Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by His Ruthless Father

What the Curse Conceals

Sleep proved impossible for Lyra after Damian's discovery, and long before dawn she found herself back in Kael's study, drawn to the old texts they'd been studying in search of anything that might explain the strange, unbroken pull Damian claimed to still feel despite his rejection.

She found the passage almost by accident, tucked into the margin of a text so old the ink had faded to brown, written in a hand different from the rest of the page, as though someone had added a private note centuries after the original was written.

Beware the false bond, it read. When a curse conceals the true mate to protect the bloodline from early discovery, the false pairing may mimic the pull of fate itself, deceiving even the hearts it binds, until the curse breaks and the truth beneath it wakes.

Her hands trembled as she read the passage a second time, and then a third, understanding slowly dawning with an intensity that left her breathless.

"Kael." Her voice came out strangled. "Kael, you need to see this."

He appeared in the doorway moments later, still dressed from what looked like a sleepless night of his own, and crossed the room quickly at the urgency in her tone. She turned the book toward him, watching his expression shift as he read the passage himself.

"A false bond," he murmured. "Concealing a true one."

"Damian said the pull didn't disappear after he rejected me," Lyra said slowly, piecing the horrifying possibility together even as she spoke it aloud. "What if it's because the bond he felt was never real to begin with? What if something was hiding the true mate pairing this entire time?"

Kael's face had gone very still, and something in his silence made her chest tighten with dawning realization.

"Kael," she said carefully. "Who would benefit from concealing the true Moonfire pairing behind a false bond strong enough to fool an entire pack?"

"Someone who needed time," Kael said quietly. "Time for the bloodline to strengthen in secret before the truth could be safely revealed. Time for the true mate to be prepared for what claiming that bond would actually mean."

"And if that's true," Lyra said, her heart pounding so hard she could feel it in her throat, "who exactly would the curse have been protecting me from claiming too soon?"

Kael didn't answer immediately. When he finally met her eyes, the raw, unguarded emotion there told her everything before he spoke a single word.

"I think you already suspect the answer," he said quietly. "I think we both do."

The candle between them flickered as though the room itself held its breath.