Chapter 93 No… Aleksandr’s POV
The evening air carried the scent of night-blooming jasmine as Amelia and I shared a quiet dinner in the eastern garden. Lantern light caught the highlights in her dark hair, turning the strands to liquid shadow as she smiled at something I'd said. These moments, stolen hours of normalcy between crisis meetings and kingdom duties, had become precious beyond measure. Each one a reminder of what I fought to protect, what I stood to lose if the curse won. And it was winning. Every day, I felt Skoll slipping further from me, our connection fraying like an old rope bearing too much weight. Less than six weeks until my hundredth birthday. Less than six weeks to find a solution, or become the monster everyone feared.
"You're staring again," Amelia said, her fork pausing halfway to her mouth.
I forced a smile. "Just appreciating the view."
She rolled her eyes, but the blush creeping across her cheeks betrayed her pleasure at the compliment. Even after everything, she still responded to my attention with that mixture of disbelief and joy that made my chest ache.
The server approached with dessert, some elaborate confection involving chocolate and berries that I wouldn't taste. Food had become increasingly flavourless as the curse progressed, another small joy stripped away. I nodded my thanks as he set the plates before us, then retreated back to the shadows at the edge of the garden.
"How are the wedding preparations coming?" I asked, reaching for my water glass. The cut crystal caught the lantern light, splintering it into tiny rainbows across the white tablecloth.
"Nora's handling most of it," Amelia admitted, poking at her dessert with uncharacteristic hesitation. "She said I needed to focus on…"
The first tremor hit without warning. A sudden, violent shudder that ran through my body like an electric current, stealing my breath. The glass in my hand contracted, muscles clenching beyond my control. Crystal shattered, shards driving into my palm as water spilled across the table.
"Aleksandr!" Amelia was on her feet instantly, concern etched across her features.
"Don't," I managed, my voice already distorting into a growl. "Stay back."
She ignored me, of course. My brave, foolish mate, always running toward danger instead of away. I tried to push my chair back, to put distance between us, but my limbs were no longer mine to command. The curse surged through me with unprecedented force, a tidal wave of rage and hunger that drowned rational thought.
'Hold on!' Skoll's desperate howl echoed through our fragmenting bond. 'Fight it!'
But I couldn't. Not this time. Red washed across my vision, the world narrowing to a tunnel with Amelia at its end. Her scent filled my nostrils, lavender and vanilla and beneath it, the intoxicating richness of her blood. The curse wanted it. Wanted her. Not as a mate, but as prey.
"Get away," I rasped, my last conscious command as darkness swallowed me whole.
I was a passenger in my own body, trapped behind eyes I no longer controlled, watching in horror as my hand shot out, fingers closing around Amelia's wrist with bruising force. She gasped in pain but didn't pull away, didn't run as any sane person would. Instead, she stepped closer, her free hand reaching for my face.
"Aleksandr," she said, voice steady despite the fear I could smell radiating from her skin. "Look at me. Focus on my voice."
My body lunged forward, toppling the table as I dragged her to the ground. Dishes shattered, food splattered across stone and grass. I pinned her beneath me with terrifying ease, my knees bracketing her hips, one hand closed around her throat while the other held her wrist against the ground. Blood from my cut palm smeared across her skin, the scent driving the curse into a frenzy.
I was screaming inside my mind, raging against the prison of my own body, desperate to stop what was happening. But the curse had complete control now. I felt my canines extend, saw Amelia's eyes widen as they lengthened past any normal shift, becoming daggers meant to tear into flesh.
'STOP!' Skoll howled, his presence a distant flicker in the darkness. 'NOT MATE! NEVER MATE!'
But his protests were meaningless now. The wolf was as trapped as the man, both helpless as our body bent toward Amelia's exposed neck, canines poised to tear through the delicate skin covering her jugular. I could see her pulse hammering beneath the surface, count each frantic beat.
Then, impossibly, her hands were on my face, gentle despite everything. Her thumbs stroked across my cheekbones, her mismatched eyes staring directly into mine without flinching.
"I'm here," she whispered, voice slightly strained from the pressure on her throat, but still clear. Still determined. "I'm right here, Aleksandr. Come back to me."
My teeth grazed her neck, drawing tiny beads of blood that welled like rubies against her pale skin. The curse's triumph surged through our shared body, the taste of her on my tongue driving it to frenzy.
But then—something shifted. A presence brushed against the darkness, not fighting it directly, but flowing around it like water around stone. Kaela. Somehow, despite the barrier that kept her from fully merging with Amelia, she was reaching through their bond to Skoll, to me.
'Mate,' her voice was a cool stream in a burning landscape. 'We are here. Both of us. We won't let go.'
I felt Skoll respond, his presence strengthening as he reached desperately for the lifeline she offered. Their connection bypassed the curse's stranglehold on our shared consciousness, creating a channel of clarity amidst the chaos.
The pressure of Amelia's hands against my face became an anchor, something real to focus on beyond the curse's hunger. I could feel her trembling beneath me, yet her gaze remained steady, unwavering in its certainty.
"That's it," she encouraged, somehow sensing the change. "Keep fighting. Remember who you are. Who we are."
The curse fought back, sending fresh waves of rage through my system. My hand tightened reflexively around her throat, drawing a pained gasp from her lips. But she didn't look away, didn't stop the gentle motion of her thumbs across my skin.
"You won't hurt me," she said with such conviction that it cut through the darkness like a blade. "I trust you, Aleksandr. My King. My mate."
Like sunlight breaking through storm clouds, awareness flooded back into my limbs. The red haze receded from my vision, revealing the full horror of what I'd nearly done.
Blood, her blood, on my lips.
My hand crushing her throat.
Her body pinned beneath mine in a grotesque parody of intimacy.
With a strangled cry, I released her, rolling away onto my back beside her on the cool grass. My chest heaved with ragged breaths as the curse retreated, still present but no longer in control.
"Amelia," I choked out, unable to look at her, at the damage I'd done. "I'm so sorry."
Her hand found mine, fingers intertwining with mine despite the blood and glass still embedded in my palm. "It's okay," she whispered, her voice slightly hoarse from the pressure of my hand. "You came back. That's what matters."
I turned my head then, forcing myself to face her. A thin line of blood trickled from the small punctures on her neck where my canines had broken skin. Not deep enough to scar, not deep enough to be a mating mark, but a wound nonetheless. One I had inflicted. The sight of it sent waves of self-loathing crashing through me.
'Safe now,' Skoll whispered, his presence stronger in our shared mind than it had been in days. 'Mate safe. Kaela helped.'
And she had. Somehow, Kaela had reached through to help pull us back from the brink. I could still feel her presence, a gentle warmth alongside Amelia's that hadn't been there before. Something had changed, shifted between all four of us.
But as I looked at the blood on Amelia's neck, I knew with cold certainty that we were running out of time. The curse was growing stronger by the day. Next time, even Kaela might not be able to reach us in time.