Chapter 4 The Alpha's Curse

Luna could feel it long before she understood it.

The way Kael had started to pull away wasn't subtle anymore. He wasn't just being distant-he was avoiding her. After everything they had been through, the nights spent guarding each other's backs, the quiet moments when his hand brushed hers and lingered too long to be an accident... it was like he had taken a step back and built a wall between them. At first, she thought she'd done something wrong.But it was more than that. She could see it in his eyes. A kind of pain he didn't talk about. A heaviness he carried around like chains. It only made her more determined to understand what was going on. One evening, after a long patrol, Luna couldn't take the silence anymore. She cornered Kael near the edge of the river that ran along the pack's land. The moon was rising, casting a pale glow over the water, and he stood there like a statue, staring off into the trees."We need to talk," she said firmly.Kael didn't look at her right away. "There's nothing to talk about.""Yes, there is. You've been avoiding me. You barely look at me. Don't pretend like I'm imagining it."His jaw tightened. "It's better this way.""Better for who?" she asked, stepping closer. "Because it doesn't feel better to me." Kael finally turned. His eyes were a storm of emotion-grief, anger, fear. "You don't understand. I'm doing this for you."Luna's breath caught. There it was. A crack in his armor."Then make me understand," she whispered.He was quiet for a long time. Then, finally, Kael looked up at the moon and said, "I'm cursed." Luna blinked, unsure if she heard him right. "What?""There's a curse on me. On my bloodline." His voice was low, like he was afraid the trees might overhear. "Every Alpha born from my line... our True Mates die young. Sometimes right after the bond forms. Sometimes slower. But always because of the bond."She stared at him, heart thudding painfully in her chest."That's why you're pushing me away."Kael nodded once. "If we complete the bond... if I give in to what I feel... I'll lose you. And I can't live with that."Luna took a shaky breath. It was all clicking into place now-the hesitations, the times he looked at her like she was both a miracle and a tragedy."But Kael... maybe there's a way to break it," she said, voice barely above a whisper. "Maybe we can fight it.""You don't fight this," he said, turning away again. "You survive it. Or you don't."But Luna wasn't the kind of girl to sit and accept something like that. Not without trying. Not when everything inside her screamed that what they had was real and meant to be.So she started digging.She spent every free moment in the old archives, tucked away behind the packhouse. Most of the books were dusty and unread, and some were written in ancient languages she didn't recognize. But she pushed through. Piece by piece, she began to put the story together.The curse had started generations ago, with an Alpha who betrayed the Moon Goddess by choosing power over love. His mate had died, and in his grief and madness, he'd performed a blood ritual that twisted fate itself. Since then, the first love of every Alpha born to his line had been doomed.And Kael was the latest.It was awful. It was unfair. And it was terrifying.But Luna wasn't afraid of the curse. She was afraid of living without ever trying to change it.One night, while reading through an old journal that barely held together, she found a reference to someone called the Seer of Ash Hollow-a woman who lived far beyond the borders of their territory, deep in the haunted woods no one ever dared enter. It was said she had lived through centuries and could see the threads of fate.If anyone knew how to break the curse, it would be her.Luna didn't wait for permission. She packed a bag and left in the middle of the night. Kael would be furious if he found out, but she didn't care. If this worked-if she could find a way to save them-then maybe they could finally stop living in fear.The journey was rough. The woods grew darker and colder the farther she went, and strange sounds followed her every step. Shadows moved where they shouldn't, and once she was certain she heard whispering in a language she didn't know. But she kept walking.Finally, after what felt like days, she reached the edge of Ash Hollow. A thick fog blanketed the ground, and the trees grew twisted and black. Luna stepped carefully between them, heart pounding, until she found a small hut tucked into a grove of dead willows.The woman waiting inside looked older than time.Her eyes were milky white, but she turned toward Luna the moment she stepped through the door, like she'd been expecting her all along."You carry sorrow," the seer said without preamble. Her voice was like dry leaves. "And something heavier. Love.""I need your help," Luna said. "There's a curse on the man I-on Kael. He says it can't be broken. But I have to try."The seer tilted her head. "You're his mate.""Yes.""And you still came.""Yes."The seer stared at her for a long moment, then slowly reached for a bowl and scattered some herbs into it. She lit a small fire beneath it, and the smoke that rose turned deep silver, curling into symbols in the air."The curse you speak of is old," the seer said. "It is bound in blood and betrayal. Not easily undone.""But there is a way?"She nodded. "There is always a way. But not every path can be walked."Luna stepped closer, desperate. "Tell me. Please."The seer looked into the smoke, and when she spoke again, her voice was filled with something heavier-something final."To break the curse," she said, "there must be sacrifice."Luna's heart thudded painfully. "What kind of sacrifice?"But the seer didn't answer right away. Her eyes, those ghostly white orbs, turned toward Luna with something like pity."You will have to choose," she said at last. "Between the bond... and the cost it demands."Luna's lips parted, but before she could ask anything else, the fire in the bowl flared up, silver flames dancing violently-and the hut went dark.