The Alpha and The Cursed Witch

CHAPTER 3

Kael

The pain didn’t stop.

It burned through my palm, spreading up my arm until every nerve screamed. My chest felt like it might split apart, but I didn’t let go. Any other wolf would’ve pulled away, maybe even run. But I wasn’t just any wolf. I was Alpha of Bloodfang.

And the bond had chosen her.

Her eyes widened as if she’d just seen her own death. She yanked her hand from mine, and instantly the fire disappeared. Relief should have come, but it didn’t. Instead, a hollow ache slammed into me, sharp and suffocating. The absence was worse than the pain.

My body demanded I reach for her again, but she stumbled back, breathing hard, fear etched across her pale face.

“You’ll die if you touch me again,” she spat. Her voice cracked, like glass shattering.

I forced my voice steady, even though my chest heaved for air. “Pain won’t drive me away. It only proves what you are.”

Her shoulders trembled, her voice dropping to a whisper heavy with rage and grief. “I am cursed. Do you hear me, Alpha? Your bond is a death sentence.”

I should have laughed. My whole life had been a death sentence. I’d been raised in blood and duty, sharpened into a weapon by my father and chained to the throne of Bloodfang. If she thought her curse was enough to scare me, she didn’t know who she was dealing with.

“You are mine,” I said, my tone hard as steel.

She flinched, then shook her head fiercely, her hair falling loose and catching the blood-red light of the moon. “No. I cannot be. Fate may be cruel, but I won’t drag you into my ruin.”

She turned to run.

Her name ripped from my chest before I could stop it. “Seraphine!”

The sound of it nearly broke me. I had never spoken her name, had never even heard it, yet it left my tongue as if it had always been carved into my bones. And when she faltered, just for a heartbeat, I knew she’d felt it too.

“Alpha.”

The voice came from behind me. Ronan.

Cold reality crashed in, and I turned to face my Beta as he stepped out of the trees. His expression was hard, his eyes narrowed.

“You’re not alone,” he said carefully. His nostrils flared as he scented the air. His gaze shifted toward the direction she had fled. Magic still clung to the clearing, sharp, bitter, unmistakable.

His jaw tightened. “That was no wolf.”

I stayed silent.

“Tell me I’m wrong,” Ronan pushed. He stepped closer, his voice rough. “Tell me you didn’t let a witch stand that close to you and live.”

I snarled, the sound ripping out of me. “She is mine.”

The forest went still. Ronan froze, disbelief hardening his features. Then his voice dropped, low and venomous. “A witch? Do you even hear yourself?”

The word dripped from his tongue like poison.

Witches had been our enemies for centuries. They cursed us, stole from us, and slaughtered our young. The laws of our kind had been built on the blood of those wars. Wolves who so much as spoke with witches were executed without trial.

But none of that mattered. The bond had spoken.

“She is my mate,” I said, slow and firm. “No law can change that.”

Ronan’s jaw clenched so tightly I thought it would snap. “Kael, think. The elders will never allow it. The pack will never follow you if you bring her into Bloodfang. They’ll kill her before you can even defend her.”

His words slammed me with another image, Seraphine on her knees before the elders, her throat bared, her fire gone as their blades fell. The thought cut something deep in me I didn’t know I had.

“They will not touch her,” I said.

“They will if they find out what she is,” Ronan shot back. His voice rose, sharp with anger. “Don’t be a fool. You bind yourself to her; you bind yourself to ruin. Is that what you want? To destroy everything you’ve built?”

His words cut, but not as deeply as the emptiness left when she pulled away. My pack was my blood, my throne, my duty. But none of it mattered in that moment. None of it filled the hollow ache she left behind.

Before I could respond, the forest stirred. Branches rustled. Leaves crunched under heavy weight. The sound of paws striking dirt echoed closer. Wolves. My patrols, drawn here by the stench of witchcraft.

Ronan cursed under his breath. He grabbed my arm, grip strong. “Think, Kael. If they come and catch her scent, they won’t hesitate. They’ll kill her. And if you defend her, they’ll see you as a traitor to your own blood.”

A growl tore from my throat so sharp it rattled the trees. I ripped free of his grip. “Then let them see me as a traitor.”

His eyes widened, shock flickering across his face. For a moment, it was as if he was seeing me for the first time.

The footsteps drew closer. Voices carried faintly on the wind. My wolves were almost here. If they caught her trail, Seraphine wouldn’t survive the night.

My gaze locked on the path she had taken. Her scent lingered, faint but impossible to ignore. It pulled at me like a chain around my chest. My body moved before my mind could argue. I had to follow.

“Kael!” Ronan’s voice cracked, desperate. “Don’t do this. Think of the pack!”

I stopped just long enough to glance back at him. My brother in all but blood. His face was carved with fear, not for himself, but for me.

“I have thought of nothing else,” I said.

Then I launched into the darkness, the forest splitting around me as I tore after her. Behind me, a howl cut through the night, answered by another. My wolves were on the hunt.

But so was I.

And I would reach her first.