64

64
Thalia’s POV

The whispers didn’t fade when I pulled back into the room. If anything, they grew louder in my head, echoing through me as though the walls themselves carried the voices of the villagers. I pressed the shutters closed, but I couldn’t block out the weight of their stares. They had seen the mark. The creeping black veins. And now, the entire pack would know.

I sank onto the edge of the bed, my hands trembling in my lap. I’d survived so much since being dragged into this cursed place, but somehow the thought of their suspicion—their fear—made me feel smaller than ever.

The bond pulsed faintly, tugging at me. Not painful this time, but steady, insistent. Jaden hadn’t moved from the doorway, though I could feel his eyes on me. His presence filled the space like smoke, impossible to ignore.

“They’ll hate me,” I whispered, more to myself than to him.

“They already fear me,” he said flatly. “And now they’ll see you as an extension of that fear.”

The bluntness of his words made me flinch. He didn’t soften them, didn’t offer comfort. Just truth. Maybe that was worse.

I pressed my palms into the mattress, grounding myself. “I don’t belong here.”

His silence was an agreement in itself.

Then a knock at the door jolted me. Sharper than before, firm and commanding. Not Nancy this time. My stomach twisted.

Jaden moved to open it, but before he touched the handle, the door pushed inward. A tall man with broad shoulders stepped into the room. His presence carried authority, though I didn’t recognize him. Behind him, two more wolves stood guard, their eyes flicking between me and Jaden.

“Alpha,” the man said, bowing his head to Jaden, though his gaze kept darting back to me. “There are concerns in the village. They’ve seen the mark.”

I shrank back instinctively, pulling my arm closer to my body as if hiding it might erase their memory. But the man’s eyes lingered, sharp and assessing.

“What concerns?” Jaden asked, his tone clipped.

The man’s jaw tightened. “They fear she’s infected. That the curse will spread through her, into the pack.”

The words hit me like stones. My chest hollowed, breath snagging. Infected. As if I were some disease.

“I’m not—” The protest burst from my lips, but it sounded weak, desperate. Their gazes didn’t soften.

Jaden’s voice darkened, heavy with Alpha command. “She is under my protection. No harm will come to her.”

The man bowed again, but unease lingered in his stance. “Still, the elders request she be brought before them. They want to see the mark for themselves.”

The room tilted beneath me. My heart pounded against my ribs. “No,” I whispered. “I can’t—”

Jaden turned to me, his eyes unreadable. “If you refuse, they’ll assume the worst. Fear spreads faster than truth here.”

I shook my head, backing toward the balcony as though I could escape this whole pack by sheer will. “They’ll look at me like a monster. I can’t.”

For a moment, something flickered in his eyes—frustration, maybe even pity. He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Thalia, hiding will only make them hungrier. Show them, and I’ll handle the rest.”

The bond pulsed, tugging harder, feeding me his certainty, his strength. I hated it. Hated that part of me steadied under his confidence, even as fear clawed at my insides.

I wrapped my arms around myself, trembling. “And if they decide I don’t deserve protection?”

His jaw clenched. “Then they’ll answer to me.”

The weight in his tone left no room for doubt. The guards shifted uneasily, their eyes darting away.

But his promise didn’t soothe me. Because deep down, I wondered if the pack’s fear was justified. If this curse, this bond, would eventually swallow me whole until nothing human remained.

The journey to the elders’ hall felt like walking into my own trial. The villagers lined the path, whispers weaving through the crowd like smoke. Their stares burned into me—some wide with fear, others narrowed with suspicion, a few glinting with pity that hurt worse than hate.

I kept my head down, every step heavier than the last. Jaden walked at my side, his presence a wall between me and them. But even he couldn’t block out the voices.

“Look at her arm.”
“It’s spreading.”
“She’ll bring ruin to us all.”

My throat burned, but I forced myself not to cry. Crying would only make me weaker in their eyes.

The hall loomed ahead, its wooden beams carved with symbols older than the pack itself. Inside, the air was thick with incense and authority. Five elders sat in a semicircle, their faces shadowed by hoods, their eyes gleaming sharp beneath.

They gestured for me to step forward. My legs shook, but I obeyed. Jaden remained behind me, a silent shadow, though I could feel his gaze burning into the back of my head.

“Show us,” one of the elders said, his voice rasping like dry leaves.

My hand trembled as I lifted my sleeve, baring the mark. Gasps rippled through the chamber as the black veins came into view, crawling almost to my elbow now.

The elders leaned forward, studying it with grim intensity.

“It grows fast,” one muttered.
“Too fast.”
“She won’t last long.”

Their words cut deeper than any blade. I clenched my jaw, willing myself not to break in front of them.

Finally, the eldest among them spoke, his voice slow and heavy. “This is no ordinary wound. The curse has chosen her.”

Whispers swelled around the room. Chosen. As if that word were a sentence.

“What does that mean?” I asked, my voice trembling despite my best effort to steady it.

The elder’s gaze bore into me, ancient and unyielding. “It means your fate is bound to the Alpha’s. His curse is your curse now. His survival, yours. His downfall… yours as well.”

My stomach dropped. The bond pulsed, confirming his words in its silent, cruel way.

One of the younger elders leaned forward, eyes sharp. “She’s dangerous. If she falters, the whole pack could suffer. Better to end it now, before the curse deepens.”

The hall erupted in murmurs. My heart stopped.

I spun toward Jaden, panic clawing up my throat. His expression was carved from stone, but his eyes blazed with fury.

“Anyone who lays a hand on her,” he growled, his voice echoing with Alpha command, “will face me.”

The room stilled. Even the elders flinched under the weight of his words.

But fear still lingered in their eyes, and I knew this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

As we left the hall, the bond throbbed harder than ever, a reminder of the chains tightening around me. I didn’t know whether to hate Jaden more for defending me—or to fear that I was becoming part of
the curse he’d carried all his life.

Either way, the pack’s eyes would never see me the same again.