Chapter 3 : The Curse Wakes Up
1000 Words
==Elara Voss==
I woke up slowly, tangled in soft sheets that smelled like him. Pine smoke and wild storm winds.
The scent wrapped around me like a drug, heavy and warm, making my head fuzzy. For a moment the pain in my ribs was quieter than usual. Then reality crashed back in.
This was not my bed. This was Kai’s.
I sat up fast, ignoring the way my body protested. Sunlight filtered through heavy curtains. The room felt too big, too quiet.
My clothes from last night were gone, replaced by a simple oversized shirt that definitely belonged to him. My skin prickled at the thought.
The door opened before I could swing my legs off the bed.
Kai stepped in carrying a tray with water and something that smelled like broth. His eyes locked on me immediately, golden and intense. He looked like he had not slept.
“You are awake,” he said. His voice was rough, like he had been growling all night.
I pulled the sheet higher. “Where are my clothes? I need to go back to my shop. People depend on me.”
He set the tray down and crossed his arms. The muscles in his shoulders flexed. “You are not going anywhere.
The mate bond is already pulling me apart. I can feel you in my chest, Elara. Every ache, every pull. Leaving now would break us both.”
I laughed, but it came out bitter. “You do not get to decide that. I have a life. A shop. Patients waiting for remedies. Your pack made it very clear last night that I am not wanted here.”
His jaw tightened. “They will learn. The bond does not lie. You are mine, and I protect what is mine.”
The words sent a shiver down my spine, half fear, half something warmer I refused to name. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood.
My knees wobbled but I forced them steady. “I am leaving. Try to stop me and I will fight you every step.”
I pushed past him before he could answer. He did not grab me, but I felt his eyes burning into my back as I slipped out the door and down the hallway.
The house was quiet now. Most of the pack must have been outside. Good. Fewer eyes to watch me slip away.
I found a side door and stepped into the cool morning air. The woods called to me. My shop was only a few miles through the trees if I cut straight. I could make it. I had to.
My bare feet hit the dirt path. The oversized shirt brushed my thighs as I started running. Branches whipped past. My breath came in short bursts.
The pain in my chest started building again, but I pushed through it. Freedom tasted close.
Then my legs gave out.
I stumbled and fell hard against a tree trunk. Coughing tore through me. Wet and ragged. Blood splattered the leaves in front of me. Bright red. Too much.
I pressed a hand to my mouth, trying to hold it in, but another wave hit. My vision blurred with silver flashes.
Footsteps crashed through the underbrush behind me.
“Elara!”
Kai’s voice. He dropped to his knees beside me and pulled me into his arms. His hands were gentle but urgent as he brushed hair from my face.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” he growled. Then he froze.
His fingers traced the neckline of the shirt where it had slipped. His eyes widened. Under my skin, glowing silver veins pulsed like living lightning.
The Moon Goddess’s curse mark, bright and undeniable in the dappled forest light. He had never seen it before. Not like this.
“Elara,” he breathed. “What is this?”
I tried to push him away, but I had no strength left. “None of your business.”
He did not let go. Instead he lifted my chin so I had to look at him. “Tell me. Now.”
Anger surged through the pain. Years of hiding, years of loss, boiled over. I snapped.
“Your pack slaughtered my entire family when I was a child,” I said. My voice shook but I forced the words out. “They came in the night with silver and claws.
My mother hid me under the floorboards while they tore everyone else apart. This curse is what is left of that night. The Moon Goddess made sure I would never die easy, but she made sure it hurt every single day.”
Kai’s face went pale. His grip on me tightened, but not in anger. Something like guilt flashed in his golden eyes.
I kept going, the words pouring out. “So do not talk to me about mate bonds and protection. Your people did this to me. And now you want to claim me like I am some prize?”
He opened his mouth, but before he could speak his expression changed. His voice turned lethal, low and dangerous. He pinned me gently but firmly against the tree trunk, his body shielding mine as his eyes burned into me.
“Then why does your blood sing to mine like it belongs here?”
The words hung between us, raw and electric. My heart hammered against my ribs. The silver veins under my skin flared brighter, responding to him even as my mind screamed to push him away.
In the distance, a long, haunting howl echoed through the trees. Not from Kai’s pack. This one carried a different note. Hungry. Vengeful.
Another howl joined it. Then another.
Kai’s head snapped toward the sound. His body tensed like a coiled spring.
“They have come for the cursed healer,” he muttered. “The ones who
have been hunting you for twenty years.”
My stomach dropped. The rival pack was here.
- Writer
