60

60
Jaden’s POV

The weight of silence pressed against the stone walls long after the guard’s footsteps faded. It was the kind of silence that wasn’t empty but heavy, like the air itself carried judgment. I could still feel Thalia’s heartbeat in my veins, fast and fragile, echoing the way she had clutched her wrist. The bond had sunk its claws into her, and I was the one who had dragged her into it.

I hated it.

I hated that I’d let myself grow weak enough to crave her closeness, that my curse had found her and latched on. For years, I’d fought to contain the shadows inside me, never caring if they tore me apart. But now… now I cared. Because every time they struck, every time they clawed me open, I felt the echo in her body. The thought of Thalia writhing in pain because of me made my chest twist until I could barely breathe.

I pushed myself off the floor, my legs shaking with the effort. My reflection still glared at me through the cracked mirror, silver light fading from my eyes, leaving only the fractured man behind. One half Alpha. One half beast. Both cursed.

My hands balled into fists. The pack thought they feared my curse—but what they should fear was the monster I’d become if Thalia ever bled for me.

I stormed to the balcony doors and shoved them open. The night air rushed in, sharp and biting, filled with pine and smoke. The Moonlight Pack’s territory stretched below, the dark forest rippling like a restless sea. The torches around the village burned brighter tonight, and I could see shadows of my people gathering, their murmurs carrying through the wind. They’d heard my growls, my struggle with the curse, and it had shaken them again.

They needed strength. They needed certainty. But all I could give them was silence and lies.

“Alpha.”

The voice came from behind me, soft, cautious. I didn’t need to turn to know who it was. Nyra.

She always moved like a whisper, sliding past defenses I didn’t even realize I’d lowered.

“You should rest,” she said, stepping closer. “The pack will not hold against this if you continue to let them see your weakness.”

My jaw tightened. “What weakness?”

“The bond,” she answered simply. “It ties you to her. They can feel it. She’s bleeding into you, Jaden. And if they sense it too deeply, they’ll question if you belong to them—or to her.”

Her words cut deeper than the curse itself. She wasn’t wrong. Even as she spoke, I could feel Thalia tugging at the edge of my awareness, the faint thrum of her pulse like a drumbeat I couldn’t escape. She wasn’t even near me physically, and yet I carried her inside me.

“She doesn’t deserve this,” I muttered.

“No,” Nyra agreed. Her tone sharpened, though, like a blade being drawn. “Which is why you must end it before it consumes you both.”

I turned, eyes narrowing. “End it?”

“Cut the bond. Sever it. Send her away before it destroys the two of you.”

Rage surged in me before I could stop it. The idea of Thalia leaving—of ripping her from me—felt like being gutted alive. The curse growled in my blood, furious, possessive.

“You don’t understand,” I snarled. “It’s too late. The bond isn’t just tether—it’s buried, clawed into us both. If I push her away, if I sever it, it could kill her.”

Nyra’s expression hardened, but her eyes betrayed something else. Not fear. Not hatred. Pity.

“Then she’s already marked for death,” she whispered. “And you’re the one who put her there.”

Her words hung in the air like smoke, choking me. I wanted to deny them, to shout, to tear down the walls until she left me alone. But the truth was already bleeding through my silence.

I was the reason Thalia was cursed.

Nyra stepped back, her cloak catching the torchlight. “Decide soon, Alpha. If you don’t, the pack will decide for you.”

When she left, the chamber plunged into silence once more. But this time it wasn’t heavy with judgment—it was suffocating with choice.

I gripped the balcony rail until my knuckles cracked. The night stretched endlessly before me, and in the distance, a wolf’s howl carried across the trees. My people were restless. My enemies were closer than ever. And through it all, Thalia’s heartbeat thrummed inside me like a fragile flame.

I closed my eyes, letting the bond pull me deeper. Her scent came to me—soft, laced with fear but steady. She was fighting, even without knowing the weight she carried now. My curse had tangled her fate with mine, and if Nyra was right, every second it grew stronger.

I couldn’t sever it. I wouldn’t.

But if the curse thought it could use her against me, it had underestimated just how far I would go.

The shadows had taken everything from me—my peace, my control, my pack’s trust. But they would not take her.

I’d burn the forest. I’d tear down the walls of the Moonlight Pack itself. I’d even embrace the full beast inside me if it meant keeping Thalia alive.

For years, I had fought for survival. Now, for the first time, I would fight for something more.

For her.

I turned from the balcony, my mind sharp with resolve. The curse had given me a weapon, even if it thought it was a chain. If Thalia’s bond with me was the curse’s triumph, then I would twist it into its downfall.

Silver fire flickered in my veins as I clenched my fists. The shadows had awoken a new kind of war inside me, and I would not rest until I made them regret ever touching her.

This wasn’t just survival anymore. This was war.

And the curse had no idea what kind of Alpha it had bound itself to.