Fell for the Cursed Alpha

Chapter 5: Blood and Moonlight

The crimson eyes vanished as quickly as they appeared, swallowed by the mist. Isabella’s breath came in shallow gasps. She took a step back, her fingers gripping the pendants so tightly her knuckles turned pale. The silence that followed felt worse than the sound itself. It was too quiet, too heavy, as if the forest was holding its breath in fear of what lurked among the trees.

Her instincts screamed at her to run, but her feet refused to move, once again. Something in those eyes had frozen her to the spot. They didn’t look human, but they didn’t look mindless either. There was intelligence behind them. Hunger, yes, but also awareness.

A branch cracked to her left. Then another. The sound drew closer, the rhythm almost steady, almost careful. Isabella forced her body to move, stumbling backward until she reached the edge of the trail. Her heart raced so violently, it hurt.

Then, out of the fog, a massive shadow broke through. For a moment she thought it was Lucian again, but this creature was larger, broader, and moving low to the ground. Its fur was dark and glistened with moisture, its eyes gleaming red like embers.

She froze completely, her lips parting in a silent plea. The beast’s growl rumbled through the earth. She took another step back and nearly fell. Her hand instinctively clutched the pendants, and they pulsed with warmth against her skin again, glowing faintly between her fingers.

The figure stopped. Its gaze locked on her hand, its snarl faltering for just a moment. It tilted its head, confused, before another sound tore through the air—a second growl, deeper and more powerful.

The crimson-eyed wolf turned sharply toward the sound, and that was when she saw him. Lucian stepped out of the fog, his eyes burning gold, his expression fierce and unyielding. The air between the two creatures seemed to crackle with something invisible, primal.

Lucian moved like a force of nature, calm but deadly. “Go,” he said to her quietly without looking away from the beast.

She hesitated. “What about you?”

“Run.”

Something in his voice left no room for argument. Isabella turned and ran, her feet hitting the earth hard as she pushed through the trees. Behind her, the growls clashed—one rough, the other thunderous. The forest exploded with motion.

She could hear branches breaking, claws striking the ground, the echo of something untamed and wild. She didn’t dare look back. Her lungs burned, her vision blurred, but she kept running until the trees thinned and the faint outline of the town lights shone through the mist.

When she finally reached the clearing, she collapsed to her knees, her chest heaving. Her hands were shaking, the pendants still gripped tight in her palms. She could still hear the distant sounds of the battle echoing through the woods.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, everything went quiet.

She turned toward the forest, eyes wide, waiting for any sign of him. The silence stretched endlessly until she thought she might break from it. And then, out of the shadows, Lucian emerged. His shirt was torn, streaked with blood, his skin glistening under the moonlight.

For a moment, he didn’t look human at all. His eyes still glowed faintly, his breath sharp and tatty.

When their gazes met, something inside her shifted, a strange mix of terror and tenderness.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

He shook his head, though his movements were slow. “You should not have stayed.”

“You saved me,” she said softly.

Lucian looked away, his jaw tightening. “You should not thank me for that. It will only make things harder.”

The weight in his words made her chest ache. She took a step closer, ignoring the fear that still trembled in her veins. “You are bleeding.”

“It is nothing,” he murmured, but when she reached out to touch his arm, he flinched. Not from pain, but as if her touch itself burned him.

Her fingers hovered in the air, uncertain. “Lucian, what are you hiding from me?”, she asked like this was not their first conversation.

He met her eyes again, and for a fleeting moment, she saw raw sorrow there. “You would not believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

He exhaled slowly, the golden light in his eyes dimming. “The curse binds more than my soul,” he said quietly. “It binds the world around me. Anyone who gets close enough will share my fate.”

She frowned. “And what fate is that?”

His gaze hardened, though his voice trembled with something she could not name. “To love me is to be destroyed by me.”

Her heart skipped painfully. She took a step back, not from fear, but from the weight of his words. The forest behind him seemed to stir again, a whisper moving through the branches as though echoing his confession.

He turned away, his form already fading into the mist. “Go home, Isabella. Forget me if you can.”

Before she could speak, the wind rose, carrying the faint scent of rain and iron. A sound followed—soft at first, then growing louder. Wolves howling in harmony, their cries circling the town like a dark symphony.

Isabella held the pendants against her chest. She knew she could not forget him, even if she tried. Something in her heart already belonged to him, and no warning could undo it.

When she looked back at the forest one last time, she caught a glimpse of movement near the trees. Not Lucian this time, but another figure watching her silently, eyes glinting red in the darkness.

The crimson gaze burned brighter for a moment, then disappeared, leaving only the chilling whisper of the wind.

Sleep refused to come that night once again. Isabella sat by her window, the pendants resting on her palm, their silver edges glinting in the moonlight. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Lucian’s face, the pain in his expression, the blood on his skin, the loneliness in his eyes. She could not understand why her heart ached for him when fear should have been all she felt.

Outside, the forest looked calm, but she could sense something restless moving within it. The wind carried faint sounds that did not belong to any animal she knew. Somewhere out there, a war was brewing, one between beasts, curses, and fates that had been sealed long before she arrived in Silverwood.

When she finally drifted into a shallow sleep, her dreams were filled with flashes of gold and crimson. Two wolves clashed beneath a blood-red moon, their roars shaking the ground. One had eyes like Lucian’s, filled with sorrow. The other burned with hatred, its teeth dripping with shadows.

She woke with fear in her eyes, her heart pounding and her skin damp with sweat. The window was open though she swore she had closed it, and on the sill sat a single black feather, glistening with dew. Beneath it lay a note, written in that same elegant hand as before.

"The blood moon rises soon. Choose your side before it does."