Chapter 165 PAIN. FEAR. LOVE

Chapter 165 PAIN. FEAR. LOVE

Pain was a white light behind Alex’s eyes.

Hot. Sharp. Right under his ribs.  
Blood ran down his shirt and soaked into his jeans.  
Warm. Too warm.

Kane was on his knees next to him. Hands shaking.  
"Alpha!" Kane’s voice cracked. "Don’t move. Don’t you fucking move."

Alex couldn’t breathe right. Each breath pulled fire through his chest.  
But he looked up anyway.

Seraphina stood 5 feet away.  
Gun still in her hand. Shaking now.  
Her face was wet. Eyes wide. Mouth open like she wanted to say something and couldn’t.

In the boot, Ivan laughed.  
A low, ugly sound. Muffled by metal.

The world tilted.  
Alex planted his palm on the dirt to hold himself up.  
Dirt. Blood. His blood.

Kane reached for the wound. "Hold on. I’ll get the kit. I’ll—"

"Stop."  
Alex’s voice wasn’t loud.  
But it wasn’t his voice.

It rolled out of him and hit the air like a wave.  
Heavy. Ancient. It made the hair on Kane’s arms stand up.

Kane froze.  
"Go!” Alex said. Each word cost him. "

Kane shook his head. "No. Alpha, you’re bleeding out—"

"Get. Away. From. Here."  
The air got thick. Pressure on Kane’s chest. On his lungs.  
It wasn’t a request. It was gravity. It was law.

Kane’s jaw clenched. Tears in his eyes. "I can’t leave you—"

"You will."  
Alex turned his head. Met Kane’s eyes.  
Gold. Not human. Not wolf. Something older. Something cursed.  
"That’s an order."

Kane’s body moved before he could stop it.  
His legs stood. His feet turned.  
He hated it. Every step.  
"Alpha—"

“Just go to the hospital Kane, we'll talk later.”

Kane turned to walk away but looked back once.  
Alex was already pushing himself up. One hand pressed to his side. Blood between his fingers.

Alex and Seraphina.  
Alone.



Seraphina stared.  
Her gun was still up. Pointed at his chest.

"You..." she whispered. "You just used compulsion on him."

Alex didn’t answer.  
He was looking down. At his own hand. At the hole in his shirt.

Blood kept coming.  
He could feel it. Wet. Thick.  
The curse inside him was quiet. Watching.

Seraphina took a step back. "You’re going to die."

"Probably," Alex said. His voice was rough. Tired.  
He lifted his other hand.  
Slowly.  
He slid two fingers into the wound.

Seraphina made a sound. Half gag, half scream.

Alex didn’t flinch.  
He found metal. Hot. Rough.  
He gripped it and pulled.

It came out with a wet pop.

The bullet hit the dirt with a soft tink.  
Blood followed it. A lot of it.

Alex dropped the bullet. Pressed his hand back to the hole.  
Breathed out.

Seraphina’s gun dipped.  
"What are you?" she whispered.

Alex looked at her. Really looked.  
His eyes were gold. And tired. So tired.

"I didn’t kill your parents," he said. Soft. Like he was talking to Mia at bedtime.  

"Seraphina. I didn’t burn your home. Ivan did."

"Liar," she said. But her voice shook.

"Then come see," Alex said. "Get in the car.  
Watch Ivan confess. On record. With witnesses.  
Hear it from the man who actually did it."

Seraphina’s finger twitched on the trigger.  
"I don’t believe you."

"I know," Alex said. "But you will."

He took a step toward her.  
Blood dripped from his side. Down his leg.  
He didn’t stop.

"Don’t come closer," Seraphina said. The gun came up again.  
"You don’t get to play victim. You don’t—"

"The bullets are in vain," Alex cut her off.  
He stopped a foot from her. Close enough that she could smell the blood.  
"The curse won’t let me die. Not like this. Not untimely."

Seraphina blinked. "What?"

"The only one who pays," Alex said. "Is Mia.  
Every cut I take, she feels it.  
Every bullet, she burns.  
So put the gun down. Before you hurt her yet again."

Something broke in Seraphina’s face.  
"That’s not my problem," she spat. "You made me this way!"

"I know," Alex said. "And I’m sorry.  
But if you shoot me again, she feels it. Not me. Her."

"I don’t care!" Seraphina screamed.  
And she pulled the trigger.

BANG.

The shot hit Alex in the shoulder.  
He jerked. Stumbled.  
Pain bloomed. White and bright.

But he didn’t fall.  
He looked at her. Blood on his teeth now.

"Stop," he said.

Seraphina shot again.  
Missed.  
Shot again.  
Hit his thigh.

Alex grunted. Dropped to one knee.  
But he was still moving forward.

Seraphina backed up. "Stay back! Stay back!"

She tried to reach for something inside herself.  
That cold, witchy pull she used on men.  
The grove power. The thing that made wolves kneel and cry.

She shoved it at him.

Nothing happened.

Alex kept coming.

"What—" Seraphina tried again. Harder.  
Her eyes went black for a second.  
Air around her went cold.

Alex walked through it like it was nothing.  
Like walking through rain.

Seraphina’s breath caught. "Why isn’t it working?"

"Because I’m not a man right now," Alex said.  
He grabbed her wrist. Gentle. But she couldn’t pull away.  
"And I’m not a wolf."

He twisted the gun from her hand. Tossed it away.  
Then he put both hands on her shoulders and pushed her down.

Seraphina hit her knees in the dirt.  
Hard.

"Look at me," Alex said.

She tried not to.  
"Look. At. Me."

Her head snapped up.  
His eyes were not gold anymore.  
They were black. Endless.  
And behind them, something moved. Something with claws.

The air changed.  
It got heavy. It smelled like ozone and old blood.  
The trees went still. Even the birds stopped.

This wasn’t Alpha.  
This was King.

Seraphina started to shake.  
"N-no," she whispered.

"Get," Alex said. The word vibrated in her bones.  
"In. The car."

Her body stood. Against her will.  
Her legs walked to the passenger door.  
Her hand opened it.

Alex followed. Slow. Bleeding with every step.  
He got in beside her. Slammed the door.

In the boot, Ivan was quiet now. Listening.

Alex put his head back against the seat.  
Closed his eyes.  
"Drive," he told himself. His hands shook on the wheel.

The engine started.



30 miles away.  
Hospital room 204.

Mia was asleep in the chair next to Sara’s bed.  

Then she gasped.

She shot upright. Both hands to her chest.  

Fire.  
It felt like fire under Mia’s ribs.  
Like someone had taken a hot knife and dragged it across her skin.

She couldn’t breathe.  
"Alex," she choked out.

Jenna was at her side in a second. "What? What happened?"

"I don’t—" Mia’s eyes filled with tears. "It hurts. It hurts so bad."

A nurse ran in. "Ma’am? Are you okay?"

Mia shook her head. Sweat on her forehead.  
"He’s hurt," she whispered. "He’s really hurt."

On the monitor next to Sara’s bed, Mia’s heart rate spiked.  
150\. 160.

"Get a doctor!" the nurse yelled.

Mia grabbed Jenna’s hand. Her nails dug in.  
"He took a bullet," Mia said. She didn’t know how she knew.  
"And now... now he’s angry."

Jenna frowned. "What do you mean angry?"

Mia looked at the door. Like she could see through it. Through the walls. Through the miles.  
"His aura," she whispered. I don't know….. it kinda changed."

Her body convulsed. Another wave of pain hit.  
She cried out and doubled over.

"Ma’am!" The nurse was pushing a button. "We need help in here!"

Jenna carried Sara in her arms. Rocked her.  
But her eyes never left Mia.

Because in Mia’s eyes, for just a second,  
Jenna saw gold.



In the car, Alex drove with one hand.  
The other pressed to his side.

Seraphina sat next to him. Staring straight ahead.  
She couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak unless he allowed it.  
The compulsion sat on her chest like a stone.

Every few minutes, Alex’s jaw would clench.  
Another shot of pain would run through him.  
He’d exhale through his teeth and keep driving.

Seraphina watched him from the corner of her eye.  
The blood. The way he didn’t make a sound.  
The way the air around him rippled, like heat.

"You’re not okay," she whispered. The compulsion let her.

"No," Alex said.

"Why didn’t you let me kill you?"

"Because," Alex said. "Because if I die, she dies with me.  
A little bit. Every time."

He turned onto the main road.  
Hospital signs in the distance.

In the boot, Ivan started laughing again.  
Soft. Amused.

Alex didn’t react.  
He just drove.

Blood ran down his arm and onto the gear shift.  
His aura filled the car. Thick. Wrong.  
It pressed against the windows.

Seraphina felt it.  
And for the first time in years,  
she was scared.

Not of Ivan.  
Not of the war.  
Of him.

The man who took bullets for other people.  
The man who wouldn’t kill even when he should.  
The man who was holding himself together with will alone.

She looked at his profile. Pale. Sweating.  
And she understood something.

This wasn’t the cursed Alpha anymore.  
This was something new.

\---

They pulled into the hospital ER bay.  
Screeching tires.  

Doors burst open before the car stopped.

Kane was there within seconds. And doctors with stretchers.  
"Mia called," Kane said as he yanked Alex’s door open. "She felt it."

Alex tried to get out. His legs didn’t work.

Two paramedics lifted him.  
"Gunshot wounds. Two. One torso, one thigh. Lost a lot of blood."

As they wheeled him in, Alex’s eyes found the glass doors.

Mia was there. In a wheelchair. An IV in her arm.  
Pale. Shaking.  
But her eyes were locked on him.

Their eyes met.

And Alex felt it.  
Her pain. Her fear. Her love.  
All of it, poured into him through the bond.

He tried to smile with blood on his lips as the doors closed behind him.