The Cursed Alpha and his Chosen Mate

Book 4

In fury, she turned and gave me the hardest slap of my life, a detonation of force that stole the very air from my lungs and left me suspended in a moment of pure, unadulterated shock. The sound was not merely a sound; it was an event. It cracked through the sterile, hushed atmosphere of the hospital room like a whip, My head, for a split second, felt weightless as it whipped to the side, a white-hot brand left by her palm.

And for what?

All just for taking her shirt off to search for the mark on her back. The mark of Polaris. The star-shaped birthmark that appeared only on one’s destined mate. The proof I had been so desperate to find.

Her eyes were blazing with fury. “I should have left you there!” she hissed, her voice trembling between anger and hurt. “You think you can just do whatever you want because you are an Alpha? I don't give a f**k!”

She pushed me with all the strength she had in her If I could say. I barely moved, but the gesture alone stung more than the slap.

“I just saved your damn life,” she said through gritted teeth, as I instinctively clutched at my ribs, where the deep, throbbing ache from the silver-laced wound was beginning to creep back in.

“And this is the kind of s**t you pull?” she snapped, her voice cracking as she glared at me. “You must be a dumbass!”

She turned away, storming toward the door, her hair whipping behind her like a dark flame.

But her words, her anger, it all began to fade into a distant roar, drowned out by a much more immediate and terrifying internal symphony. The pain I had been holding at bay, the agony that was the constant companion of my curse, came roaring back with a vengeance. It was not a simple ache; it was a living thing, a beast of molten fire and ice that clawed through my veins, shredding them from the inside out. It started in my chest, a crushing pressure that built and built until I thought my ribs would splinter. My temperature skyrocketed, a feverish heat that made the thin hospital gown feel like a shroud of wool. My heart hammered against my sternum like a trapped animal, a frantic, panicked rhythm. And my wolf… my other half, the primal spirit that lived within me… he was not just growling. He was howling. A long, mournful, agonized sound that only I could hear, a cry of pure suffering that reverberated through my very soul.

Not now… I begged internally, my mind a haze of pain. Not here… not in front of her…

"Wait…” I gasped, clutching my chest. “Wait please…”

She stopped her hand immediately on the doorknob. And turned around, her anger vanishing as fear replaced it.

“What is wrong with you?” she asked, rushing back to me. Her voice softened, trembling slightly. “Hey…hey, let’s get you back to the bed, okay?”

Before I could argue, she slipped her small hand into mine, her skin warm and soft. She pulled my arm over her shoulder, trying to support me as we made our way back toward the bed.

And then it happened.

As her skin pressed against mine, a wave of something else washed over me, something cool and soothing, like the first rain of spring on a scorched desert. The excruciating pain began to recede. The burning in my veins didn’t just lessen; it was extinguished, as if her touch was a bucket of water thrown on an inferno. The frantic pounding in my heart slowed, its rhythm settling into a steady, strong beat. The agony that had been my constant companion, the curse that had been slowly killing me for years, simply… stopped. It vanished. Every point of contact between us was a point of healing. Her warmth didn’t just calm the storm raging inside me; it silenced it completely. My wolf ceased his howling, his growls fading into a quiet, confused whine, then into a deep, resonant hum of contentment. My breathing slowed.

What in the name of the Goddess is happening to me?

Before my mind, already reeling from the sudden absence of pain, could process the miracle, my instincts, primal, possessive, and utterly overwhelming, took complete control. I didn’t think. I acted. I reached out with my free arm, wrapping it around her waist, and pulled her flush against me. She gasped, a small, startled sound that was lost as our bodies collided. Her softness molded to my hardness, her curves fitting against me as if they had been designed to do so. Our breaths mingled in the space between us, hot and uneven, a chaotic symphony. I could feel her heart, a frantic, fluttering thing, beating like a trapped bird’s wings against my chest.

And before I knew what was happening to me, I was already kissing her.

Her lips were soft. So soft that for a moment, I forgot who I was, forgotten what I was, forgotten that I was supposed to be the Alpha who ruled with power and pride. All I knew was that the pain was gone, and her lips tasted like the only cure I’d ever needed.

For a heartbeat, she was frozen in shock. Then she fought back. Her small fists beat against my chest, desperate, futile little blows that were more a symbol of her resistance than a genuine attempt to push me away. “Stop,” she mumbled against my lips, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. The sheer, overwhelming relief of being pain-free was an addiction, and she was the drug. Because for the first time in an eternity, since the curse first began burning through my blood, I felt truly, overwhelmingly alive.

Then a new kind of pain, sharp and searing, lanced through my haze. She bit my lip. Hard. I hissed, pulling back instantly, the metallic, coppery taste of my own blood flooding my mouth. I looked down at her. Her eyes were wide, not with fury now, but with a wild, shocked fear. Her cheeks were flushed a deep crimson, and her breath came in ragged, uneven gasps. Before I could utter a single word of apology or explanation, she slapped me again.

The second one was worse. It wasn’t because of the pain, it was what came after. As her palm connected with my other cheek, her fury finally broke. Tears welled in her eyes, shimmering and trembling before spilling over and tracking down her flushed cheeks. “That was my first kiss,” she whispered, her voice cracking under the weight of the confession, each word a shard of glass.

"I froze."

“It was meant for my husband,” she continued, her voice breaking completely, “not for an asshole like you.”

Her words hit me like a blade through the heart.

She turned away, wiping her eyes furiously. “You’re an asshole!” she spat again, her voice shaking. “If I knew this was how you're going to behave I would have left you to die there.

I didn’t stop her. I didn’t say a word. I just stood there, watching her as she walked away, her small frame trembling, her anger fading into tears.

“The door slammed behind her.”

“And silence filled the room.”

My lips still tingled. My wolf was restless. I could hear his low growl inside me hungry, confused, wanting more.

“Nobody has ever dared to slap me,” I muttered under my breath, touching my cheek where her hand had landed. “Not once. Not even my enemies.”

I exhaled sharply, running a hand through my hair. “But you did, Corvina Vardan.”

Her name rolled off my tongue like a secret.

I smiled bitterly, tasting blood on my lip.

“I need to learn more about you,” I whispered. “You’re not just any human. You can’t be.”

Because no human could calm an Alpha’s pain just by touching him. No ordinary woman could silence the curse that had been destroying me for years.

My heart was still racing, but not from the pain anymore. From her.

I sat down on the edge of the bed, staring at the door she had disappeared through. The air still carried her scent laced with something wild. Like the earth after rain.

My wolf growled again inside me, softer this time, almost like a purr.

"Mate."

I shook my head. “No. That’s not possible. She’s human. She can’t be my mate.”

But deep down, I knew the truth. The mark on her back. The way her touch soothed my curse. The way my heart reacted to her presence.

The goddess never made mistakes.

And yet… how could my mate be a human who despised me after what I just did to her now.?

I leaned back against the bed, staring at the ceiling, my thoughts spinning. Every nerve in my body still remembered the warmth of her lips, the softness of her breath. The way she trembled under my touch was not out of passion, but anger. And yet, I wanted to feel it again.

What kind of monster did that make me?

The moonlight slipped through the cracks of the window, casting a pale glow across the room. I could still feel the echo of her slap on my skin a reminder that even an Alpha could be humbled.

Maybe I deserved it.

Maybe I crossed a line I shouldn’t have.

But damn… the way she looked at me before she walked away it wasn’t just hatred. There was fear. Confusion. Something deeper that she was trying to hide.

I bit my lip again, recalling the taste of her. “Your lips are too soft for your own good,” I muttered, smirking faintly. “And I’ll make sure I taste them again… but next time, you won’t be able to walk away so easily.”

My chest rumbled with a low growl, half amusement, half longing.

Where do I even begin, I asked myself reaching for my phone beside me to call Joel.

Come pick me up at the hospital. I only said not to wait for a response and ended the call, not wanting to say much for now.