Claimed By The Alpha’s Curse

Blood And Consequences

LENNOX'S POV

I woke up in chains.

Silver cuffs locked around my wrists and ankles, burning into my skin. I pulled against them and the metal dug deeper.

"You're awake," Thea's voice came from somewhere to my left.

I turned my head and saw her sitting by the window, looking like she hadn't slept in days.

"What happened?" My throat felt raw.

"You attacked Davian, tried to rip his throat out," Thea said flatly. "It took four guards to pull you off."

My stomach dropped. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine, but you're not, look at your arms."

I looked down. The black veins had spread past my elbows now, crawling toward my shoulders. My skin looked grey, almost transparent.

"How long was I out?"

"Eighteen hours, and the curse has accelerated," Thea stood up and moved to the bed. "Your heart rate is unstable, your temperature keeps dropping."

"What's happening to me?"

"Do you know why the Kross bloodline has been cursed for over a century?" Thea asked.

"No."

"Davian's great-great-grandfather made a deal with a witch," Thea said. "She gave him power, made him the strongest Alpha in the territories but when he refused to pay the price, his firstborn daughter, he had her killed instead. The witch cursed every male heir after him to die before thirty-five."

I stared at her. "That's horrible."

"The only way to break it is for a male heir to bond with a mate completely, but the bonding requires the mate to survive the Alpha's venom," Thea continued. "And the venom is laced with the curse itself."

My blood went cold. "So when Davian bit me—"

"He transferred part of the curse into you," Thea finished. "That's what the black veins are."

"The three women before me?"

"Their bodies rejected it and it killed them," Thea said quietly. "But you didn't reject it, your body is absorbing it, adapting to it."

"So I'm cursed too?"

"You're becoming something else," Thea said. "The transformation requires one more thing to complete."

"The feeding."

"Yes, the curse needs Alpha blood to finish bonding," Thea explained. "That's why you're craving Davian's blood."

"And if I don't feed?"

"Your organs will fail like the others, you have less than six hours left."

The door opened and Davian walked in with scratches covering his neck and arms.

I did that to him.

"Leave us," he said to Thea.

She left without argument.

Davian sat in the chair. "Thea told you about the curse."

"Why didn't you tell me what would happen if I survived?"

"Would you have agreed if I had?"

I thought about it. "Probably."

"Then why does it matter now?"

"Because I didn't know I'd lose myself in the process."

"You're not losing yourself, you're changing," Davian said firmly. "The three women before you fought the curse because it wasn't what they expected."

"And me?"

"You came here angry, broken, willing to die if it meant taking Ryker down," he said. "You didn't want to be saved, you wanted to survive, and that's why the curse chose you."

"How much time do I have?"

"Six hours, maybe less."

Before I could respond, the hunger twisted in my chest, sharper than before.

"It's getting worse," I gasped.

Davian stood up. "How bad?"

"I can hear everyone's heartbeat in this house."

His eyes widened. "That's not supposed to happen yet."

Davian moved to the door. "Thea! We need to move up the timeline!"

Thea appeared in seconds. "How much worse?"

"She can hear heartbeats from rooms away."

Thea's face went pale. "The curse is accelerating faster than I calculated, we need to do this now."

Everything moved fast as Callum rushed in adding more restraints, Thea setting up monitors, Davian rolling up his sleeve.

My vision started blurring red.

"Lennox, look at me," Davian said, kneeling beside the bed.

I turned my head and met his grey eyes.

"When you bite, don't hold back," he said. "Take what you need."

"What if this changes me completely?"

"Then I'll remind you who you are," he said. "But you have to survive first."

Davian pressed his wrist against my mouth and the smell of his blood hit me like a drug.

"Do it," he said.

I bit down hard.

The taste of his blood exploded on my tongue, hot and metallic and perfect. The hunger screamed for more and I couldn't stop myself from drinking deeper.

The black veins on my arms started glowing bright red, pulsing with each swallow. I could feel the curse spreading through me, rewriting everything I was.

"That's enough," Thea said somewhere far away. "Lennox, that's enough."

But I couldn't stop.

"Lennox, stop!" Davian's voice cut through the haze.

I tried to pull back but my jaw was locked then Davian's other hand grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him.

"Let go," he said, his voice commanding. "Now."

The Alpha command hit me through the bond and my jaw finally released.

I fell back against the pillow, gasping for air.

"What's happening to her?" Callum asked.

I looked down at my arms and watched as the black veins started changing, turning from black to dark red, spreading faster, covering my entire body in seconds.

"The bond is completing," Thea said, her voice filled with awe.

Pain exploded through my chest and I screamed…It felt like something was tearing me apart from the inside, rearranging my bones.

"Hold her down!" Thea shouted.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

I opened my eyes and the room looked different, sharper, clearer.

I could hear five heartbeats. I could smell blood, sweat, fear.

"Lennox?" Davian's voice was careful. "Can you hear me?"

I turned my head and looked at him.

His eyes widened. "Your eyes, they're—"

"What?" I asked, and my voice came out different, deeper.

Thea held up a mirror and I stared at my reflection and didn't recognize myself.

My eyes weren't grey anymore, they were gold, bright and glowing. The black veins had faded completely, replaced by thin lines of red that pulsed faintly under my skin.

"What am I?" I whispered.

"Something new," Thea said softly. "Something that's never existed before."

I looked at Davian. "Did it work? Is the bond complete?"

He stared at me for a long moment, then slowly nodded. "Yes, the curse is gone from me, it's all in you now."

"So I'm cursed."

"No," Thea said. "You're not cursed, Lennox, you're the cure, and that makes you the most dangerous woman in this territory."

Before I could ask what that meant, someone pounded on the door downstairs.

"Alpha Kross!" a guard shouted. "We have a situation at the border! Alpha Ryker is back and he's not alone, he brought the entire Mooncrest Pack council!"

The room went silent.

"He's demanding you hand over Lennox Gray for trial, sir, he's claiming she's a threat to all packs and needs to be executed!"

I looked at Davian and smiled, feeling my new fangs press against my lip.

"Let him try.”