BORN TO BE HIS CURSE

WHAT THE RESTRAINT COULD NOT SILENCE

The restraint didn’t stop the dreams.

It only twisted them.

That night, sleep dragged me under like cold water, pulling me into a place that was not quite my own. The world shimmered silver and shadow, the air thick with moonlight.

And he was there.

Kael stood at the edge of a forest clearing, shirtless, skin carved by firelight and scars earned in battles older than my memory. His shoulders were tense, fists clenched, jaw tight with the same restraint he’d forced on the bond.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said without turning.

My feet moved anyway.

“I don’t know how I came,” I whispered.

He laughed softly. It sounded tired. “Neither do I.”

The bond—muzzled and aching—throbbed between us, weaker than before but furious for being caged. Each step I took made it pulse harder, like a heart trying to break free of a ribcage too small to hold it.

“This is wrong,” he said, finally facing me. His golden eyes burned brighter than any moon. “I ordered the restraint.”

“And it didn’t listen,” I answered.

It was the truth.

I could feel him more clearly here than I ever had awake—the depth of his hunger, the fury he carried, the fear he refused to name. It curled around me, intimate and raw.

“Do you know what they’ll do to you if they realize the bond is still slipping through?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“They’ll demand I break you,” he said quietly. “Or kill you.”

The words hurt less than the way his voice trembled.

“I would rather die,” I said, “than live as something you pretend doesn’t exist.”

Pain flashed across his face.

“You think I’m pretending?” he growled, stepping closer. Heat slammed into me, even restrained. “I feel you every time you breathe. Every time you hurt. Every time you look at me like you don’t hate me enough.”

I swallowed hard. “I tried.”

The moonlight dimmed suddenly, shadows thickening like they were listening.

Kael’s hand lifted, hovering just shy of my cheek—the same way it had in the waking world.

“If I touch you here,” he said, voice rough, “it won’t be physical.”

“But it will still matter,” I whispered.

“Yes.”

“Then do it.”

For a long moment, he didn’t move.

Then his fingers brushed my cheek.

The bond screamed.

Not pain—relief.

Heat exploded through me, flooding places that had ached since the restraint snapped shut. I arched into his touch, breath breaking as sensation poured through the connection unchecked by laws or council or fear.

Kael cursed under his breath, his hand sliding into my hair, gripping hard like he needed the pain to keep control.

“This is what’s killing me,” he rasped. “You shouldn’t feel like this. For me.”

“But I do.”

Our foreheads touched. His breath fanned across my lips.

“Say the word,” he said, barely holding on. “Say it, and I’ll leave this dream. I won’t touch you again. Not here. Not anywhere.”

I searched his eyes—saw the Alpha, the warrior, the king.

And the man breaking beneath all of it.

“I don’t want you gone,” I said.

The moment shattered.

I woke gasping, body slick with heat, the restraint burning like a brand beneath my skin instead of soothing it.

Across the keep—

Kael woke the same way.

He slammed his fist into the stone wall of his chamber, power cracking through the room in a violent pulse.

“Enough,” he snarled.

But the bond answered with a single, undeniable truth:

The restraint was failing.

And someone had noticed.

At dawn, guards came for me again.

This time, they didn’t hide the weapons in their hands.

Talia stood at the far end of the corridor, arms crossed, eyes glittering with satisfaction.

“You really are a problem,” she said coolly. “Dream-walking without training. Without permission.”

My stomach dropped.

“How do you—”

“Some of us are more sensitive than others,” she interrupted. “And some of us don’t appreciate an outsider destabilizing our Alpha in his sleep.”

Selene stepped out of the shadows beside her.

The two of them—together.

“We warned you,” Selene said softly. “But now you’ve crossed a line even Kael can’t excuse.”

Fear finally bit deep.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

Selene smiled.

“Somewhere quiet,” she replied. “Where curses don’t have room to dream.”

As they led me away, the bond flared once—sharp, panicked, furious.

Kael felt it.

And somewhere inside the keep, an Alpha who had sworn control finally lost it.