Chapter 4 - The Curse Awakens

Aveline's P.O.V

"What the hell is she?" Dominic whispered, watching me writhe on the floor as the mark spread across my body.

The pain was unbearable. Fire raced beneath my skin as ancient symbols burned themselves into existence across my arms, my back, my legs. I couldn't stop screaming as the markings carved themselves deeper and deeper, glowing with an otherworldly light that made the entire room shimmer.

All three brothers stood frozen in the doorway, their faces twisted with shock and something that looked dangerously close to fear. I'd never seen Alphas look afraid before, and somehow that terrified me more than the agony consuming my body.

"Make it stop," I gasped between screams, clawing at my skin as if I could tear the markings away. "Please, make it stop!"

But the symbols kept spreading. They covered every inch of exposed skin, pulsing with silver light that seemed to have a life of its own. The Moonstone pendant around my neck blazed like a star, so hot it should have burned me, but instead it felt cool against the fire in my veins.

"Get the witch," Damon commanded, his voice sharp with panic he was trying to hide. "Now."

Darius disappeared without a word, his footsteps thundering down the corridor. Dominic knelt beside me, reaching out as if to touch one of the glowing marks, then pulling his hand back like he'd been burned.

"Don't touch her," Damon warned. "We don't know what this is."

"I can feel it," Dominic whispered, his golden eyes wide with wonder and terror. "The power coming off her, it's ancient. Older than our pack lines. Older than anything I've ever sensed."

The pain reached a crescendo that made my vision go white, and then suddenly it stopped. I collapsed against the cold marble floor, gasping for air as the markings faded to a dull silver glow beneath my skin. They were still there, but now they looked like intricate tattoos rather than brands of fire.

"What's happening to me?" I whimpered, struggling to sit up. Every muscle in my body felt like I'd been struck by lightning.

Before anyone could answer, Darius returned with a woman who made my blood run cold. She was ancient beyond measure, with silver hair that fell to her feet and eyes like black holes in her weathered face. Power radiated from her in waves that made my new markings tingle in response.

"Elder Morgana," Damon said, his voice carefully respectful. "We need answers."

The witch circled me slowly, her dark eyes taking in every glowing symbol on my skin. When she spoke, her voice was like dried leaves rustling in the wind.

"I know what she is," Morgana said, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. "The cursed Luna. The one foretold in the ancient prophecies."

"Prophecies?" Dominic stood up, his charming mask completely gone. "What prophecies?"

Morgana's laugh was like nails on a coffin lid. "The ones your grandmother tried so hard to forget. The ones that speak of the girl who would either destroy the strongest pack in the territory... or make them invincible."

She knelt beside me, her gnarled fingers hovering over the markings on my arm. The symbols pulsed brighter at her proximity, as if recognizing an old enemy.

"Three Alphas. One mate. Her weakness is your doom or your salvation," she recited, the words echoing with power that made the walls themselves seem to tremble. "The girl without a wolf carries the magic of the first Luna, locked away and forgotten. When she awakens, kingdoms will fall... or rise."

"Magic?" Darius snarled. "Witchcraft has no place in our world."

"Foolish boy," Morgana snapped. "What do you think makes you shift? What is the moon called? Magic is the foundation of everything you are. And this girl..." She gestured to me with something that might have been reverence. "She carries the oldest magic of all."

"I don't want it," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "I don't want any of this."

"What you want is irrelevant," the witch replied. "The magic has chosen you, just as fate chose these three as your mates. The question now is what they intend to do about it."

The brothers exchanged glances that spoke of years of silent communication. I could practically see the arguments passing between them without a single word being spoken.

"She's dangerous," Damon said finally. "If this prophecy is true, keeping her here could destroy everything we've built."

"Or make us unstoppable," Dominic countered. "Think about it, brother. With power like this, no pack would dare challenge us."

"And if we can't control her?" Darius asked. "If she decides to use this magic against us?"

They were talking about me like I wasn't even there, discussing my fate as if I were nothing more than a weapon to be wielded or discarded. The casual way they debated whether I should live or die made something inside me snap.

"Stop it!" I screamed, and the markings on my skin blazed with silver fire. The power surge was strong enough to make all three Alphas stagger backward. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here! I'm not a weapon or a tool or a curse, I'm a person!"

Elder Morgana smiled, revealing teeth that were far too sharp. "And there it is. The fire that's been sleeping inside her all these years."

"Please," I begged, looking between the three brothers who held my life in their hands. "Just let me go. Send me away from here. I don't want to be your curse."

"You think running will change anything?" Damon's voice was cold as winter steel. "The magic is part of you now. It will follow wherever you go."

"Then I'll find a way to get rid of it," I said desperately. "I'll find another witch, someone who can take it away."

"Impossible," Morgana cackled. "This magic is woven into your very soul, child. You can no more remove it than you can remove your own heart."

The brothers were still arguing among themselves, their voices rising as they debated my fate. Darius wanted me dead before I could become a threat. Dominic wanted to find a way to harness my power for their pack. And Damon...

Damon was staring at me with an expression I couldn't read.

"Enough," he said suddenly, and his brothers fell silent. He crossed the room in three quick strides, backing me against the wall with his massive frame. "Curse or not, prophecy or not, you belong to us."

"Damon.." Dominic started.

"No," Damon cut him off, his hand slamming into the wall beside my head hard enough to crack the stone. His dark eyes burned into mine with possessive fury. "She's ours. The mating bond declared it, and now the magic has sealed it. Whatever she becomes, whatever power she wields, she does it as our mate."

"I don't want.."

"What you want stopped mattering the moment you collapsed in that forest," he growled, his face inches from mine. "You're a Blackthorne now, whether you like it or not."

Before I could respond, alarms began blaring throughout the fortress. The sound was deafening, and all four supernatural beings in the room went rigid with alertness.

"What is that?" I gasped.

"Attack," Darius snarled, already moving toward the door. "Someone's breached the outer defenses."

Through the barred windows, I could hear howls in the distance, not the claiming howls I'd heard from the triplets, but battle cries filled with rage and bloodlust. And underneath the howls, voices were chanting something that made my blood run cold.

"Kill the cursed Luna! Bring us her blood! Kill the cursed Luna!"

They weren't here for territory or revenge. They were here for me..