Chapter Two- Cursed Blood

“Lila…” My voice cracked, breaking like glass, watching as Thorne pulled himself out of her with a wet, mocking pop that made bile rise in my throat.

“You both” My chest heaved. “What the fucking hell is this!” I shrieked, stepping closer, fists trembling at my sides.

Thorne’s mouth curled into something sharp, cruel. Lila didn’t even flinch.

“Do you even realize what’s happening outside?” My words rasped, torn from me with sobs. “O-our parents are dead, Lila! Dead! And you’re here, spreading your legs for my boyfriend?”

My voice broke, and the room swam with tears.

Thorne swung his legs off the chaise, standing with no shame, tugging his trousers up lazily, as if I wasn’t even worth the effort of a guilty glance.

“I know very well what’s going on out there, Celeste,” he spat, his eyes glinting with something I couldn’t name resentment, maybe, or disgust. “You killed them.”

My breath hitched. “What?”

“You killed your parents,” he barked, stepping closer, his finger stabbing the air toward me. “On your birthday, no less. Because you’re cursed, Celeste. Cursed.”

The word sliced me open. My wolf whimpered inside, recoiling.

I nodded slowly, pathetically, though I didn’t even mean to. My head moved on its own, as if my body was agreeing with him, with the lie that had haunted me since childhood.

“And you, Lila…” I turned to her, shaking, choking on disbelief. “Mom and Dad’s bodies are out there, under that fucking rain. Dead. And you’re here? With him?”

Lila smirked, untangling herself from the sheets, as casual as if I’d caught her fixing her hair instead of wrecking my life. Her bare skin gleamed with sweat, her lips swollen, her eyes dark and unrepentant.

“And so what?” she said, tilting her head. “Did I kill them?”

The silence that followed felt like the whole house leaning in, waiting for me to shatter.

My throat burned. “You might as well have,” I whispered, voice trembling.

Lila laughed, a low, venomous sound that made my stomach twist. “Don’t blame me for your gift, sister. Don’t blame me because the Moon cursed you. You see too much, Celeste, you always have. It drove them mad. Maybe they would’ve lived longer without you.”

“Lila!” I gasped, every word cutting deeper than claws.

Thorne crossed his arms, his face set in stone, eyes colder than the rain outside. “She’s right. I’m done with your doom hanging over my head, Celeste. Every time you touch me, every time you look at me it’s like you’re waiting for something bad to happen. Who wants to live like that? With a girl who sees death around every corner?”

Tears streamed faster, blinding me. “You loved me. You promised”

“I promised myself survival,” he cut me off sharply. “And you? You’re bad luck dressed in skin. Nobody wants that, Celeste. Not me. Not your parents. Maybe not even your own wolf.”

The room tilted. My nails dug into my palms so hard I thought blood would drip. My gift flickered at the edge of my vision brief flashes of shadows, whispers, a knife glinting in the dark. The future pressing against me like a bruise.

And yet here they were my sister and the boy I loved twisting the knife already lodged in my chest.

Lila slipped her dress back over her shoulders and smirked, brushing past me as if I were a ghost. “Don’t look at me like that, Celeste. You should’ve seen this coming.”

Her words hung heavy, cruel, as she walked away, leaving only the scent of betrayal behind.

I staggered back against the doorframe, sobs choking me raw. My parents dead, my sister cruel, my mate gone. All of it collapsing in a single night.

I couldn’t stay in there. The room smelled like sex and betrayal, and my chest felt like it was cracking open. My feet moved on their own, dragging me outside.

The rain hit me instantly, cold, sharp, but I didn’t even flinch. My nightdress clung to my skin, heavy, see-through, but I didn’t care. My parents were dead, and I was still here. That thought kept repeating in my head like it wanted to crush me.

They were burying them already. Wolves had dug two holes in the mud, and I saw the white sheets being lowered in. My stomach turned God, that was my mother, my father, wrapped like broken things and put under the earth.

The sound of the dirt falling was the worst part. Every thud made my knees weaker. My chest shook but no sound came out. I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear my skin off just to stop feeling.

And then my eyes caught them.

Under the porch, where the rain didn’t touch, Lila was pressed against Thorne’s side. Her lips close to his ear, her hand on his arm, whispering something that made him grin. Grin. At my parents’ burial.

My vision blurred not from rain this time but from tears that finally broke through. I tasted salt and water on my lips and couldn’t tell which was which.

I should have gone over there. Slapped her. Scratched him. Anything. But my legs wouldn’t move. I was stuck, like the rain had frozen me to the ground.

Everyone else was quiet. Mourning. But me? I felt hollow. Empty. Like the world had decided I wasn’t supposed to have anything left. No parents. No sister. No Thorne. Nothing.

Only the whispers cursed, cursed girl echoing inside my head, whether anyone said them out loud or not.

The last of the dirt hit the ground with a dull thud. That was it. They were gone.

And I was still here.