Verveville's Curse

Chapter29

Kael’s POV

Each night I lay awake, staring at the ceiling of my chamber, haunted by the taste of her lips and the sound of her voice. I could still feel her pressed against me when she stormed into my room, her anger like wildfire, her body trembling when I pinned her against the wall. The memory refused to loosen its grip, burning hotter than any dream.

And my wolf hated me for stopping.

“You’re a coward,” he growled inside me, the beast’s voice edged with fury. “You had her in your arms. She is ours. Claim her.”

I shut my eyes and drew in a breath that shook. Her scent lingered on me even now, a maddening sweetness. It clawed at every shred of control I had left. I wanted her. Gods, I needed her. Every part of me craved her, and yet I had shoved her away again, because I knew if I let myself give in… I would destroy her.

“You’re already destroying her,”my wolf snarled. “She thinks you don’t want her. She thinks she means nothing. And you..standing here, pretending to protect her are making her bleed more than the curse Lilith placed on ever could.”

The curse. That damned curse.

I pressed my hands into my face, fighting for air.. I didn’t know what form it would take, only that it shadowed me like a vulture, whispering ruin. If I let Willow too close, if I allowed her to tie her fate to mine, the curse would strike her down. I couldn’t let that happen.

And yet…

I remembered the way she looked at me across the breakfast table, her lips parted as if she had forgotten how to breathe. The way her eyes clung to my mouth, her hunger so clear it pierced through my soul. For a heartbeat, everything inside me stilled.

It was the truth I didn’t want to admit. She saw me. Not the Alpha. Not the cold leader. Me. And it had been so long since anyone had looked at me that way, like I was something worth wanting.

But she didn’t know.

She didn’t know the blood that stained my hands. She didn’t know the weight of my betrayal, the truth I buried deep in her mind when I erased her memory. She was in love with me because she couldn’t remember who I truly was, her enemy.

I could still see her face if the truth ever came to light. Her eyes filling with horror. Her lips whispering the word monster.

If that day came, it would kill me.

“You can’t keep running from this,” my wolf pressed, his tone sharper now, desperate. “She is our mate. You deny it, but you feel it as I do. She belongs with us.”

“She’s not meant to be here,” I rasped, my voice breaking in the empty chamber. “She wasn’t supposed to step into this world, into this war. She deserves peace, not me. Not this.”

“Peace?” my wolf scoffed. *“She doesn’t want peace. She wants you. And you’re too blind to see that pushing her away will destroy her spirit.”

I slammed my fist into the wooden post of my bed, the sound cracking through the room. My chest heaved with rage I couldn’t contain. At myself. At my world. At the fate that had tangled us together in this cruel twist.

The truth was, every time I touched her, every time I kissed her, I lost more of the walls I had built around myself. The moment her lips touched mine, I wasn’t Alpha, I wasn’t the betrayal, I was a man who wanted a woman so fiercely he’d tear the world apart to have her.

And it terrified me.

What if she regained her memory? What if she remembered what I had done? how I had taken everything from her and bound her fate to mine in silence? She would hate me. She would leave me. And if she left, I wouldn’t survive it.

I had faced wars. I had endured a lot, But the thought of Willow walking away from me… it would break me in ways I couldn’t recover from.

That was why I had to keep my distance. That was why I had to push her away, even as every instinct screamed to pull her closer. I thought ignoring her would keep her safe, that my restriction was strength. But the more I denied her, the more I realized I was unraveling.

I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

The brush of her hand in combat, the way her body arched when I corrected her stance, the fire in her eyes when she glared at me for pretending not to care. She burned through my resolve like wildfire through dry grass, leaving nothing but ash.

And tonight, with her scent still clinging to me, with her voice echoing in my head, I knew my resolve was faltering.

“Stop pretending,” my wolf whispered, softer now, almost pleading. “Stop lying to yourself. She is ours. And if you don’t claim her, someone else will. Do you want that?”

A growl ripped from my throat, primal and fierce, because the thought of anyone else touching her made my blood boil. She was mine. Every part of her, from the curve of her neck to the fire in her gaze, belonged to me.

But wanting her and keeping her were two different things.

I dragged myself to the window, staring into the forest that stretched into shadows. My hands gripped the frame until my knuckles turned white. “I don’t know how to protect you, Willow,” I whispered into the dark. “If you stay with me, you’ll bleed. If you leave, I’ll die.”

The silence pressed back against me, thick and merciless. My wolf was quiet now, brooding inside me, his hunger gnawing through the cage I had built. I knew he wouldn’t stay silent for long. Neither would she.

Willow would fight for me. She already was.

And gods help me, the next time she stood in front of me, demanding to know why I pushed her away, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself.