Chapter 101

Chapter 101
Sera POV

The walk back to Jade's chambers felt like a death march. The pack lined the corridor, their faces pale and frightened, their whispers following us like ghosts. Jade kept his arm around me, supporting my weight as much as claiming me, but I could feel the tension radiating from him, the barely contained violence.

My skin still glowed faintly with silver light, pulsing in time with my heartbeat. I tried to make it stop, to push the power back down, but it clung to me like a second skin, refusing to be hidden.

"She's cursed," someone murmured as we passed. An older woman, her face lined with fear. "The prophecy has taken her."

"She'll bring ruin to us all," another voice agreed, younger but no less terrified.

Jade's grip on me tightened, but he didn't stop walking or acknowledge them. His jaw was set, his eyes fixed straight ahead, and I could see the effort it took for him not to lash out.

We had barely made it past the great hall when a servant stepped into our path. He was very young, barely more than a boy, but you could see the hatred in his eyes. His hands trembled, but his voice carried that particular conviction that only true believers possess.

"Alpha Jade," he said, his eyes darting between us. "Please. You must see reason. She is dangerous. The mark—"

"Move." Jade's voice was flat, dead.

"But the prophecy says—"

"I said move."

The boy didn't. Either bravery or stupidity kept him rooted to the spot, his chin lifted in defiance even as fear made his voice shake. "She will destroy everything. The goddess's curse—"

Jade moved so fast I barely saw it. One moment the boy was standing, the next he was slammed against the wall, Jade's hand around his throat, lifting him until his feet dangled.

"Say one more word about her," Jade growled, his voice gone guttural, inhuman, "and I'll rip your tongue out through your throat."

"Jade—" I started, reaching for him, but he shook his head sharply.

"No." His eyes never left the boy's purpling face. "They need to understand. All of them need to understand that no one can speak against my mate and go scot-free."

He threw the servant aside, and the boy crumpled to the floor, gasping. Jade turned to face the crowd that had gathered, drawn by the commotion. At least two dozen pack members stood watching, their faces a mixture of fear and fascination.

"Listen carefully," Jade said, his voice carrying the weight of absolute authority. "Sera is under my protection. She is mine. And anyone, anyone who speaks against her, who threatens her, who so much as looks at her wrong, will answer to me." He let the words sink in, letting them see the promise of violence in his eyes. "Am I understood?"

Silence followed. Heavy and thick enough to choke on.

"I said, Am I understood?"

A murmur of assent rippled through the crowd, but I could see the doubt in their eyes, the fear that wouldn't be silenced by threats alone.

Jade pulled me closer, and we continued walking toward his chambers. But I felt the weight of their stares, felt the hatred and terror following us like a curse.

When we finally reached his room, we walked in, and he locked the door behind us. I allowed myself to rest against the wall; the strength in my body was gone.

"You shouldn't have done that," I said quietly.

"I should have done worse." He moved to the basin, splashing water on his face. I noticed that the wounds from the duel had healed impossibly fast, but exhaustion lined his features. "I won't let them hurt you."

"You can't protect me from an entire pack, Jade."

"Watch me." He turned to face me, and I saw something wild and desperate in his eyes. Something that made my breath catch. "I don't care if the whole world turns against you. I don't care if the goddess herself commands your death. I will protect you."

The words should have comforted me. Instead, I thought of Elara's revelation, of Kade's betrayal echoing across lifetimes. I looked at Jade, really looked at him, and tried to see the man who rejected me out of weakness.

But I couldn't. Jade wasn't weak. If anything, he was strong. What I saw when I looked at him was a fierce protector, the alpha who threatened his own pack for my sake.

But wasn't that worse? Wasn't it more cruel that this lifetime's version of Kade was everything I could have wanted, everything I needed, and I was destined to destroy him?

"What did you see?" Jade asked softly, moving closer. "When you collapsed. You were gone for minutes, but when you woke..." He hesitated. "Your eyes were different. Silver. Like the goddess herself was looking through you."

I swallowed hard. "I saw her. Elara. She showed me things; she told me things."

"What things?"

Everything. I should tell him everything. I should tell him about the curse, about Kade, about the choice hanging over us like an executioner's blade. But the words stuck in my throat, trapped by fear and something darker.

Because part of me, a small, terrible part, wanted to keep the power. Wanted to become what Elara promised. Wanted to be more than just a cursed she-wolf caught between alphas and prophecies.

"She wants me to choose," I said finally, telling him a partial truth. "She wanted me to choose between power and... something else."

Jade's jaw tightened. "And what did you tell her?"

"That I needed time."

He was silent for a long moment, his eyes searching my face. Then he reached out, his fingers gentle as they traced the line of my jaw.

"Whatever she's offering," he said quietly, "whatever promises she has made, don't trust them. The gods don't give gifts, Sera. They make trades. And the price is always higher than they say."

I leaned into his touch, desperate for the warmth of it, the grounding reality of his presence. But even as I did, I felt the silver fire pulse beneath my skin and felt Elara's expectations pressing down on me.

I looked up at Jade and saw both my salvation and my doom. Saw the protector who would shield me from the world and the executioner I was meant to become.

The prophecy tightened around us, inevitable as death.

And I still had no idea how to break free.