54
Jaden’s POV
The weight of her hand lingered long after she lowered it from my cheek. I hadn’t expected her to touch me like that—not after my confession, not after admitting the truth I had hidden even from my closest warriors. The curse had lived with me all my life, but speaking it aloud, letting Thalia hear it, made it feel more real.
Nyra’s silence stretched, sharp as a knife against my spine. She hadn’t left; she was circling, watching, waiting for a chance to pounce. Her loyalty to me had never been the soft kind. It was loyalty built on suspicion, calculation, and the sharp edge of her tongue.
“You’ve told her too much,” Nyra said at last.
I clenched my fists. “I’ve barely told her anything.”
“And yet the curse stirs louder than I’ve ever heard it,” she shot back, her eyes narrowing on Thalia. “She is the crack in your armor. If she stays at your side, it will consume you both.”
Thalia’s trembling had eased, but she leaned against me, her body still fragile from the vision. Her gaze flicked to Nyra, calm but unwavering. “You think I’m the danger? Or do you fear I’ll uncover the secrets you’ve kept hidden?”
Her voice surprised me—soft, yet it carried a blade of steel.
Nyra stiffened, and for a moment, I thought she might lash out. Instead, she bowed her head, lips pressed thin. “I fear nothing except what comes when your Alpha forgets who he is.”
The air thickened between us, heavy with unsaid words.
I drew Thalia closer, feeling the curse recoil at her nearness. It hated her—because she gave me something it couldn’t control. A choice.
“Go,” I told Nyra, my voice low but commanding. “You’ve said enough for one night.”
Her jaw flexed, but she obeyed, slipping back into the darkness, her figure melting with the shadows until she was gone. Only then did I allow my shoulders to sag.
Thalia tilted her head to look at me. “Why does she fear me so much?”
“Because she knows what I am,” I admitted. “And she knows what this curse can do.”
She didn’t flinch. Didn’t recoil. She just studied me with those eyes that had seen too much in too little time. “Then tell me, Jaden. Don’t give me half-truths. If you want me to stay, if you expect me to trust you, you can’t hide anymore.”
Her words pressed against every scar I’d tried to bury. I wanted to protect her from the ugliness, to shield her from the monster that prowled inside me. But hadn’t she already seen it? In her vision, she had stood in the ruins of my failure. What use was silence now?
So I spoke.
“The curse was born from my bloodline. My ancestors sought power they were never meant to touch. They bound themselves to forces older than the moon itself. The gift they sought twisted into something else—an infection that eats away at the soul. It passes from father to son, generation to generation. And when it awakens fully, it leaves nothing behind but ruin.”
Her lips parted, breath catching. “And you… how close are you to losing yourself?”
Too close. Some nights I woke with my claws slick in blood I didn’t remember spilling. Some nights the whisper wasn’t just a whisper—it was a roar, demanding I tear apart anyone who stood too near. But I couldn’t tell her that. Not all of it.
“Closer than I should be,” I admitted. “But never when you’re near.”
Her eyes softened, but worry lingered. “That’s why you hesitated to mark me.”
The truth of it cut deep. I had wanted to mark her from the first moment I realized what she meant to me. But the curse… it bound itself through blood and touch. A mark could tether her not just to me, but to the darkness that coiled inside me.
“Yes,” I said quietly. “If I mark you, Thalia, I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know if you’ll save me… or if I’ll drag you into the curse with me.”
She was silent, her thumb tracing idle circles against the fabric of my sleeve. Then, after what felt like an eternity, she said, “Maybe the curse fears me because I’m the one meant to break it.”
The simplicity of her words struck me harder than any weapon. Could it be that simple? Could she really be the key?
Before I could answer, a cry rang out—sharp, panicked, real. Not a vision this time. One of my warriors burst through the trees, his fur bristling, his chest heaving.
“Alpha! The northern border—smoke, shadows moving like beasts, but not wolves. Something’s coming!”
The curse surged in my chest, as if it already knew.
I steadied Thalia, whispering, “Stay close to me.” Then I turned, my Alpha’s voice ringing through the night. “Gather every fighter. No one sleeps tonight.”
The warrior bowed and vanished, his paws tearing through the earth.
Thalia gripped my arm. “Jaden… this is what I saw. The fire. The growls.”
Her vision. A warning.
And I realized then that whatever haunted her dreams was no illusion. It was a glimpse of what hunted us now.
The curse pulsed, alive and eager. Blood will feed me. Let it burn.
I forced it back, though my chest ached from the effort. Not tonight. Not while she stood beside me.
I looked down at Thalia, her face pale but steady, and made a silent vow.
If the fire came, I would stand in it. If the curse rose, I would drag it down with me.
Because she had chosen me—monster or not.
And I would not let her burn.