The Alpha's Dark Curse

AURORA’S POV The door to my tiny, cluttered room burst open, and I sat up quickly on the bed, panting as Rebecca stormed in, her face twisted in its usual look of disgust. Rebecca, the daughter of the late Alpha always seemed to direct her frustrations at me. “b***h!” she spat, lunging at me. Before I could process what was happening, her fist connected with my face, sending pain shooting through me. I couldn’t even scream from the pain because my body had grown used to it. She yanked me out of bed by my hair, dragging me toward the door. “You think you’re clever, don’t you?” she hissed as we moved down the corridor. “Let’s see how clever you are when my mother hears about this.” I didn’t dare speak, my heart kept pounding as fear surged through me. I didn’t know what I had done this time, but it must be something terrible if Rebecca was dragging me to her mother’s presence. She would usually take her time to punish me and beat me mercilessly, but once she involved her mother, Luna Hera, it could become much graver. Rebecca’s hatred for me wasn’t new. It began years ago when a visiting Alpha had mistakenly complimented me, saying I looked more gorgeous than Rebecca despite being a slave. That single comment festered in her until it grew into deep jealousy. Luna Hera was a dangerous woman, and anything that came to her daughter, Rebecca, being displeased with me would make her want to kill me. When we arrived, her mother was already seated in the parlor, regal and intimidating as ever. She raised a brow at Rebecca’s dramatic entrance. “What’s this about, Rebecca?” her mother asked in a sharp tone, though her gaze briefly moved to me with disgust. Rebecca let go of my hair and stormed to a table where she dropped a pair of panties—my panties. My eyes widened immediately in shock. “Mother, I found this in Alpha Theron’s wardrobe,” she announced, her voice shaking with anger, as if she would devour me in the next minute. Her father’s death left her pack vulnerable, and her mother insisted she marry a strong Alpha who could lead in his place. This arrangement brought Alpha Theron, a visiting Alpha with a fearsome reputation, to our pack to get married to Rebecca in five days. My blood ran cold. I had no idea how my underwear ended up in Alpha Theron’s possession, but Rebecca wasn’t waiting for my explanation. Even before I could open my mouth again, she landed a slap on my face before throwing my underwear at me. I was scared of what was happening, but above all, I was in deep shock about how my panties ended up in Alpha Theron’s wardrobe. On the night that Alpha Theron first came to visit the pack, being last night, he had his eyes on me. I was a slave, yes, and he knew that, but he couldn’t look away. Later that night, he made his way to my room and asked that he wanted to sleep with me, but I refused and ran out of my room, not giving him a chance to. I hated it, and it creeped me out. Besides, he was here in the pack to marry Rebecca, Luna Hera’s daughter. Did he sneak into my room to take my panties? But why? Was he planning to set me up because I declined his request? Just as I knelt there before the Luna, confused about what to say to defend myself, Rebecca silenced me with another pull at my hair, twisting and I winced. “How dare you?” Rebecca’s voice was cold. “Mother, she’s been seducing him! This filthy slave has been trying to ruin everything for me. I’m supposed to marry Theron in 5 days, and here she is, sleeping with him behind my back?” Rebecca snarled, tears welling in her eyes. Her mother’s face hardened as she turned her piercing gaze on me. “Aurora, is this true?” “No! I swear, I have no idea how—” My voice cracked as Rebecca slapped me across the face for the third time that evening, cutting off my words. “Shut your mouth! You’ll speak when you’re spoken to,” Rebecca snapped. Her mother rose from her seat, her expression turning icy. “You, you have the guts to go into the room of Alpha Theron to throw yourself at him? Do you realize that he is supposed to get married to my daughter in 5 days? You’re dead, Aurora...” Tears pricked my eyes as I knelt on the floor, trembling. “I swear, Luna Hera, I have no Idea how this happened. I didn’t sleep with the alpha. I don’t know how they got there. I’ve never entered Alpha Theron’s chambers, and I would never...” My voice faltered, but I forced myself to continue. “I swear on my life, I didn’t do this.” Before Luna Hera could respond, the door to the room burst open, and Alpha Theron stepped in, his presence dominating the space. He was short and skinny, and well, a lot of other things that made him unattractive to me. I wondered why Rebecca thought I would stoop so low to seduce him. “What’s going on here?” he asked, his cold gaze sweeping over us. I knew he did this. I confirmed it the moment his eyes met what Rebecca held in her hands. He froze that instant, making it too obvious. But it seemed I was the only person who noticed his demeanor change. Rebecca rushed to him, holding up the panties as evidence. “Theron, have you been screwing Aurora, the filthy slave behind my back? I found her things in your wardrobe! How could you do this to me?” Rebecca said, tears threatening to break out of her eyes. Alpha Theron’s brow furrowed as he took in the scene. “What are you talking about, Rebecca? Why would I touch her? Come on, how can you accuse me of ever touching this... dirty thing?” I shook my head in disbelief, watching him lie through his teeth. This was the same man who snuck into my room, wanting to have s*x with me, but I refused. He found me attractive and couldn’t take his eyes off me. He was willing to cheat on Rebecca just to spend the night with me. But what could I have done but keep my mouth shut about it? Now he was trying to turn everything around to his favour. Rebecca’s voice trembled in anger. “Then how do you explain this?” Theron’s eyes landed on me, and I quickly bowed my head, unable to meet his gaze. “That is because there is something I have been trying to keep from you. The slave, Aurora. She came to my room last night and tried to seduce me. I pushed her away and threatened to inform you, so she fled. That was when she forgot to take this,” Alpha Theron said, pointing to me. His words stung more than any slap. I raised my head in shock, my mouth dropping open at the accusations. My chest ached as the tears I held back threatened to spill. He was the one who came to my room and wanted to have his way with me. I turned him down. Now, he had told another story to escape the shame of lusting over a slave. Rebecca seemed satisfied by his explanation, though her anger hadn’t completely faded. Her mother, however, looked thoughtful as she folded her arms and paced. “You’ll be thrown into the dungeon for this act!” Luna Hera said through her clenched teeth and the pace of my heartbeat quickened in horror. I knew what it meant to be thrown into the dungeon. It meant no food, no water for as long as they decided to keep me there. Rebecca shook her head, stepping forward with a dark smile. “No, Mother. Throwing her in the dungeon isn’t enough. I already have a solution,” she said. Her mother raised a brow, intrigued. “And what would that be?” Rebecca smirked, glancing at me with pure anger. “We’re going to sell her. I’ve already found someone willing to pay handsomely for her. This is the best way to get rid of her for good, and we won’t have to deal with her anymore.” “What?” I spouted, my head snapping up in shock. She found a buyer? My heartbeat quickened as fear took over me instantly. When I was seven years old, Rebecca’s father, the old Alpha of the Moon Stone Pack, attacked my pack. He killed everyone and took everything we owned—our homes, land, and lives. I was the only child in the pack, and when he found me hiding behind a curtain, he told me I was too young to be killed. He decided I would suffer instead. He said I would serve him until I turned 18, and when I awakened my wolf, he would sell me to make money off me. Those words stayed with me. I was too small and weak to fight back, so I did as I was told. I became a servant, doing every chore in the pack house. I cleaned, cooked, and worked from dawn till night. My body ached every day, but I was thankful he didn’t kill me. My parents weren’t as lucky. They were killed in the attack, and I promised myself I’d get revenge. I believed that when I turned 18, I’d awaken my wolf and become strong enough to fight back. But when my birthday 18th birthday came, my wolf didn’t. I stayed weak, just a human girl with wolf blood. Rebecca’s father was furious. He had planned to sell me to another Alpha, but when the Alphas found out I didn’t have a wolf, none of them wanted me. They said I was useless. After that, I was punished even more. The Alpha, Luna Hera, and Rebecca made my life even harder. Rebecca, especially, hated me and made sure I knew it. When I turned 19, the alpha died, failing to find a buyer to sell me to until his death. Now I’m 21, and I still don’t have a wolf. No Alpha has wanted to buy me, so I thought I was safe. But today, Rebecca smiled in a way that made my heart sink. She had found a buyer. Rebecca walked closer to me, and with a twisted smile on her face, she grabbed my hair once more and whispered into my ear. “Since you are so desperate to get f*cked, I know just the perfect person to sell you to,” she said in a cold tone, her whisper sending chills down my spine. “I know an Alpha who is in need of a Breeder,” she said in my ear, and my heart stopped in fear, my mouth dropping open. “You’ll be sold to him.”