Cursed to the Alpha

“Every wolf knows the rule: Never bind a child before birth.” My mother broke it. The elders call me Ridah, the girl born screaming under a blood moon. They say my first cry shattered three windows in the pack house and made every unmated male drop to his knees. They say the forbidden alpha heard it from across the territory line and went mad that night, slaughtering his own sentries to try to reach me. He never made it. The silver chains held him. The council called it justice. I call it the beginning of my cage. I was cursed in the womb. Promised to a man I’d never met. An alpha exiled for the crime of loving my mother, the woman who chose my father instead. A beta with kind eyes and no claim to power. Now I’m eighteen. The marking ceremony is tonight. And the forest smells like war. I adjust the white ceremonial dress my mother sewed. It’s too tight across my ribs. Or maybe that’s just fear. Outside my window, the pack gathers around the bonfire. Drums. Chanting. Tonight, every unmated wolf will scent me. Tonight, the curse either claims me or kills me. A knock. Soft. Then the door opens without permission. Kieran. He doesn’t bow. Betas don’t, when they’re seconds away from becoming alpha. His black hair is damp from the river, and his eyes are the same gold they were when he brought my mother wildflowers every morning for ten years. She never took them. You look like her, he says. His voice is rough, like he’s been running. But you smell like him. My stomach turns. Get out. He steps in anyway and shuts the door. The click of the latch is louder than the drums. The council voted. If the forbidden one doesn’t claim you by moonrise, you’re fair game. And he won’t make it past the border wards. Not again. You sound eager. I’ve waited eighteen years, Ridah. He moves closer. I back into the vanity, and glass bottles clatter. Your mother was mine first. She owed me. You’ll pay that debt. The curse burns. It always does when someone speaks of ownership. A thin line of heat traces my spine, like a brand I can’t see. I grit my teeth. I’m not payment. No. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes. You’re punishment. For her. For him. He reaches for my wrist. His fingers are cold, but the moment he touches me, the heat in my spine explodes. The mirror behind me cracks. Kieran hisses and jerks back, staring at his palm. A thin red line bubbles there, like he’s been branded by my skin. What the A howl cuts through the night. Low. Long. It isn’t from the bonfire. It isn’t from any wolf in our territory. It’s from the other side of the Silver Forest. From the wastelands where exiles rot. From him. The drums stop. The whole pack goes silent. My knees almost give out. The curse doesn’t just burn now it pulls. Like a rope tied around my ribs, dragging me toward the window, toward the forest, toward that sound. Kieran recovers first. He grabs my arm, harder this time, and the pain makes me gasp. You don’t run to him. You hear me? He’s a ghost. A rabid dog. I’ll kill him before he touches you. Then you’ll die, I whisper. I don’t know why I say it. I don’t even know who he is. But the curse knows. Kieran’s jaw ticks. We’ll see. He drags me out of the room. The hallway is empty. Everyone’s run to the bonfire, to see if the wards hold. My bare feet slap against stone. The white dress tangles around my legs. The moment we step outside, the scent hits me. Pine. Blood. Lightning before a storm. And underneath it, something older. Something that makes the curse in my spine sing. The pack parts for Kieran. They won’t meet my eyes. They’ve all made their bets. If the forbidden alpha breaches the wards, the council will kill me before he can claim me. If he doesn’t, Kieran gets me. Either way, I lose. Ridah! My mother shoves through the crowd. Her face is pale, her braid coming undone. She reaches for me, but two elders block her. Law is law, Lena, one of them says. The girl was bound before birth. We cannot interfere. You interfered when you let him mark her in the womb! My mother’s voice breaks. She looks at me, and for the first time, I see it — guilt. Deep, bone-deep guilt. I’m sorry. I thought if I chose your father, the bond would break. I thought Another howl. Closer this time. The wards at the forest edge flare blue, then red. The air tastes like metal. Kieran shoves me to my knees in front of the bonfire. The flames are ten feet high, fed with sacred herbs and bones. Claim yourself, Ridah. Renounce him. Choose a wolf of this pack, and the curse breaks. Choose me. The pack is quiet. Hundreds of eyes. My mother’s sob. The curse pulling, pulling. I lift my head. I don’t even know his name. That makes Kieran flinch. Good. His name is dead. He’s called Forsaken now. He has no pack, no title. Just madness. Forsaken. The name tastes like ashes and storms. The wards scream. A sound like glass breaking underwater. Then silence. Then a voice. Not a howl. A voice, deep enough to rattle my teeth. Mine. The bonfire gutters. For a second, everything goes black. When the light comes back, he’s there. At the treeline. He doesn’t cross it. He can’t. Not yet. The wards still hold, but they’re bleeding light. He’s taller than Kieran, broader. Black hair to his shoulders, and his shirt is torn, like he clawed his way through miles of thorns to get here. His eyes aren’t gold. They’re silver. Like the moon. Like my curse. He isn’t looking at the pack. At Kieran. At the elders with their silver daggers. He’s looking at me. And the rope around my ribs goes taut. Ridah, he says. Just my name. But it sounds like a vow and a threat at once. Kieran draws the dagger at his hip. “She’s mine by law of default. Step back, exile.” Forsaken , the forbidden alpha , tilts his head. And he smiles. It’s not a kind smile. She was mine before law. Before you. Before she took her first breath. The curse flares white-hot. I cry out and collapse forward, palms hitting dirt. The white dress pools around me, already stained. Choose, Kieran snarls, pressing the dagger to my throat. The silver burns. Him, and you die with him. Me, and you live. My mother screams. The pack holds its breath. I look past Kieran, past the fire, past the wards. I look at the man who was cursed to me the same moment I was cursed to him. And I whisper, Catch me. Then I shove to my feet and run. Straight for the Silver Forest. Straight for the wards. Straight for him. Kieran roars. The elders shout. But the curse is faster than all of them. The moment my foot hits the treeline, the wards explode. End of Chapter 1