Alpha's Cursed Mate

chapter 3

The ice cracked beneath them like a gunshot.

"Hold on!" the stranger shouted, pulling Evie up from the cliff edge with surprising power. They tumbled backward into the snow just as the ledge broke away fully, crashing onto the frozen river below.

Evie scrambled away from him, her torn wedding dress dragging in the snow. Her mind raced with questions. Who was this man? Why were his eyes that strange amber color? And most importantly—why had he called her "frost-heart"?

"Stay back," she warned, holding up her hands. "I don't know who you are."

The man stood slowly, keeping his distance. He was tall, with broad shoulders and dark hair streaked with silver. A jagged scar ran down his left face, and Evie could have sworn it glowed faintly blue.

"My name is Kieran Storm," he said, his deep voice almost lost in the wild wind. "And I'm trying to help you, Evelyn Frost."

"How do you know my name?" Evie demanded, backing away further.

Kieran's mouth twitched into a half-smile. "Everyone in Silverpine knows the bride who was left at the altar today."

The words hit Evie like a slap. Anger and shame burned through her again, hot despite the freezing air.

"Don't remind me," she snapped. Without thinking, she turned and ran into the bush, away from Kieran and his knowing eyes.

"Wait!" he called after her. "It's not safe! The storm is getting worse!"

Evie ignored him. She didn't need his help or his pity. She had survived worse than a snowstorm before.

The forest grew thicker, the trees crowded together like old friends sharing secrets. Snow fell harder now, big flakes that stuck to Evie's eyelashes and melted on her hot cheeks. The wind pushed against her, as if trying to turn her back.

"I won't go back," she told the wind. "Not ever."

Her wedding dress caught on twigs, tearing more with each step. The beautiful ice-blue cloth that had taken months to make was now in tatters. Just like her plans. Just like her pride.

Evie had been so careful. Three years of pretending to love Adrian. Three years of smiling at his pack members, the same dogs who had helped kill her family. Three years of planning how she would destroy them from within.

And it had all fallen apart in seconds.

"I was so stupid," she whispered, the words making little clouds in the cold air. "So, so stupid."

The trees opened into a small opening. Evie stopped, realizing she had no idea where she was. The falling snow had hidden her tracks, and the sky was dark with storm clouds. No stars to guide her. No moon to light her way.

Just endless, blinding white.

A wolf howled in the distance. Then another, closer. Evie shivered, and not just from the cold. Werewolves could track food for miles. What if Adrian had sent his pack to find her? What if they weren't coming to bring her back, but to make sure she never told her side of the story?

Panic rose in her throat. She needed safety. Safety. But there was nothing but trees and snow as far as she could see.

The temperature dropped suddenly, making her gasp. Her breath came out in white puffs that froze in mid-air. Ice crystals formed on her eyelashes and the ends of her silver-blonde hair.

"Keep moving," she told herself, teeth trembling. "J-just keep moving."

But which way? The storm had turned the world into a whirling white blur. Evie took a step forward, then another. Her bare feet had gone numb long ago, which was a blessing. She couldn't feel the cuts anymore.

Time became strange in the white quiet. Had she been walking for minutes or hours? The world reduced to just putting one foot in front of the other. Step. Breathe. Step. Breathe.

Evie didn't notice when she started crying again. The tears froze on her face like tiny diamonds.

"I just wanted justice," she whispered to the unhearing trees. "I just wanted them to pay for what they did."

Her legs gave out without notice. Evie fell to her knees in the deep snow, too tired to get up again. The cold was inside her now, reaching for her heart with icy fingers.

Maybe this was better. Maybe this was what she deserved for thinking she could play such a dangerous game. For thinking she could beat Adrian at his own game.

"I'm sorry," she said, though she wasn't sure who she was talking to. Her dead family? Herself? The uncaring sky?

As her eyes drifted shut, something warm pulsed against her chest. Her mother's ring, still hanging around her neck, began to glow with a soft blue light. The same color as her eyes. The same color as the streak in her hair that had appeared the night her family died.

Evie didn't notice the glow. She was too far gone, slipping into the dangerous warmth that comes before freezing to death. Her body slumped sideways into the snow.

The locket's glow got stronger, pulsing like a heartbeat. Inside it, the frozen tears began to melt for the first time in eighteen years. A single drop of water left the locket, falling onto the snow beside Evie's hand.

Where it touched, a perfect ice flower bloomed, crystal petals unfurling in the darkness.

Then another flower appeared. And another. Soon, a circle of ice flowers surrounded Evie's still form, their blue glow forming a dome of light in the storm.

Miles away, in the secret cave, Adrian Blackwood screamed as the black veins on his neck spread to his face.

"Something's happening," he gasped to the dark figure. "What's happening?"

"Her power awakens," the figure said, excitement in its voice. "Sooner than expected."

"Is that... good?" Adrian asked between waves of pain.

The figure put a cold hand on Adrian's forehead. "It is important. Rest now. Your part comes later."

In another part of the bush, Kieran Storm followed a trail only he could see. Not footprints—they had vanished long ago—but a light shimmer in the air, like heat waves over summer roads. Except these waves were cold, ice-cold.

"Hold on," he whispered to the wind. "I'm coming."

The scar on his cheek burned and glowed brighter, reacting to something calling to it. The curse mark on his chest—the spiral of dark veins counting down to his death—throbbed with each step that brought him closer to her.

Fifty-seven days left to live. Unless he found her in time. Unless the promise was real.

Kieran broke into a run, moving faster than any average human could. His eyes glowed orange in the darkness, seeing what others couldn't—a blue light in the distance, pulsing like a beacon.

When he reached the clearing, he stopped in shock. Ice flowers circled Evie's body, their crystal petals moving gently as if in a breeze, though the air was still. The snow beneath her didn't melt—instead, it had made a perfect cushion of tiny snowflakes, each one different, each one beautiful.

"Impossible," Kieran breathed.

As he stepped closer, the ice flowers turned toward him like real flowers tracking the sun. The blue light grew brighter, almost blinding.

Then, just as quickly, the light vanished. The ice flowers shattered into tiny pieces that rose into the air and disappeared. The glow from Evie's locket faded.

The forest returned to darkness, as if nothing magical had happened at all.

Kieran knelt beside Evie, looking for a pulse. It was there, but weak and fluttery like a bird's wing.

"Found you at last," he whispered, taking her frozen form in his arms. "Hold on, little frost-heart."

As he lifted her, the locket fell open against his chest, showing the tiny compartment inside. The frozen teardrop was gone, replaced by a scrap of parchment bearing words in a language no human had spoken for ages.

Words Kieran somehow understood perfectly: When frost and storm join, the shadow falls. Blood calls to blood. Truth hidden in plain sight.

Behind him, a twig snapped.

Kieran spun around, clutching Evie protectively.

At the edge of the clearing stood a huge white wolf, its blue eyes fixed on them. Around its neck hung a charm matching Evie's locket.

The wolf growled, low and dangerous.

"I mean her no harm," Kieran said, knowing the thing would understand.

The wolf c****d its head, as if considering his words. Then it threw back its head and howled—a sound of warning and challenge that echoed through the quiet forest.

Answering screams came from all directions. Many wolves. Getting closer.

The white wolf stared at Kieran one last time, then turned and disappeared into the trees.

Leaving him alone with Evie. And surrounded by approaching foes.