Chapter 26 Cursed and Chosen
MEIRA’S POV
I gulped in a breath that felt painfully dry as I stood there with my hands clenched tightly at my sides.
Emily’s stare burned into my skin like open fire.
She tilted her head slightly, lips curling with a cruel kind of triumph, the sort that came from knowing you had struck somewhere fragile.
“Yeah,” she said slowly, clearly enjoying herself. “I said what I said. Aren’t you a cursed hybrid? I know you are. We all do. You think everyone is blind, but you forget the royal pack has ears. Your life is useless anyway, so stop pretending like you matter.”
The words crashed into me.
My heart stuttered, not breaking but hardening.
Jacinthe immediately stepped forward, her voice sharp with warning. “Emily!”
Emily shot her a look colder than winter itself.
“Oh look,” she scoffed. “Now Jacinthe has a new friend. And suddenly she’s a protector too.”
Her gaze slid back to me slowly, deliberately, as if she wanted every insult to sink deep into my bones.
I didn’t answer, not because I didn’t want to, but because I couldn’t.
Not because I was afraid of her, but because something deep inside me was beginning to move.
My magic stirred beneath my skin like something alive, restless and irritated by cruelty. It was the same feeling I always got when I was pushed too far, when something inside me wanted to rise and strike back without permission.
I inhaled through my nose and held it.
Control.
I could feel it swelling in my chest and crawling up my veins like a warning. If I opened my mouth, there was a chance it wouldn’t be words that came out.
Emily stepped closer, invading my space, her eyes flashing as she leaned in.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” she mocked. “Open your mouth and speak.”
I clenched my fists harder.
No. Meira, you can do this. Pull yourself together.
I forced myself to stand still even as the air around me thickened, as though the world itself was pressing inward.
“I said talk,” she taunted. “Unless you agree that everything I’ve been saying is actually true.”
I stayed silent.
Jacinthe had gone quiet too, but I felt her tense beside me with anger.
Emily laughed under her breath. “You really are pathetic,” she muttered.
Then, with one final glare, she turned to Jacinthe, her superiority making my stomach churn.
“And for your information,” she added loudly, “I am not some mixed creature like you. I’m not tainted. I’m not cursed. I’m not an omega either, so watch how you speak to me.”
Before I could react, she shoved my shoulder hard enough to make me stagger back a step. Then she walked away as if nothing had happened.
Jacinthe rushed toward me instantly. “Meira, are you okay?”
I nodded slowly even though my heart was pounding.
“She’s always been like that,” Jacinthe whispered angrily. “But that doesn’t give her the right to treat you this way. Don’t let her get to you.”
I tried to smile for her sake. “I won’t,” I said quietly.
But the truth was, Emily had already gotten to me.
Not just with her words, but with the dangerous truth hidden inside them.
I glanced down at my hands as if expecting to see something wrong with my skin. Something visible. Something monstrous.
I didn’t speak as we walked away, not because I had nothing to say, but because my magic was still tugging at me from the inside. I knew if I let my emotions loose even once, something terrible could happen.
I wasn’t ready for that. Not ready to break anything, not the royal pack house, not myself, not the world. Not yet.
After we settled into our quarters, Lady Rose arrived moments later. Her sharp voice rang through the room in a way that demanded obedience.
“Meira.”
I straightened. “Yes, my lady.”
“You’re Meira, right?”
I nodded.
“Speak!”
“Yes, my lady,” I responded, flinching at the sudden increase in her voice.
“I want the garden spotless before the ceremony. Every leaf. Every corner.”
“All of them,” I answered respectfully.
She handed me the tools herself with a sharp nod, then walked off without another glance.
Jacinthe stepped closer. “I’ll come with you.”
I shook my head gently. “No need. I’ll be fine.”
She hesitated, then sighed. “Alright. But don’t shut me out, Meira.”
“I won’t,” I promised, even though I wasn’t sure it was the truth.
She watched me leave with worry in her eyes.
I picked up the tools and walked toward the garden alone.
DANE’S POV
The alcohol burned differently now.
It no longer gave me false warmth or quieted the ache in my chest. Instead, it sat heavy in my veins, sharpening every emotion.
My chest felt too tight, like steel had been wrapped around my ribs and twisted slowly.
I needed air. I needed space. The feeling was becoming suffocating.
I needed to be anywhere but my chambers.
Those walls carried her voice, her scent, her memory, no matter how hard I tried to ignore or deny it.
I staggered slightly as I walked through the corridors, ignoring the stares and whispered murmurs of servants who were brave enough to look but not foolish enough to speak.
I was moving toward the garden. I didn’t know why my body chose that place, only that it did.
The evening breeze met me the moment I stepped outside, cool and smooth against my overheated skin.
I inhaled deeply, then again.
Slowly, the pressure in my chest loosened.
Moonlight settled on the flowers like silver dust.
Then I saw her.
At first, I thought she was just another servant, kneeling as she worked, trying to clean. Her movements were calm, methodical, almost graceful.
Without realizing it, I moved closer.
Something stirred in my chest, a low, unfamiliar tug that made my wolf shift, suddenly alert. I frowned. That was strange.
I took another step, then another.
My wolf in me growled softly, not in anger but recognition.
I shook my head. Impossible.
Still, my feet kept moving.
The closer I got, the stronger it became. Not a scent. Not a sound. Something deeper. A pull.
She lifted her hand to brush something from her sleeve, and the moment moonlight touched her skin, my heart stuttered.
My vision sharpened as instinct took control.
There was something about her.
Something terribly wrong.
And terribly right.
She stood slowly, turning as if she felt my gaze on her. The garden faded, the world narrowing, and then the thought hit me, uninvited and unwelcome.
The cursed she-wolf was my second-chance mate?