The Cursed Mate Bond

Dante

I carried Elena through the forest, up the mountain path to my tower, trying to ignore how right she felt in my arms.

Her body was warm against my chest. Her scent filled my nose with something sweet like honey and rain.

My wolf howled inside me, demanding I claim what was ours. But I pushed those thoughts away.

She would be dead soon. Just like Helena. Just like Miranda. Just like Cara.

The tower stood alone on the cliff edge. Nobody came here because they feared me.

Three stories of black stone with narrow windows and heavy doors reinforced with iron bars. Not to keep others out, but to keep me in when the beast took over.

Inside was just as cold and empty as my life. Bare stone walls. Minimal furniture. What was the point of comfort when you only existed to kill?

I set Elena down in the main room and immediately stepped back. Every part of me screamed to pull her close again, but I knew better.

The bond was fire in my veins. It demanded I touch her, hold her, mark her as mine.

But that would only make her death more painful when the curse took hold.

She stood there shaking, looking around with wide eyes that still held traces of gold.

Her servant dress was torn. Bruises covered her arms where guards had grabbed her. The sight made my wolf snarl with protective rage.

"You can take any room except the top floor." My voice came out harsh because that was the only way I could maintain control. "There's food in the kitchen. Water from the well outside. Go wherever you want in the tower."

She nodded but didn't speak. I could smell her fear rolling off her in waves.

Of course she was terrified. I was Dante Blackwood, the cursed executioner. The monster who killed more wolves than anyone could count.

Now she was trapped here with me because of a bond neither of us wanted.

I walked to the far wall where I kept the chains. Thick iron links that I'd had specially made after Helena died.

The chains could hold me when the rage took over. When grief made me lose control and want to destroy everything around me.

"What are you doing?" Elena's voice was quiet. Scared.

I didn't answer. Just started wrapping the chains around my wrists and ankles.

The locks were complex, designed so I could secure them myself but not break free easily when the beast emerged.

"Why are you chaining yourself?" she asked again, louder this time.

"Because I'm a beast." I said without looking at her. "And I don't trust myself with you."

The truth was that the bond was already affecting me. My control was slipping with every breath I took of her scent.

My wolf wanted out. Wanted to claim her properly. Mark her so everyone would know she belonged to us.

But I knew that would only make her death more painful for both of us.

I finished securing the last lock and tested the chains. They gave me about six feet of movement. Enough to sit or lie down but not reach the door.

This was how I would spend however many days she had left. Chained like the monster I was.

"You can go now," I said, finally looking at her.

But instead of leaving, she walked over to the corner near me. She sat down on the cold stone floor, pulled her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them.

She didn't leave.

"What are you doing?" Confusion replaced the emptiness in my chest.

"Staying."

"Why?" I couldn't understand this at all. "You're afraid of me. I can smell your fear. Go to another room where you'll be comfortable."

She was quiet for a moment. Then she looked up at me with those strange eyes that shifted between gray and gold.

"You look like you've been alone for a really long time." Her voice was soft but steady. "I know what that feels like. Nobody should be alone."

I stared at her, unable to form words.

Nobody had ever chosen to stay with me. Even before the curse, people avoided me because I was too strong. Too dangerous. Too different.

The women who had been my mates before were forced by the bond. But this girl was choosing to sit on a cold floor just so I wouldn't be alone.

"I frighten you," I whispered, needing her to admit the truth.

"Yes." She didn't hesitate. "But you also protected me when you could have let them kill me. You chained yourself to keep from hurting me. Maybe you're not as much of a beast as you think."

My wolf whined at her words. Something in my chest that had been frozen for years cracked slightly.

She pulled a thin blanket from a nearby shelf and wrapped it around herself. Then she settled back against the wall like she planned to stay all night.

"What's your name?" I asked, realizing I didn't even know this basic thing about my mate.

"Elena." She looked at me with curiosity. "Do you really have to stay chained like that?"

"Yes." I didn't explain further.

She nodded and didn't ask anything else. But she also didn't leave.

We sat there in silence as the tower grew darker and colder. I watched her from the corner of my eye, unable to understand why she would choose this.

The mate bond hummed between us. It demanded we be closer, but she stayed just out of reach of my chains.

I was grateful for that. I didn't trust what I might do if I could touch her again.

"Thank you," I said suddenly, the words surprising me.

"For what?" She tilted her head.

"For staying."

She gave me a small smile. The first time I'd seen her smile.

It did something to my chest that I didn't want to examine.

"Everyone deserves to have someone stay," she said simply.

I sat there chained to the wall, staring at this human girl who had just said the kindest thing anyone had said to me in years.

The mate bond pulsed between us. Silver light flickered in the shadows.

And for the first time in a very long time, the emptiness inside me didn't feel quite so vast.