Bound By The Alpha’s Curse

Chapter7

LUCIAN

The moment Mira wrapped her arms around my waist, I felt a jolt go through my entire body. I tried to stay stiff, and I tried to ignore the fact that she was soft and warm against me, but my wolf was already reacting to her touch. It had been years, and yet my skin remembered her like no time had passed at all. I could feel her shaking, her face pressed right against my chest, and I hated how much I wanted to just reach down and hold her back.

"Let go of me, Mira," I growled, my voice sounding a lot more stable than I actually felt. "Let go right now, or I swear I will hurt you."

I expected her to jump back or flinch, but she didn't move an inch. She just tightened her grip, her fingers digging into the fabric of my shirt as she looked up at me with those stubborn eyes. Her face was still messed up from where Sienna had hit her, and it made a fresh wave of anger roll through me, though I didn't know if I was mad at Sienna or at Mira for being so weak.

"Do it then," she whispered, her voice brave even though she was still trembling. "Hurt me if you want, but I’m not letting go."

I looked down the hallway and saw a couple of servants rounding the corner. I couldn't have them seeing their Alpha standing in a doorway while a disgraced she-wolf clung to him like a lifeline. I wasn't going to let anyone see me softening up, and I wasn't going to let them think she had any power over me. I grabbed her by the shoulders and walked backward into my room, dragging her with me until we were both inside, and then I kicked the door shut with my heel.

"I said let go," I barked, and this time she finally listened.

She stepped back, her hands falling to her sides, but she didn't look away. She stood there in the middle of my bedroom, looking small and exhausted, but there was a fire in her that I hadn't seen in a long time.

"Be my trainer, Lucian," she said, the words coming out in a rush. "That’s all I’m asking. Train me yourself, and if you do that, I’ll stop bugging you. I’ll stay out of your way, I’ll do my work, and I won't come to your door again. Just give me that."

I was honestly dumbfounded. I looked at her like she had lost her mind, because she probably had. She was a human-passing wolf with a suppressed spirit, and I was an Alpha who had spent a decade hardening myself for war.

"Are you serious?" I asked, scoffing as I paced the floor. "You really want to die that badly? If you're so eager to end up in a grave, why didn't you just die when you were gone all those years? Why come back here and ask me to be the one to do it?"

Mira took a step toward me, and her voice dropped to a whisper that seemed to fill the entire room.

"Because seeing you again was all the motivation I needed to stay alive," she said.

I turned away from her immediately, running my hand through my hair and staring at the wall. I didn't want her to see my face, and I definitely didn't want her to see that her words had actually affected me. My heart was thumping a rhythm I didn't like, and the air in the room felt too thick to breathe. She was a traitor, she was the reason I was cursed, and yet she could still make me feel like a teenager with a single sentence.

"Just one chance," she begged, and I could hear her moving closer behind me. "Give me only one chance to prove myself in the pit. If I fail, or if you're still not satisfied with what I can do, you're free to send me away. I’ll leave and I won't ever come back. I’ll vanish for good this time."

I turned back around and raised a brow at her. I was surprised at the sheer confidence in her voice, especially since she could barely stand on her own two feet five minutes ago. She was offering me exactly what I wanted—a way to get rid of her legally—but something about the way she said it made me think she knew something I didn't.

I wanted to ignore her. I wanted to open that door and throw her out and go back to being the Alpha who was in total control of his life and his pack. But I knew it was useless. Ever since she showed up back in Seattle, she had a way of making me lose my mind and my control, and it pissed me off more than anything else in the world. She was a chaotic variable I couldn't solve, and the only way to deal with it was to face it head-on.

"Fine," I said, the word feeling like a heavy stone in my mouth. "I’ll train you."

A look of pure relief washed over her face, and for a second I thought she might cry again, but I wasn't finished.

"But I have one condition," I added, stepping into her personal space until she had to tilt her head back to look at me. "We aren't going to be using wooden swords or padded gear. If I'm training you, I'm training you for real. We fight like we’re enemies in a duel to the death. No holding back, no special treatment because you're a woman or because of what we used to be. You want to prove you're strong? Then you have to survive me."