The Curse in His Blood
1043 Words
Auren didn’t sleep that night.
Not because of fear.
Because of what she saw.
Kael’s eyes when she told him the Hollow Howl might already be inside him—they weren’t angry. They were scared.
And that terrified her more than anything.
She sat at the window of her assigned room in Ebonveil, moonlight slipping across her face like a warning.
“You were chosen not for love, but for war.”
That voice hadn’t left her. And deep down, she feared she was beginning to believe it.
Kael barged in before dawn.
“We’re going to the Oracle.”
Auren didn’t move. “Now you believe me?”
“I don’t have time to doubt you. Something’s inside me, and if it spreads—”
“You’ll destroy everyone before they realize they crowned a curse as Alpha.”
That silenced him.
“You rejected me to protect the pack, Kael. What happens when you’re the danger?”
He exhaled through his nose, eyes hard. “That’s why I need you.”
Auren stared at him. “You don’t get to need me now.”
“I don’t care about the bond. I care about what’s coming. And you’re the only one who sees it.”
The Oracle lived in the ruins of an old temple, buried in the northern cliffs—once sacred to the Moon, now all but forgotten. No one dared disturb her unless it was life or death.
Kael had decided this qualified.
Auren stood beside him, arms crossed, as the Oracle emerged from the shadows like smoke.
She was ancient—eyes clouded, hair long and silver. Yet when she looked at Auren, her mouth curved slightly.
“So,” the Oracle rasped. “The Moon’s Chosen walks in with her destroyer.”
Auren flinched. “What did you call me?”
“Chosen. But not in the way you think.”
“I was rejected,” Auren said sharply. “He cast me out.”
“And in doing so, he fulfilled the prophecy.”
Kael stepped forward. “Tell me what’s inside me.”
The Oracle tilted her head. “It’s not inside you. It is you.”
Auren’s breath caught. Kael went still.
“You carry it in your blood, Alpha. You come from a line blessed by the Moon—but corrupted by the first Howl.”
Kael’s voice turned hoarse. “The Hollow Howl is a curse story. A bedtime warning.”
“It’s your legacy,” the Oracle whispered.
She turned to Auren.
“And you, child… you were the only thing meant to stop him.”
The ride back to Ebonveil was silent.
Kael didn’t speak. He just gripped the reins tighter than he needed to, jaw locked, as if afraid of what might slip out if he opened his mouth.
Auren couldn’t stay quiet.
“You thought rejecting me would protect your Pack,” she said bitterly. “But you were protecting yourself.”
Kael didn’t respond.
“You knew something was wrong. You felt it, didn’t you?”
“I felt rage,” he said finally. “I thought it was you.”
Her heart twisted. “It was never me.”
That night, Kael locked himself in the dungeons beneath the packhouse.
“I can feel it,” he admitted through the barred gate. “Something dark. I don’t know how long I’ll stay in control.”
Auren stood on the other side, staring at him through steel.
“What do you want me to do?”
His voice cracked.
“If I lose myself… end me.”
She didn’t sleep.
She couldn’t.
Instead, she stood on the roof of the packhouse, looking up at the moon again. It didn’t look cracked tonight.
It looked like it was watching.
Elira joined her after midnight. “They’re saying Kael’s cursed,” she whispered.
“He is.”
“And you’re still here.”
Auren swallowed hard. “Because if I walk away now… I became what they said I was. Weak. Worthless. Forgettable.”
“You’re none of those.”
“I was. But the Moon broke me so I’d stop asking to be chosen.” She turned to Elira, fierce and fragile all at once. “Now I choose myself.”
The next day, everything changed.
The outer villages of Ebonveil sent word: Wolves were vanishing. No scent trails. Just silence and claw marks.
Kael wasn’t there to lead.
Auren stood before the war table, surrounded by snarling betas and whispering skeptics.
“What’s an unclaimed female doing here?” one sneered.
“She’s not even Pack.”
“She’s the reason the Alpha’s gone dark.”
Auren slammed her hand on the table. “Enough.”
The room fell quiet.
She met each of their eyes, unflinching. “I don’t need your loyalty. I don’t even need your belief. But the threat out there doesn’t care about your ranks.”
She pointed at the map. “It’s spreading. And if you keep arguing instead of acting, this Pack dies. All of you.”
Later, in the hall, someone stepped into her path.
Not a guard.
A girl. Maybe fifteen. Dirty, trembling, clutching a silver pendant shaped like a broken crescent.
Auren knelt. “What’s your name?”
“Lyra.”
“Where are your parents?”
“They… they didn’t come back.”
Auren’s throat closed.
Lyra looked up, eyes wide. “Are you the girl the Moon chose?”
Auren hesitated—then nodded once.
Lyra leaned closer.
“Then please… save us.”
Auren stood outside Kael’s dungeon door.
“I don’t care what’s in your blood,” she said quietly. “You’re not the only one cursed. I spent my whole life waiting for someone to claim me. To see me. To love me.”
She placed her palm on the stone.
“But I don’t need to be loved to fight. And I don’t need a mate to lead.”
She turned, cloak billowing behind her like a banner of rebellion.
As she walked into the war room, ready to take charge, a distant howl shattered the air.
No.
Not distant.
Inside the walls.
And it sounded like Kael.
But darker.
Hollow.
- Writer
