53 Dream
Jaden’s POV
The night was too still for comfort. Even the wolves that patrolled the borders had gone quiet, their howls cut off in the middle of the air as though something pressed down on their throats. I had walked the southern path more times than I could count, yet tonight the shadows stretched differently, long fingers clawing across the dirt.
The curse always warned me before it stirred. A tightening in my chest, the kind that stole my breath. A heat behind my eyes, like my skull itself was trying to contain fire. And that whisper — soft, tempting, poisonous.
She is not yours to keep. She will be destroyed like the others.
I stopped walking, pressing my palm against the bark of a cedar tree, grounding myself. The whisper had grown stronger ever since Thalia stepped into my life. Her presence unsettled the curse, or maybe it was the curse that unsettled my claim on her.
I closed my eyes, forcing the whisper down. “Not tonight.”
But I lied to myself. Tonight, of all nights, it was strongest.
A howl rose in the distance — raw, broken. Not one of my patrol wolves. This one came from the heart of the village. I straightened, every instinct snapping into place. My feet carried me faster than thought, my body pulling toward the sound.
By the time I reached the clearing, smoke clung to the air. My chest locked. Houses… burning. It wasn’t possible — I had ordered strict fire barriers, every hut reinforced with earth walls and water charms. And yet, the stench of fire threaded through my nose, too real to dismiss.
The villagers ran, dragging pups and elders from the flames. The fire cracked louder, spitting orange tongues into the sky.
But it wasn’t the fire that froze me.
It was her.
Thalia stood in the middle of it, unmoving, her hair whipped by smoke, her eyes wide and glassy. She didn’t scream. She didn’t even blink. She just stood as if her soul had been carried away while her body remained behind.
I tore through the flames to reach her. “Thalia!”
No response. Not even the flick of her gaze.
I grabbed her shoulders. Her skin burned with a heat that wasn’t from the fire. Her pulse hammered beneath my fingers. Still, she didn’t look at me.
Then the whisper inside me laughed. She sees what you hide. She sees the curse you carry.
“Damn you,” I muttered, more to the voice than to her.
“Alpha!” one of the guards shouted. “The fire—it isn’t real!”
I whipped around. The huts… the flames licking at the wood… they flickered like shadows. Smoke still clawed my throat, but when I blinked, the fire warped, melting into nothing but empty air.
An illusion.
Or worse — a vision.
And Thalia was caught inside it.
I shook her gently, then harder. “Thalia, come back to me.”
Finally, her lashes trembled. She blinked, staring at me as if seeing me for the first time. Her lips parted. “Jaden… it’s burning. Everything’s burning.”
“No. Not anymore.” I kept my grip steady. “You’re safe. You’re with me.”
But her trembling said otherwise. She clutched at my tunic, digging her nails through the fabric. “I saw it… the houses. The wolves crying out. Your curse spreading.” Her voice cracked. “And me, in the middle of it.”
Her words cut sharper than claws. I didn’t ask how she knew. I had hidden the truth well, or so I thought. The curse, the rot buried deep in my bloodline. But visions didn’t lie, and now she had touched the edge of it.
I swallowed down the fear clawing at my throat. “Thalia, listen. What you saw—it hasn’t happened. It won’t happen.”
Her eyes searched mine, desperate for a truth she could cling to. But what truth could I give? That I wasn’t already half-lost to the thing inside me? That I hadn’t woken nights with blood on my hands and no memory of spilling it?
Before I could answer, Nyra appeared, her steps measured, her eyes sharp as blades. “Alpha.” She bowed slightly, but her gaze lingered on Thalia. “The girl should rest. Visions like these are dangerous. They reveal cracks we may not be ready to mend.”
I hated the way she said the girl, as if Thalia were a problem, not a person. My jaw tightened. “She stays with me.”
Nyra’s brow arched. “Do you intend to fight her nightmares for her? Or your own?”
Her words landed heavy, but I ignored them. I pulled Thalia closer, steadying her trembling frame.
“Jaden,” she whispered, her voice raw. “Is it true? Do you carry something dark?”
The question I had dreaded. The one I wasn’t ready to face.
I could lie. Say no. Blame the smoke, the fear, her own exhaustion. But her eyes—gods, her eyes—held me like chains. She deserved more than my silence.
“Yes.” The word cracked like thunder between us.
She flinched, but didn’t pull away. “Then tell me everything.”
Nyra’s voice sliced in. “No. She isn’t ready.”
I bared my teeth. “That isn’t your choice to make.”
The shadows around us deepened, as though the curse itself listened. My chest tightened, the whisper growing louder, mocking. You think she’ll stay once she sees you for what you are? You think she’ll choose a monster?
Thalia’s hand rose, small and warm, resting against my cheek. “Jaden… I already chose.”
The curse recoiled at her touch, thrashing against my ribs, but I clung to her hand like a lifeline.
Somewhere behind me, Nyra hissed, muttering words in a tongue I half-recognized, a warding spell perhaps. She knew the danger, maybe even more than I did.
But right then, the only thing that mattered was the steady fire in Thalia’s eyes. Not fear. Not pity. Something stronger.
For the first time in years, I believed the curse might break.
Or it might destroy us both.
And I couldn’t tell which fate was closer.