CHAPTER FIVE
991 Words
Mira
I had barely finished that thought when the forest shifted around us. Branches snapping, wind rising, the air tearing itself into sharp, violent pieces. Something inside Arden snapped at the same time.
His hand tightened on the broken cuff he'd removed from my wrist. His breath hitched once, twice, and then he staggered back like someone had struck him across the spine.
"Arden?" I whispered.
His head snapped up.
And for one horrifying moment…
His eyes were no longer silver.
They were pitch-black.
Not natural.
Not wolf.
Not anything I'd ever seen.
A cold shiver raced down my spine.
"Don't come closer," he growled, but his voice sounded wrong. Too low. Too distorted.
And too close to losing control.
Before I could move, the ground trembled beneath his feet as he dropped to one knee, fingers clawing into the dirt. A raw gasp tore out of him.
"The curse," he forced out. "It's getting worse."
My throat tightened.
Because I suddenly realized something terrifying:
He wasn't trying to scare me.
He was warning me.
His wolf was slipping.
And once an Alpha King lost control… There was nothing left but destruction.
"Arden," I said softly, "why didn't you tell me it was this bad?"
His head jerked up, sweat dripping down his temple. "Because I knew," he swallowed hard, forcing the words through clenched teeth, "you'd run deeper into these cursed woods rather than help me."
I stiffened.
Those words shouldn't have hurt.
They shouldn't have meant anything.
But they did.
Because he wasn't wrong.
I had been ready to vanish again.
To survive alone.
To stay unseen.
To stay unclaimed by anyone.
Especially him.
His breathing became uneven, ragged, and sharp. His hand clawed at his chest as veins darkened under his skin.
"Mira," he gasped, "stay back. I won't risk hurting you."
"No," I whispered before I could stop myself. "Don't you dare shift, not like this."
He let out a shuddering laugh, broken at the edges. "I don't get to choose anymore."
A violent tremor ripped through him. Bones cracked. His spine arched. His claws slid out.
And suddenly I was staring at a wolf fighting its own body.
Something inside me. Some stupid, soft, terrified part moved on instinct. I knelt in front of him and grabbed his jaw between my hands.
The moment my skin touched his, the world changed.
A spark tore through my palms.
Silver. Hot. Sharp enough to make me gasp.
Arden froze.
The black in his eyes flickered.
Then receded.
Then surged again.
He growled. A sound torn between pain and warning. "Mira… let go."
"No." My voice didn't shake this time. "You came for me. Now I'm here. Deal with it."
Another tremor shook him. His claws dug deeper into the earth.
"You don't understand," he rasped. "When the curse attacks, I can't hold my wolf. I can't," his breath hitched. "I can't protect you from him."
I leaned closer, ignoring the fear clawing at my ribs.
"You already failed to protect me once," I said quietly. "So let's not pretend protection is something you still get to offer."
His eyes shut in pain.
Not physical.
Something deeper.
Something he didn't have words for.
"Mira…"
The sound of my name in his voice almost cracked me open.
Almost.
But then he snarled. A violent, guttural sound, and he tore himself away from me, stumbling back until his spine hit a tree. His chest heaved, sweat dripping onto the leaves below.
"You need to leave," he hissed. "Now."
"I'm not leaving."
My voice was firmer this time.
Stronger.
And it wasn't because of him.
It was because I was tired of running.
Tired of hiding.
Tired of being nothing but prey.
His eyes flew open, silver again, flickering violently, and for a moment… for a single heartbeat… something like relief flashed across his face.
Then the black swallowed the silver whole.
"No—no, no, no," he growled, gripping his head. "Get away, Mira, NOW."
A branch snapped behind us.
I whirled around.
A rogue stood at the edge of the clearing, crossbow raised, a silver-tipped bolt aimed at my heart.
"Step away from her," he sneered. "Or I'll put this through your throat."
Arden erupted, half wolf, half man.
A snarl ripped from his chest, shaking the trees.
The rogue fired.
I didn't think.
I didn't breathe.
I moved.
The bolt sliced my arm instead of my heart and the pain burned like fire through my veins.
I crumpled, but not before hearing Arden roar.
Not a warning.
Not a threat.
A promise.
He tore the rogue apart in seconds. The air thickened with blood. The forest hushed in fear.
By the time the wolf king turned back to me, his eyes were silver once more but softer, trembling, haunted.
His wolf had nearly killed me.
A rogue had nearly killed me.
And the curse was killing him.
We were both falling apart.
Arden knelt in front of me, slowly, like a man approaching something sacred.
"You're hurt," he whispered.
"I'll live," I muttered, clutching my bleeding arm.
He reached toward me
Instinct made me jerk back.
Fear.
Memory.
Pain.
Something inside him broke at that tiny movement. His expression was cracked, raw, and unguarded.
"Mira…" he said softly, voice shaking, "I know you want nothing to do with me. I know I deserve that."
He swallowed hard.
"But I swear on my crown, on my wolf, on every heartbeat I have left—I will not let anything harm you again.”
I stared at him.
At the king who had destroyed me.
At the man who was dying because of it.
At the mate I had never asked for.
At the curse tearing him apart.
"You can't promise that," I whispered.
His gaze locked with mine.
"Yes," he said, voice steady despite the tremor in his hands. "I can."
Behind him, the forest wind shifted, cold and strange.
- Writer
