Raven Curse

Kayden - POV

As soon as we reached the Opéra Garnier, I picked up a Raven scent in the vicinity. I rushed inside to find Damon roughed up, but there was no sign of Heather.

“Where is Heather?” I asked, looking around frantically. The scent of her blood made my heart beat faster with worry.

“How is he?” I asked, trying to keep calm.

“He will regain consciousness. It seems those Ravens were here only for Heather,” Stella said.

Her words rang true—they had roughed Damon up but not killed him. But why are we the Ravens’ enemies? My head hurt from overthinking. The strong scent my nose picked up gave me the feeling that the Raven chief had been here. I could feel the dark

Raven power—the strongest of all. I noticed dead Ravens on the floor.

“Damon, thank God you’re okay,” Stella said as she hugged him. Damon hissed in pain, but Stella kissed him anyway, tears of worry in her eyes.

Watching her now reminded me of Heather and the way she used to look at me with concern. That glimpse of a vision I had back in the cemetery—what was it?

“Your memories,” my wolf, Odin, whispered in my head.

I stood frozen. Did that mean… Heather was my first mate, not Stella?

The vision appeared again. I saw myself unconscious on the ground, but my mind and wolf energy were still active. I picked up noises. I heard Kate speaking to Mr. and Mrs. Sutton. I also heard soft whimpers of pain coming from another side.

My heart clenched as I realized who was next to me on the ground—it was Heather. I knew those whimpers too well by now. What hurt even more was realizing that my best friend, Kate, had been with the Ravens all along, just playing with me.

“Kayden! Oh my God, what is happening to him now?” Stella’s voice snapped me back to the present. I was panting and trembling, memories swirling in my head, only to have them wiped clean again, as though they’d never existed—thanks to my traitor friend, Kate.

“Kayden… are you alright?” Damon asked, walking toward me unsteadily.

“I… I got my memories back,” I whispered.

Damon and Stella exchanged confused looks.

“What do you mean?” Stella asked.

“No time to explain. Heather is my mate. I need to save her. She’s hurt—there’s her blood…” My voice cracked as Stella and Damon stared at me, surprised.

“She was fine when I was conscious, but I don’t sense death here,” Damon said. “Anyway, I was knocked out by some crazy guy. I heard Heather call him Colt.”

“Wait—if she’s not here, was she forced to go with them?” Stella asked.

“She’s not working with the Ravens!” I snapped, though a small part of me doubted.

“Seriously? You doubted her an hour ago,” Stella shot back.

“I don’t think she’s working with the Ravens,” Damon said, surprising Stella. “She was fighting them. It seems that guy, Colt, was pissed she didn’t follow some kind of order. I couldn’t hear much because wolfsbane finally knocked me out.”

“Wait… could it be she was forced to work for them?” Stella suggested.

“Not important. I need to find her.”

My gut told me something worse was about to happen to Heather.

“Panicking won’t help,” Damon said coldly, breaking me out of my frantic thoughts. I realized I was sweating and breathing irregularly.

“I feel like this guy is still nearby. I don’t think they could’ve teleported to Alaska. There must be a Raven base somewhere around here,” Damon said.

“You’re right,” I whispered.

“Pull yourself together, Kayden. You need your head in the game,” Damon said, and I nodded.

****

Heather - POV

My eyes widened in horror as I saw my best friend and my mother brought before me. They were both in chains. Mona looked frail, her health clearly deteriorating, and my mother gazed at me with a mix of warmth and sadness.

“Have a little chat. I’ll be back to give you a show for breaking your word,” Colt sneered, flashing me a smile that sent chills down my spine. He pushed me into the cell with Mona and my mother before walking away.

“Mona… Mother… I’m so sorry for putting you in this situation,” I whispered, guilt weighing me down.

They looked at me with sad eyes. Mona’s health seemed to be the worst. My mother, on the other hand, stared back at me with warmth I didn’t expect.

“I… I don’t understand. How did I end up in an orphanage? I never knew I had parents,” I asked her, my voice trembling.

“I’m sorry you two had to suffer,” she said softly.

“What do you mean ‘you two’?” I asked, confused.

“I never thought my son would become this ruthless and shackle me like this,” my mother said.

I blinked, shocked. “Wait—you don’t mean Colt is my brother?”

Her tears confirmed my suspicion.

“What?” My voice cracked. “I don’t understand. If you were alive, why did you leave Colt and me in an orphanage?”

“I didn’t leave you two. When I gave birth in secret, hidden among the Raven women, I was told my twins were dead. They said you both didn’t survive. I was devastated, having already lost my husband, Shawn, in the fight alongside with Ravengrim, the fight against Xael, and the Night Moon wolf Pack and Lycan packs.”

“What… now?” Mona whispered in shock.

“What happened to the other women who were pregnant?” I asked.

“The same story. Lies. Any mother who questioned the elders became suspicious and was poisoned. Somehow, I managed to escape and live among humans,” she explained weakly. “I paid spies to find my children, but they were all killed. I lost hope. Then Colt abducted me. He looks just like my husband… and you are my replica. I wish I could have saved you both from the Raven elders and their malicious plans to poison your minds.”

Tears streamed down her face.

“Your father Shawn changed as a good man slowly. He didn’t want to fight. He wrote books to break the Raven pack curse and seek peace. But Ravengrim didn’t let him escape. He brainwashed him and the other men into becoming feral. The pack’s energy became trapped in a vortex for decades… I don’t even recall how long.”

Her anguish struck a chord in me. Tears streamed down my face as her genuine words pierced my heart. She was a mother who only wanted to be with her children, but she was robbed of that chance. She came closer and hugged me. The motherly warmth I hadn’t realized I needed brought me some comfort.

Heavy footsteps interrupted our moment, followed by a sinister grin.

“Seems like mother and daughter have bonded,” Colt said darkly.

“Well, sad to say, she won’t be around long enough for more of that warm hugging,” he sneered. “I’m jealous.anyway she is gone die by my hands”

“You’re sick! How could you?” I hissed.