, also marked with the howling wolf symbol.

His sister.

The story Elara hadn’t told. Aria’s fingers traced the name. Lyra. She had died young. Was this the loss that had broken him?

She flipped further back, through generations of Alphas. Each one had a mate listed. But next to several of the mates’ names, there was a small, stark symbol she didn’t recognize: a droplet of blood, with a c***k running through it.

A sense of dread coiled in her stomach. She found the section for Kael’s grandfather. His mate’s name, Seraphina, was there. And next to it, the blood droplet.

“Looking for something in particular?”

Aria jumped, slamming the book shut. Elara stood behind her, her expression unreadable.

“Just… browsing,” Aria said, her heart pounding.

Elara’s eyes fell on the closed lineage book. “Some histories are best left unread, child. They only bring pain.”

“I need to understand,” Aria insisted. “What is that symbol? The blood droplet?”

Elara’s face tightened. “That is not my story to tell.”

“Whose story is it, then? Kael’s? He’s not exactly the sharing type.”

“The past is a locked room, Aria. Some doors, once opened, cannot be closed.” Elara took the book from her hands and slid it back onto a high shelf, out of reach. “The Alpha has requested your presence for the evening meal. In his chambers.”

The audience was over. Aria was led back to Kael’s wing, her mind racing. The blood droplet. Lyra. The cursed Alphas. The pieces were there, but she couldn’t make them fit.

Dinner was a quiet, tense affair in his sitting area. Kael watched her more than he ate.

“Did you find any books to your liking?” he asked, sipping from a goblet of wine.

“The library is… extensive,” she said carefully.

“My mother’s doing. She was human, like you.”

Aria looked up, shocked. “She was?”

A shadow crossed his face. “She did not last long in this world. The darkness of this place… it consumed her.” He set his goblet down with a sharp click. “It is why I never wanted a mate. Especially a human one.”

“Then let me go,” she whispered, seizing the opening.

“I can’t.” The finality in his voice was absolute. “It is too late for that. The bond is forged. Letting you go would be like tearing out my own soul. It would kill me, and my wolf would go feral in the process, taking countless others with him.” He leaned forward, his eyes burning. “You are stuck with me, Aria. The only choice you have is what our life together will be. A constant battle… or something else.”

Later that night, as Kael slept in the bed beside her, Aria lay awake. The memory of the lineage book haunted her. She needed answers. She waited until his breathing was deep and even, then slipped out of bed.

The fortress was silent. She crept back to the library, a single candle in her hand. She had to find that book.

She found it on the high shelf and, standing on a chair, managed to pull it down. She carried it to a table and opened it, her hands trembling. She found Kael’s grandfather’s page again. Seraphina. The blood droplet.

Flipping to the back of the book, she found an appendix of symbols. Her finger traced down the page until she found it.

The explanation was brief, but it turned her blood to ice.

The Cursed Mark: †

This symbol denotes a Luna who perished as a direct result of the Alpha’s Curse. The specific nature of the death is not recorded, as it is a shame upon the pack. It is said the Moon Goddess herself placed this burden upon the Blackwood line for a great transgression.

Aria’s breath caught. Not just died. Perished as a direct result of the Alpha’s Curse. Kael’s mother. His grandmother. All of them. Murdered by the very monsters they were meant to tame.

This was the truth Elara was hiding. This was the danger she was in. It wasn’t just his temper. It was a divine punishment. A curse that made him kill what he loved.

A floorboard creaked behind her.

She whirled around, the book slamming shut.

Kael stood in the doorway, dressed only in his sleep pants, his face a thundercloud. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at the book in her hands.

His eyes lifted to hers, and the betrayal in them was a physical blow.

“You were searching for my weaknesses,” he said, his voice dangerously quiet. “Tell me, little mate, did you find what you were looking for?”