Chapter2
1214 Words
The sun came up in the morning without a clue that my world was finished. I was seated at the edge of the bed with my hands clasped round my lap and I was awaiting the voice I so much did not want to hear, the voice of Ronan.
This did not take too long but instead it was the voice of a female. The chief maid of the Alpha's house. Strict and no nonsense lady.
“Talia!” she barked, throwing the door open without knocking. “The Alpha is here. Get dressed. Now.”
I didn’t look at her. I couldn’t. “Yes,” I whispered.
My entire body moved on its own, numb however obedient. I wore the gown dress she laid out, it was white and simple, however fashionable and sufficient enough to fake this forced mate bonding. My arms trembled as I tied my braid, and the lipstick I smeared on felt like portray blood onto a corpse.
“Let’s go,” she snapped.
I nodded and accompanied her downstairs, wherein Alpha Kael stood tall, wearing a darkish coat that slightly hid the pressure of his presence.
His sharp eyes landed on me. “You,” he said. “Come.”
I could have been torn apart just from hearing his voice alone. I stared at the chief maid. Her glare told me to behave.
“You will be obedient,” she hissed under her breath. “Don’t mess this up. Do as you're told.”
I forced my feet forward.
The Alpha took me into a private room. And with a loud bang, the door was closed behind us, the sound rebounded in my bones.
He said without looking at me, “You are a curse-bearer. Just like my son.”
My breath hitched.
He turned slowly. “Your bloodlines are tainted, but that makes this... suitable. You will be married tomorrow. Not for love. For duty. For survival.”
I felt the floor tilt under me. “What if I refuse?”
Alpha Darius’s lips curled. “You won’t.”
His voice was iron. “This union is the only way to bind the curses and protect the pack. You will marry him. You will bear heirs. You will serve.”
My mouth went dry. “But... your son, he's dangerous. His mates... they—”
“Died,” the Alpha said coldly. “Yes.”
I swallowed hard.
“You’ll be safe,” he said, eyes gleaming. “If you behave.”
“And if I have a child?”
“The child belongs to the pack,” he replied. “You will not raise it.”
My breath caught in my throat. “What if I, what if the curse takes over?”
“Then,” he said, his voice like steel, “you’ll be put down like the beast you are.”
I said nothing. What could I say? My fate was sealed.
---
Ronan’s Point of View
They call me cursed. Some say I was born under a blood moon. Others whisper that my soul was stained before I ever took my first breath.
But none of them said it to my face.
I stood by the tree line, the same one I’d been exiled to years ago. The pack moved on like I didn’t exist, but I watched everything. Every ceremony. Every marriage. Every rejection.
Especially hers, Talia.
She didn’t know it yet, but fate had just forced her into my world. I saw the look on her face when my father claimed her, the way her mouth trembled as she tried to hide the panic. I knew that it looked too good. I’d seen it before, right before the others died.
My claws ached to break out and my scars burned on my palm as I clenched my jaw. Not here. Not now.
My father, Alpha Kael, had always been a man of strategy. Ruthless, calculating and a coward.
He didn’t disown me because I failed him.
He disowned me because I scared him.
The day my second mate died, her throat ripped out by something neither of us saw coming. My father dragged me through the center of the pack like an animal. Called me cursed, dangerous and unfit. Then he banished me.
But he never really let me go.
He makes sure to keep me near enough to use, like a mystery weapon he hopes no person finds out till it’s too late. Because regardless of what kinds of names he calls me, I’m nonetheless his blood. His son. His biggest mistake.
And now he wants to marry me off to a girl he barely knows. Just to keep the “lineage” going. Just to shut up the Elders. Just to tame the curse with more cursed blood.
He thinks pairing me with someone like her will balance the scales. He’s wrong.
I watched Talia walk out of the house with him today. Her hands trembled. Her lips pressed into a fake smile. She looked like a lamb walking straight into the wolf’s den.
I recognized that expression due to the fact I wore it too.
They assume we’re cursed, however they don’t recognize what the real curse is. It’s not death. It’s not madness. It’s knowing that no matter what you do no matter how hard you fight, you were never meant to survive this.
But I’m still here. And now, so is she.
The question is: will she be the next to die or the first to live?
---
Talia’s Point of View
I was about to leave the room when Alpha Kael grabbed my arm.
“One more thing,” he said, lowering his voice.
I looked up, dread coiling in my chest.
“You are not to run. You are not to resist. Ronan has... limits. He is to be obeyed. If you push him—”
He didn’t finish. He didn’t have to.
I nodded stiffly. “Understood.”
The Alpha opened the door. “You’ll meet him now. Prepare yourself.”
I stepped into the corridor, my legs weak beneath me.
At the far distance of the corridor stood a tall man with raven-black hair, his hands folded, expression unreadable. His presence sucked the air from the room.
This was him, Ronan. His eyes met mine and for a moment, everything stopped.
There was no hunger, no rage. Just exhaustion. And something else. Regret?
He walked toward me slowly. He didn’t speak. Neither did I.
When he stopped, right in front of me, he gaze down, studying my face like he was into looking for something he lost.
“We don’t need to do this,” I whispered.
“Neither do I,” he said quietly. “But we don’t get what we want. We get orders.”
My throat tightened. “Are you going to kill me too?”
He blinked, pain flashing in his expression for just a second. “No,” he said. “Not if you stay out of my way.”
I should’ve run then. But instead, I looked at him and saw a ca
ge that matched mine.
Two cursed souls, tied together by chains we didn’t choose. Maybe... just maybe... that’s what made it worse.
- Writer
