Claimed By The Cursed Alpha

Chapter Seven – A Monster in Chains

Lyra’s POV

Life in the Shadowclaw place got into a weird kind of normal. The wolves mostly just looked at me like I was a strange rock they’d found – not sure what to do with me, but not really bothering me either. Better than getting their teeth in my neck, I guess. Kael was still Kael. Quiet, always watching. He’d given me a room, which was way better than sleeping outside.

I spent a lot of time just walking around the tunnels and the open areas. It wasn’t like my old pack’s place, which was all neat and planned. Shadowclaw felt rough, like it had just grown that way. The wolves here were rough too. They had scars and looked like they’d seen some hard times. It hit me that Shadowclaw wasn’t just a bunch of bad wolves; it was where the ones who didn’t fit anywhere else ended up. Wolves who were cursed, or broke the rules, or were just… different. Even with Kael being all bossy and the forced mate thing, I felt a little bit like I understood them, being an outsider myself.

One day, I was just wandering and found this heavy, metal door tucked away in a dark corner. There was this low growl coming from behind it that made the hairs on my arms stand up. But I’m nosy, always have been, so I pushed it open. The air inside was cold and smelled bad, like wet dog and old meat.

My eyes took a minute to get used to the dark, and then I saw him.

Chained to the wall was this huge wolf. Bigger than Kael. His fur looked all messed up, and his eyes glowed in the dark like he was crazy mad. He kept pulling at the chains, making them clang against the stone.

“Who are you?” I whispered, stepping back a little.

He just growled at me, a nasty sound.

Then Kael’s voice came from behind me. “That’s Calyx. My brother.”

“Your brother?” I looked at the wild wolf, then back at Kael. They didn’t seem anything alike.

“He’s… sick,” Kael said, his voice flat. “The Moon Goddess cursed him.”

“Cursed him how?” I asked.

Kael didn’t want to talk about it. “It’s a long story. Not now.”

After that, I kept going back to see Calyx. Kael and some of the other big wolves would bring him raw meat. He’d just tear it apart and eat it like he hadn’t eaten in days. He never changed into a human, never made any sounds except for those low growls and sometimes these sad, whining noises. He was like an animal, just living on instinct, stuck in those chains.

The other Shadowclaw wolves stayed away from the dungeons. They’d talk about Calyx in whispers, like he was some kind of monster the Goddess had sent to scare them. He was a reminder of what could happen if you messed with her.

But I couldn’t help feeling… something for Calyx. Maybe it was seeing all that power locked up. Maybe it was the way his eyes sometimes looked, like there was still something human in there, buried under the anger. Or maybe it was just that I felt like I was locked up too, in a life I didn’t ask for.

The next afternoon, I went down to the dungeons again. Calyx was pacing back and forth, the chains clanging on the stone floor. I sat down a ways away, just watching him. He finally stopped and looked at me. For a second, his eyes weren’t all wild. It was like he knew I was there. Then he made this soft, sad sound, like he was hurting.

It was just a little thing, but it made my chest feel tight. There was something trapped in that big, scary wolf, something that was suffering. And for the first time since Kael dragged me to this place, I felt like I connected with someone other than him. It was a weird feeling, being connected to a monster in chains.

I started going down to see him more. I’d just sit there, quiet, watching him. Sometimes he’d ignore me, just pacing and growling. Other times, he’d look at me, and I’d see that flicker in his eyes, that little bit of something else. One time, he even reached out a paw, just a little bit, towards me. I didn’t move, scared he’d try to bite me, but it didn’t feel like he wanted to. It felt… curious.

I started talking to him, just telling him about my day, about how weird everything was here. I didn’t know if he understood, but sometimes he’d stop growling when I talked, like he was listening. It was probably just my imagination, but it made me feel a little less alone in this strange place. Calyx was a monster, yeah, but he was Kael’s brother. And in a pack of outcasts, family probably meant something, even a messed-up family like theirs.