Marked By The Cursed Alpha Prince

LaylaBlood dripped down my arm and splattered onto the floor I was trying to clean. I sighed. Just another shitty day in my world.Crack.Ben’s belt slammed across my back, and its sound echoed through the otherwise silent laundry room. My blood spattered on the floor again.“Now you have made a mess. Clean it up,” Ben sneered.Over the years, Ben had evolved from episodic-violent to outright monstrous. Impressive, really. Not everyone could graduate from bastard to a complete piece of shit.My back burned. I rubbed my eyes and gagged as his disgusting Gamma scent filled the air.“Clean faster!” he barked, bringing the belt down again with Gamma-level strength.Ben called himself a retired Gamma “war hero.” Personally, I preferred monster, pig, scumbag, waste of air. But sure, hero works too, if we are redefining the dictionary.At twenty, I was beginning to suspect Ben had a personal vendetta against my skin. Maybe he was jealous that I still had more of it than he did. If he wanted

Layla“Mate.”For a second, I honestly thought I had imagined it. But then every pair of eyes turned to me. The laughter, the music and the chatter was gone. Hundreds of eyes just staring at me. And for the first time in my life, I was seen. Not as a servant or as a background shadow but as the center of their world. Only, it didn’t feel like being seen but iy felt like being hunted.Whispers sliced through the silence.“The cursed prince found his mate?” someone gasped.“She is human!” another shrieked, like I was a cockroach on their food.Then an absolute asshole yelled, “One is cursed and the other is a human slave. What a joke!”Excuse you, sir. You are the joke.I looked at the man standing next to me. He was the infamous Cursed Prince? Because wow. Midnight-black hair, burning red eyes, and a sharp jaw sharp that could put the king's sword to shame… Why did no one tell me the most feared wolf in the realm was so hot? I thought he would look like a literal monster, considerin

LAYLAStanding in front of the mirror, I stared at the mark on my neck.Yeah. That mark. You know the one you get after your fated mate marks you with a kiss. Although my mark looked like it, it was literally smoking like a cursed barbecue. Black smoke curled out of it with little flashes of red, like someone shoved a demon inside my skin, but whatever it was, I was so happy about it. My entire existence was not in vain. I finally had a purpose goddess chose me for. I had seen marks before of Omega marks, Beta marks, and even a few Gamma ones. Cute little bite marks with some glowing patterns or sometimes a little shimmer. But mine? Oh no. Mine looked like it crawled straight out of a dark prophecy. Of course. Because why would my life ever be normal? I was, after all, a human slave with the shittiest luck in the whole damn world and now mated to the so-called Cursed Prince. Layla was no normal being! I smirked to myself. When I walked back into the servant quarters, every single

LUCIANThe court was louder than usual. Sharp, restless and tensed voices carried across the marble floor. Word of Ramond Blackwood’s death had reached every corner of the capital before morning bells. Ramond had lived forty years, long enough to serve the crown faithfully and also long enough to bury too many of his own. He was one of the few Blackwoods who had remained in the ministry since youth. Most had been forced out, worn down, or buried beside my parents two decades ago.King Vance Stark rose from his throne and the room settled. “Let Kale Greymont take charge of the investigation. He will find the one who slew Ramond Blackwood.”Uncle Benjamin Blackwood stepped forward. His voice was cool but his grief was plainly on the face. “Your Majesty. The dead was of my blood. Grant House Blackwood the right to seek his killer.”Before the king replied, Alpha Duke James Ashbourne spoke. “Your Majesty, House Blackwood has long blamed House Ashbourne for its misfortunes. They cry wolf a

Layla Daisy burst into my room, leaping straight onto my mattress and shaking my shoulder so violently that for a moment I thought the house was collapsing, or maybe the Goddess finally decided to end my misery. “Layla—Lady Layla—wake up,” she whispered urgently in my ear, her little elf voice trembling with panic. “Prince Lucian is waiting for you downstairs.”My eyes snapped open faster than a mouse running from a cat. “What did you just say?” I asked, still half-asleep and a little dazed. Considering I usually had no work to do—ah, the perks of being a prince’s mate—I had fallen into the glorious routine of sleeping through mornings, waking for breakfast, eating enough for a small army, and then returning to sleep again. It was nearly noon now.A beautiful life. The most ideal life I ever wanted. “Prince Lucian is here,” Daisy repeated, slower this time, like maybe I had suddenly become stupid.I threw my blanket aside so fast Daisy shrieked, because the first thought that stabbed