Chapter Fifty-Two: Double Face

Pinakabagong kabanata

• The Lycan's Curse - His Hybrid Mate    Chapter Eighty-One: The Monster He Created

  Cyre's POV:I watch her walk away - chest broad and shoulders square, and although she has this air of boldness around her. I notice it all a facade she's putting on. Something she's stitching together just to face the world without shattering.She's trembling beneath it. I can feel it.And then Derek snaps beside me."Why the hell did you do that, Alessia? You just let her walk away with the fucking book."His voice slices through the stillness like a blade. His rage isn't just about the book, though. I can tell. It's about control. About the fact that something ancient just slipped through our fingers - and Alessia let it.Alessia doesn't flinch."Because she needed it," she says, steady. "And she's not the enemy.""Not the enemy?" Derek hisses. "That girl is working for Ryel - ""She's conflict

• The Lycan's Curse - His Hybrid Mate    Chapter Eighty: The Fox

  Raven POV:I'm drowning.No... It feels more like floating.The world is dark - soft and distant, like a half- remembered lullaby. I can't feel my body. I can't feel time. But I sense something.A tether.A voice.Calling me.My fingers twitch, as I feel something rushing through my veins.It's not pain. Not exactly. I feel every surge crawling through every five of my being, like lightning tangled with memory. It feels like power.I feel powerful.Who am I?I try to remember - my name, my pack, the sound of my own voice - but everything I see are eyes. Gold and red and ancient.Then a soft white fur pulls me closer.A fox. And it's staring at me.Nine tails coiled in smoke behind it."Where am I?" I whisper, voice lost in the ether. "Am I dead?"But it grins.Not quite, Child.A scream pierces the darkness.RAVEN! It calls.It's her. The Banshee. Alessia.The sound isn't just a sound, my body reacts to it, lurching forward, and suddenly...I'm falling.The fox wraps it's tail around

• The Lycan's Curse - His Hybrid Mate    Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Nine-Tailed Fox

  Cyre POV: All eyes snap to me the moment I speak."If she's what I think she is..." I say softly, stepping further into the ancient hall, "... we're already too late."The shadows curl at my feet, reluctant to let me go. Maybe, I am reluctant, seeing Ryel's most favored wolf on the table. Raven. But I peel forward, ignoring the weight in my chest.Her skin still hums faintly with energy. The book... gods, that book. It's clutched to her chest like a lifeline, like a promise she made to herself long before tonight.And I recognize the look in Alessia's eyes - curiosity and unease clashing like fire and frost.Derek glares at me, his voice cold. "What the hell do you mean, too late?"I don't answer him right away. Instead, I walk slowly towards the table to examine Raven's body. Dr. Dathan moves aside slightly to accommodate me.Raven's fingers twitch again, but it's not a reflex - her instincts are beginning to kick in."She's not a Hellhound," I say, voice quiet but cutting. "Not unl

• The Lycan's Curse - His Hybrid Mate    Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Sealed Library

  Derek POV:The scream cleaves through the air like a lightning strike.RAVEN!Alessia's voice. Sharp. Commanding. Terrified.I am on my feet before the sound even fades, my chair crashing backward, ignored. Every wolf in the hall freezes mid-motion-cups stilled midair, conversations died in throats.Then chaos.I burst through the double Alpha Hall's doors, the wind already bringing her scent to me - smoke, wildness, adrenaline. The scream is coming from the east. The old grounds. Near the damn library.My wolf is already clawing forward, half- shifting before my body could follow."Darren! With me!" I bark through the mind-link, and within seconds, I hear his footsteps pounding behind mine.I didn't stop to wonder what Alessia is doing out there. There isn't time. The scream is tearing something in me - something primal. I can't explain it, I can't also contain it. So, I know one thing for certain:She's in danger. And I can feel it in my bones, in my blood.She must have seen somet

• The Lycan's Curse - His Hybrid Mate    Chapter Seventy-seven: Baiting

  Alessia POV:Let him grow bold, I had said.But now, as I walk alone through the heart of Greenwood territory, I realize the weight of that gamble.Ryel is watching me. Of that, I am certain.His wolves pretend not to. They talk and train and drink and mourn with us like they belong. But I've learned the difference between presence and performance.Today, I wear a white tank top and a faded jean.White, not for purity but for bait.Let's see who Ryel has put on my trail.My steps takes me past the old training yard where I first sparred with Derek. The air is still heavy with smoke from the funeral pyres, clinging to the skin like memory from the four days for burying our dead.I walk with purpose, back straight, chin high, like a Queen who doesn't know her castle is surrounded.Cyre'd been so tensed earlier.Three Hours Ago:Cyre and I walked out the Alpha's office. She paced the corridor restlessly."Derek's not taking this serious enough. He's going to get everyone killed. It's bet

• The Lycan's Curse - His Hybrid Mate    Chapter Seventy-six: The Game Begins

  Darren POV:"I want every single one of Ryel's wolves watched and followed. And you, and Alessia report to my office now."The command hits sharp in my head, tight like a wire pulled taut.Shit.I shoot a glance towards the clearing where Alessia still stands with Cyre - her face ashen, silent but steady. Her gaze hasn't left the last pyre whose flame have started crackle lower.She looks like she's seen a ghost.I approach her quietly, boots soft against the soil still soaked from yesterday's storm. A few wolves nod at me in passing - grief-striken, exhausted - but I don't stop. Not until I'm close enough to speak without being overheard."Alessia," I say gently.She doesn't flinch. Both of them. She just lower her head, drawing in a breath that sounds like it weighs a hundred pounds."Derek's calling us," I murmur. "Now. His office."I catch the way Cyre's eyes glow with desperation. "You need to believe me, Alessia," she says.Believe what? Was she telling Alessia something about R