Mated to the Moonbound Alpha

THE ALPHA WHO SAVED HER

POV: Aurora

I wake up to the smell of herbs and antiseptic. My eyes flutter open, and the first thing I notice is that everything is wrong. The colors are too bright. The sounds are too loud. I can hear breathing from three different directions, footsteps somewhere far away, a heartbeat that isn't mine.

What happened to me?

I try to sit up, and pain shoots through my entire body. Every muscle screams in protest. My bones feel like they've been shattered and glued back together.

"Don't move." The voice is female, sharp but not unkind. "You're lucky to be alive."

I turn my head slowly. A woman stands beside the bed, her dark hair pulled back, her eyes amber and piercing. She's beautiful in a wild, dangerous way. Everything about her screams predator.

"Where am I?"

"The pack infirmary." She crosses her arms. "You've been out for two days."

Two days? I blink, trying to clear the fog from my mind. The mansion. The shadows. The pain. The wolf.

"The wolf," I whisper. "There was a wolf."

"That was Asher. Our Alpha." Her expression hardens. "He saved your life. You should thank him."

Before I can respond, the door slams open. He walks in, and the air in the room changes instantly.

I recognize those eyes. Golden, fierce, burning with an intensity that makes my breath catch. But now he's human. Tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair that falls across his forehead and a face that looks like it's been carved from stone. He's wearing all black, and he moves with a lethal grace that makes every instinct in my body scream danger. This is the wolf. This is the man who saved me.

"Leave us, Maya." His voice is deep, commanding. Not a request. An order.

The woman, Maya, hesitates for a second, then nods and walks out. She shoots me a look I can't quite read before closing the door behind her. And then it's just us.

Asher stands at the foot of my bed, his arms crossed, his face expressionless. He stares at me like I'm a puzzle he can't solve. Or a problem he needs to eliminate.

"Thank you," I managed. "For saving me."

"Don't thank me yet." His jaw tightens. "You don't know what you've walked into."

"Then tell me." I force myself to sit up, ignoring the pain. "What's happening to me? What was that thing I felt? Why am I here?"

"You're cursed." He says it simply, like he's commenting on the weather. "Just like the rest of us."

Cursed. The word hangs in the air between us.

"I don't understand."

"You will." He turns away, looking out the window. "Your aunt didn't tell you anything, did she? About what you are. About what runs in your blood."

"My aunt is dead."

"I know." There's something in his voice. Grief maybe. Or anger. "Margaret was pack. She left to protect you. Keep you away from this life. But the curse doesn't care where you run. It finds you eventually."

My hands shake. I clench them into fists. "What curse?"

He's quiet for a long moment. When he finally speaks, his voice is cold. "A witch cursed our bloodline three hundred years ago. Every generation, the curse grows stronger. It turns us into monsters. Tears us apart from the inside. Most don't survive their first shift."

"But I did."

"Barely." He turns back to face me, and for just a second, I see something flicker in his eyes. Relief? Fear? It's gone before I can name it. "Which means you're either incredibly strong or incredibly dangerous. My pack can't decide which."

As if summoned by his words, voices rise from somewhere below us. Angry voices. Shouting.

Asher's expression darkens. "They're calling a meeting. About you."

"What about me?"

"Whether you live or die."

The words hit me like a physical blow. "What?"

"Come on." He's already moving toward the door. "You need to face them. Show them you're not a threat."

"But I don't even know what I am!"

He stops and looks back at me. "Then you better figure it out fast."

+++++++

The meeting room is packed with wolves. I can feel it the moment I walk in. They're all staring at me. Some with curiosity. Some with hostility. Some with something that looks almost like hope.

Asher leads me to the center of the room. He doesn't touch me, doesn't offer comfort, but he stays close. Like a shield I didn't ask

for.

"This is Aurora Thornwood." His voice cuts through the whispers. "Margaret's niece. She triggered her first shift two nights ago."

"She shouldn't be here," someone shouts. A man with silver hair and cold eyes. "She's an outsider. We can't trust her."

"She's one of us," a woman argues back. "Look at her eyes. She carries the curse."

"That's exactly why she's dangerous!" Another voice. "The prophecy says a cursed wolf will either save us or destroy us. How do we know which one she is?"

"We don't," Asher says calmly. Too calmly. "But she stays."

"Why?" The silver-haired man steps forward. "Because you feel something for her, Alpha? We all saw the way you protected her. The way you looked at her."

The room goes silent. Asher's whole body tenses. The air around him seems to vibrate with barely contained violence. "Watch your tone, Marcus."

"Answer the question." Marcus doesn't back down. "Is she your mate?"

The word makes something inside me twist. Mate. I don't know what that means, but the way everyone is staring at us makes my skin crawl.

"No." Asher's voice is flat, final. "She's pack. That's all."

The lie tastes bitter even though I don't know why it's a lie.

"Then you won't mind if we test her," Marcus says. "See if she can handle the curse. See if she's strong enough to survive."

"No tests." Asher steps in front of me. "She's still recovering."

"She looks fine to me." Marcus smirks. "Unless you don't trust her to pass."

The room erupts in arguments. Wolves shouting over each other. Some defending me. Some calling for my removal. Some just watching with calculating eyes. I want to scream at all of them. Tell them I didn't ask for this. Didn't ask to be cursed or tested or judged by people I don't even know.

But before I can say anything, Asher's hand shoots out and grabs Marcus by the throat.

"Enough." The word is barely human. A growl wrapped in syllables. "She stays. Anyone who has a problem with that can

challenge me for Alpha."

No one moves. No one speaks. Marcus's face turns red, but he nods. Asher releases him, and the man stumbles back, gasping.

"Meeting's over," Asher announces. "Get out."

They file out slowly, still whispering, still staring. I stand frozen in the center of the room, my heart racing, my hands trembling. When the last wolf leaves, Asher finally looks at me.

"You need to be more careful," he says quietly. "This pack is hanging by a thread. They're desperate. Scared. They'll turn on you the moment they think you're a threat."

"And you?" I meet his eyes. "What do you think?"

He stares at me for a long moment. "I think you're going to change everything."

Then he walks out, leaving me alone.

+++++

Night falls fast. I'm back in the infirmary, lying in bed, trying to sleep. But my body won't let me rest. There's something building inside me again. That same pressure. That same heat.

No. Not again. Please, not again. But the curse doesn't listen. Pain rips through me like lightning. I bite down on my lip so hard I taste blood. My bones start to shift, c***k, reshape. It's worse than before. So much worse.

I try to breathe through it, but I can't. I'm drowning in agony. The curse is clawing at my mind, showing me images I don't understand. Blood and death and a woman screaming my name.

"Stop," I gasp. "Please, stop."

The door crashes open.

Asher. He's there in seconds, kneeling beside my bed, his eyes wild with panic.

"Aurora." He grabs my shoulders. "Look at me. Focus on me."

"It hurts," I sob. "I can't, I can't do this."

"Yes, you can." His voice is rough, desperate. "Fight it. You're stronger than the curse."

"I'm not," I cry. "I'm going to die."

"No." He grabs my face with both hands, forcing me to meet his eyes. "You're not going to die. Do you hear me? You're mine to protect. I won't let anything happen to you."

Something shifts. The moment his skin touches mine, the moment our eyes lock, everything stops. My heart slams against my ribs once, twice, and then suddenly it's not just my heartbeat I'm feeling. It's his. Pounding in perfect rhythm with mine.

Our breaths sync. In. Out. Together. The pain fades to nothing. And then it hits. A force so powerful it feels like thunder cracking through my entire body. A connection. A pull. A certainty that terrifies me more than the curse ever could.

The mate bond. It snaps into place like a chain wrapping around my soul, binding me to him in a way I don't understand but can't deny.

Asher's eyes go wide. He feels it too. I can see it in the way his pupils dilate, in the way his breath catches, in the way his hands tighten on my face like he's afraid to let go.

"No," he whispers. "This can't be happening."

But it is. I stop breathing. Because I know what this means. And I know everything just changed.