The night the curse fell upon the werewolf kingdom, the sky itself seemed to revolt.
Thunder cracked like a warning from the heavens, splitting the darkness into jagged pieces of white light.
Rain poured endlessly, soaking the grand stone walls of the royal palace, as if trying to wash away something unseen,something inevitable.
Inside the throne hall, silence reigned.
A suffocating, unnatural silence.
Kael stood at the center of it.
Tall. Unmoving. Untouched by the chaos outside.
His piercing golden eyes glowed faintly in the dim light, reflecting neither fear nor doubt,only cold authority.
As the only heir to the Alpha King, he had been raised to command, to conquer, to never bow.
And he never did.
Not even now.
At the far end of the hall, cloaked in shadows, stood the intruder.
A woman.
No… something far more dangerous.
"You've grown," she said, her voice soft, almost amused, yet it echoed unnaturally across the hall.
"The heir of the Alpha bloodline… just as arrogant as I remember."
Kael's expression didn't change, but the guards around him stiffened.
"Speak your purpose," he said, his tone
sharp, commanding. "Or I will have you dragged out before you take another breath."
A low chuckle slipped past her lips.
"How disappointing," she murmured. "So quick to bare your fangs… just like your father."
The moment she took a step forward, the torches flickered violently.
The air grew heavy.
Kael felt it.
Something… wrong.
Not fear- never fear- but something deeper.
Something instinctual. His wolf stirred uneasily beneath his skin, a warning he had never felt before.
That alone irritated him.
"Enough games," he said coldly. "Who are you?"
The woman lifted her head slowly.
Her eyes
Dark. Hollow. Endless.
"I am the one," she said softly, "who will end your bloodline."
The words fell like a curse… because they were.
Before anyone could react, the ground beneath them trembled.
A violent force surged through the hall, knocking guards to their knees.
The torches extinguished all at once, plunging everything into darkness, except her.
She stood untouched.
Untouchable.
Kael didn't move.
Didn't flinch.
But his gaze sharpened.
"Bold claim," he said. "For someone standing in my kingdom."
Her smile widened.
"Not a claim," she whispered. "A promise."
She raised her hand.
And everything changed.
A sharp, invisible force struck Kael straight in the chest.
1
For the first time in his life,
He staggered.
A choked breath left his lips as pain exploded through his body, spreading like poison in his veins.
It wasn't physical. No blade, no wound.
Something deeper.
Something that clawed at his very existence.
His wolf howled inside him, wild and furious, yet… restrained.
Weak.
Kael dropped to one knee.
The sound echoed.
The entire hall froze.
The heir of the Alpha King… kneeling?
Impossible.
Yet there he was, breath uneven,
fingers digging into the cold stone floor as something unseen wrapped tightly around him, suffocating him from the inside.
"What… have you done…?" he growled, his voice low, dangerous.
The woman stepped closer, her gaze almost gentle now.
"I've sealed your fate."
She crouched in front of him, her dark eyes meeting his burning gold ones.
"Your power will fade," she said quietly. "Your bloodline will rot from within. Madness will take what strength cannot… and when the time comes-"
Her fingers hovered just above his chest.
"-you will die without an heir."
The words struck harder than the pain.
Kael's eyes darkened.
Rage surged through him, violent and uncontrollable.
"You dare-"
He tried to rise, to strike her down, to tear her apart
But his body betrayed him.
The power that had always been his- his birthright, his pride
It flickered.
For a single, horrifying moment…
It wasn't there.
The realization hit harder than any blow.
The woman stood, watching him silently.
"Of course," she added, almost thoughtfully, "there is… a way to break the curse."
Kael's head snapped up.
He hated himself for even listening.
"Speak," he demanded, his voice rough with restrained fury.
Her lips curved slowly.
"You must bind your blood with that of a human royal."
Silence.
Heavy. Suffocating.
The guards exchanged horrified glances.
Kael… went still.
Then
He laughed.
A cold, humorless sound.
"You expect me," he said, rising slowly despite the pain, "to taint my bloodline with humans?"
Disgust dripped from every word.
"They are weak. Fragile. Worthless."
His eyes burned with pure contempt.
"I would rather die."
The woman tilted her head.
"Yes," she said softly. "That is why this will be so… interesting."
Her form began to fade, dissolving into shadows.
"But remember this, Alpha heir-"
Her voice lingered even as she disappeared.
"Fate does not care for your pride."
Darkness swallowed the hall once more.
The pressure vanished.
The pain eased.
But something had changed.
Irreversibly.
Kael stood there, breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling as the echo of her words carved themselves into his mind.
Die without an heir.
His fists clenched.
Humans.
The very thought made his blood boil.
And yet…
For the first time in his life
Kael felt something dangerously close to uncertainty.
Far away, in the human kingdom…
A girl stood by her window, watching the same storm rage across the sky.
Lyra.
She didn't know it yet.
But her life…
Was about to be destroyed.