Cursed to the Alpha

Chapter 6: I'm Not Coming With You

The run didn’t last long.

My legs gave out first. One second I was keeping up with Forsaken, the next the forest tilted and my knees hit the dirt. He caught me before I hit face-first.

“Can’t carry you,” he muttered, pulling me up by the arm. “Not if we want to outrun them.”

“They’re already here,” I said. I didn’t know how I knew. The curse in my chest hummed, low and steady, like it could feel other wolves moving through the trees. Dozens of them. Moving fast. Surrounding us.

Forsaken stopped. His face went hard. “Turn around. Slowly.”

I turned.

Four wolves stood in a half-circle ten feet away. Not rogues. These were clean, massive, their fur silver and black and marked with the council’s spiral sigil on their shoulders. Eyes gold, but calm. Controlled.

The one in front stepped forward. He was older, scars cutting through his left eye, but he moved like he didn’t feel pain.

“Ridah Carter,” he said. My name sounded wrong in his mouth. “Daughter of Mara and Jarek. We’ve been waiting for you.”

“Didn’t invite you,” I said. My voice shook, but I kept it steady. The curse hummed louder, like it wanted to meet these wolves.

“Good thing,” the wolf said. “You don’t get a choice in this.”

Forsaken growled low, stepping in front of me. “She’s with me. You touch her, you go through me first.”

The council wolf didn’t even look at him. “Out of the way, Forsaken. You’re not Alpha anymore. You lost that right when you took the girl.”

Forsaken flinched, but didn’t move.

“Alpha?” I said. The word felt heavy. “You were Alpha?”

“Was,” Forsaken said. “Until the council decided I was too soft. Too close to humans. They stripped me and left me for the rogues.”

“Because you failed,” the council wolf said. “You let Mara Carter escape with the girl. You let the bond form.”

Mara. My mother. Hearing her name from a stranger made my chest tighten.

“You know her?” I asked.

“I knew her,” the wolf said. “She was stronger than you. Smarter. She knew what the bond cost. That’s why she ran.”

“And died,” Forsaken said quietly.

The council wolf’s ears twitched. “She died sealing the first cursed. But she didn’t finish it. You did.” His eyes flicked to me, sharp and assessing. “That’s why we’re here. The bond is shifting. The first cursed is quiet. That means one of two things.”

“Either I broke him,” I said.

“Or you claimed him,” he finished. “And if you claimed him, you’re more dangerous than he ever was.”

The other wolves shifted, claws scraping dirt. I could smell their intent. It wasn’t clean like Forsaken’s. It was cold. Calculated.

“Step away from the girl,” the council wolf said to Forsaken. “We’ll take her to the council seat. She’ll be judged. If she’s clean, she lives under our protection. If she’s tainted, she dies.”

“Judged by who?” I said. “You? The wolves who left my mom to die?”

Anger flared, hot and fast. The curse answered it, silver light spilling from my hands before I could stop it.

The council wolves backed up a step.

“She’s unstable,” one of them muttered.

“She’s powerful,” the lead wolf corrected. “And uncontrolled.”

Forsaken’s hand found mine. His was shaking too, but not from fear. From restraint.

“Don’t,” he said quietly. “Not yet. Not like this.”

I looked at him. At the way he stood between me and six council wolves without hesitation. At the scar on his face, the same kind my mother must have seen. I remembered him teaching me to breathe through the pain two days ago. Remembered him taking a rogue’s claws for me.

“What happens if I go with them?” I asked.

“They’ll cage you,” Forsaken said. “Test you. If you pass, you’re theirs. If you fail, they’ll kill you before the curse can spread.”

“And if I don’t go?”

“Then we run,” Forsaken said. “And we don’t stop. Ever.”

The council wolf stepped forward again. His gold eyes never left mine. “You have ten seconds to decide, girl. Come with us peacefully, or we take you by force. Your choice.”

Ten seconds.

I could feel the forest holding its breath. Leaves stopped rustling. Even the wind died.

The curse in my chest hummed faster, like it was counting down with me. It didn’t feel evil. It felt hungry. For freedom. For control. For me to stop pretending I was weak.

Ten seconds wasn’t enough to decide a life. But it was enough to remember who I was before all this.

Before the curse. Before Forsaken. Before I knew what I was.

I was Ridah Carter. The girl who got bullied for being quiet. The girl who worked double shifts and still couldn’t pay rent. The girl who thought her biggest problem was being invisible.

I’m done being invisible.

And I remembered what I’d said five minutes ago.

_I’m tired of being just a girl._

I squeezed Forsaken’s hand. His fingers tightened for half a second, like he already knew. Then I let go.

“I’m not coming with you,” I said.

The lead wolf’s eyes narrowed. The air changed. Heavy. Dangerous.

“You’ll regret this,” he said.

“Maybe,” I said. “But it’ll be my regret.”

“Then we end this now.”

He lunged.

Silver flashed. The forest exploded into motion.