Chosen for a Cursed Alpha

Finally, You Came

Elias sprang upright, his snarl ricocheting off the cavern walls like thunder.

Tamsin moved without hesitation, stepping protectively between us. The wolf’s lips curled back, exposing fangs sharp enough to shred flesh and splinter bone.

But he didn’t attack.

Instead, his wild gold eyes caught mine, and for a heartbeat, I glimpsed something raw in their depths: a silent, drowning plea for help.

Then he threw back his head and howled.

The sound was anguished and haunting, filled with a loneliness that echoed my own.

My wolf answered before I could stop her, sending her own howl spiraling into the darkness.

In the sudden silence that followed, Elias slowly padded down from his platform.

He stopped a few feet away and lowered his massive head until we were at eye level.

“Finally,” he rasped. “You came.”

His voice broke the silence, low and ragged, each word scraping against the cavern walls.

Tamsin gasped beside me. “He hasn’t spoken in over a year.”

But her words barely registered. I was lost in those gold eyes, in the silent stories of pain they carried.

“I’m here,” I whispered, not understanding why tears slipped down my cheeks. “I’m here, Elias.”

The great wolf’s eyes drifted closed, and he collapsed at my feet like a puppet with cut strings.

“He’s never done that before,” Tamsin breathed, wonder filling her voice. “Zora, I think the seer was right. I think you really might be his salvation.”

I knelt beside the unconscious wolf, my fingers threading through his midnight fur, and felt something quietly shift inside my chest.

Maybe I had come here to run from Severin. Yet as I gazed at the cursed Alpha who had battled shadows for three years, I wondered if fate had led me to him from the very start.

What I did not know was that Tamsin had sent an urgent message to the Thorncrown Council.

Her message read, “He responded to her. Get everything ready. We will perform the ceremony at the next blood moon. We cannot wait any longer. He is running out of time.”

Three days earlier, in Greyfen.

I should have known something was wrong when Zora didn’t call.

The whole day had revolved around Vienne: her physician’s visit, a gathering with neighboring packs to announce our bond, and a parade of congratulations that rang hollow in my chest. My friends had hovered, fawning over Vienne as if she were a priceless relic restored to its pedestal.

“She’s even more beautiful than I remembered,” Ronan, my head warrior, said with an appreciative whistle that made my wolf bristle with possessive pride.

“And so graceful,” Sabine, one of the pack’s senior female wolves, added. “Not like some omegas who don’t know their place.”

The comment was sly, but I caught the sting beneath it. Sabine had never approved of my arrangement with Zora. Too lowborn, she once said. Too hungry for an Alpha’s notice.

I wanted to defend Zora, but Vienne’s laughter and the gentle squeeze of her hand made the moment dissolve like mist.

Through it all, Vienne played the perfect mate, smiling through her frailty and enchanting everyone with the lilting laugh I remembered from childhood. Yet sometimes I caught her watching me with an unreadable look. Calculating, almost.

As dusk settled and the gathering faded, Vienne pulled me aside.

“Severin,” she said softly, her fingers trailing down my arm in a way that should have sent shivers through me but somehow didn’t. “Could I stay at your house tonight? I hate being alone in mine, especially with the silver poisoning getting worse.”

Her voice trailed off, and her eyes filled with tears that tugged at something protective in my chest.

But I had already decided to check on Zora. She had been more upset last night than I had ever seen her, and guilt had gnawed at me all day, even as irritation lingered over her outburst about the pendant.

“Not tonight,” I said, keeping my voice gentle. “I’ll take you home and make sure you’re comfortable. I also want to check that your medical supplies are properly stocked.”

Something flickered across Vienne’s face, perhaps anger or disappointment, but it vanished so quickly that I wondered whether I had imagined it.

“Of course,” she said with the same sweet smile. “You’re always so thoughtful.”

Driving her home and settling her in for the night, the unease in my gut only deepened. I had sent Zora three messages that day, checking on her after our argument.

No response. Not even the little read notification that told me she had seen them.

My wolf paced restlessly beneath my skin, whining in a way that irritated me. Zora was fine. She was probably sulking, hoping I would grovel and apologize for prioritizing my actual mate over her feelings.

Except Zora didn’t sulk. She never had, not in all the years I had known her.

When I finally returned to pack lands under the rising moon, I went straight to my house. I needed to scrub away Vienne’s cloying perfume, which clung to my skin no matter how far I tried to escape it. My wolf growled at every trace of her scent, which made no sense. Vienne was our mate now. We should have wanted her scent.

But all I could think about was how Zora’s cabin always smelled of wildflowers and fresh rain.

As hot water poured over me, I made up my mind. I had kept Zora at arm’s length, insisting it was best to separate my chosen mate from her. But what was Zora to me, really?

The omega who saved my life. The woman who sacrificed everything to heal me when everyone else had given up. The one who held me through the darkest nights of wolfsbane poisoning and whispered promises that I would survive, that I would be strong again.

The one I had kissed and promised to claim, before Vienne’s return turned my world inside out.

Guilt churned in my stomach as I dried off and dressed in fresh clothes. I had avoided this decision long enough. It was time to face the truth: keeping Zora in that isolated cabin on the outskirts was dangerous and impractical.

If rogues struck again, as they had more and more lately, she would be exposed and alone. Too far to call for help, too isolated to defend herself.

I had already told Alden to ready a guest room in the main Greyfen house. It was bright, with garden views and space for her herbs and books. She would be close enough for me to keep her safe.

That was all this was about: safety. The practical decision of a Pack Alpha.

My wolf snarled at the lie, but I ignored him.

Downstairs, I found Luna Cordelia in the main hall. Vienne’s mother, Zora’s foster mother, she still wore the Luna title from her late husband’s old pack. She had no real authority in Greyfen, but since Vienne became Greyfen’s Luna, Cordelia had started weaving herself into pack business, always insisting she acted on her daughter’s behalf. She looked frazzled, clutching paperwork that likely dealt with the looming Dawnreach trade talks.

“Luna Cordelia,” I greeted her with a nod. “I’m going to check on Zora. We had a disagreement last night, and I want to make sure she’s all right.”

Cordelia’s expression flickered with something I couldn’t identify. Surprise? Relief?

“Oh, Alpha Severin, you won’t find her there,” she said quickly. “Zora left this morning to gather some rare healing plants. She said it was urgent, something about a remedy she had been researching for the pack healers."