The Cursed Alpha

(Kael's POV)

The Blackwood Forest breathes with a pulse older than Crescent Bay's steel and glass. Its gnarled trees claw at the moonlight, casting long shadows across the forest floor.

I'm lost, trapped in this cursed canine shell, my senses sharpened beyond reason, my whole body aching with every step. The scent of damp earth and pine floods my nose, laced with the musk of my pack. They are all restless tonight. I can feel it in the way their howls rise sharp and mournful. A chorus of both frustration and fear.

I am their Alpha.

I was.

Now I'm nothing more than a shadow of what I used to be, bound to this black dog form by a curse I never saw coming. Guilt settles over me like a second skin, heavier than the wounds she stitched tonight. I abandoned them, and the weight of it crushes me from the inside.

I crouch in the darkness, hidden beneath a thick tangle of branches. My silver eyes reflect the moonlight. Every rustle of leaves, every snap of a twig echoes like a gunshot. I hear the low growls of my pack gathered in the clearing ahead. Rylan, my beta, stands at the center. His tawny fur bristles with tension. His voice is steady but shaky as he speaks.

"Kael's out there," he says. The conviction in his voice reminds me of what I used to be. "We track his scent. We find him. We break the curse."

Some nod. Others shift uneasily. Loyalty still burns in their hearts, but doubt and fear aren't far from them either.

An Alpha who vanishes for weeks, leaving them to fight off hunters alone, isn't someone they can rely on. And I can't even tell them I never meant to disappear. That I never stopped fighting.

I clench my fist tightly. Frustration builds in my chest until it threatens to burst. I want to howl. I want to step into that clearing and reclaim my place. But the curse clamps down on me. It steals my voice, chains my soul to this beastly shape.

The witch who did this? I never saw her face. I only felt the magic crawl under my skin like fire. Thirty-two years I led them. Fought beside them. I protected them, did it with everything in me. And now I'm just a silent black dog skulking in the forest, relying on a human woman who doesn't even know what I am.

Her face flickers through my mind. Her eyes, green and guarded. Her hands, steady and gentle as she stitched me up. She could sense that something was wrong, but she didn't let me stay hurt anyway.

Her touch eased the pain. It gave me something I hadn't felt in weeks. It gave me relief. Warmth. Something close to hope. I don't know what she is to me yet, but I know she's important. Still, dragging her into this mess? It feels like betrayal.

Rylan's voice pulls me back to the clearing. "The hunters are closing in," he says. "They've got silver and they're after the artifact. If they find Kael first..."

He doesn't finish his statement, but the silence that follows says everything. The artifact. The relic that did this to me. The thing that woke the hunters and started this nightmare. My curse is tied to it. So is the danger to my pack. If they get to it first, we're all done.

I growl lowly, feeling a surge of pain and hopelessness. My pack is in danger because of me. And I can't even stand beside them. I'm not even as powerful as the people I'm obliged to protect.

Lila steps forward. Her voice trembles but doesn't waver. "What if Kael's gone? What if the curse took him?"

Her words slice through me like a double-edged sword. The pack falls silent. Rylan snarls, trying to bring back hope.

"He's not gone," he snaps. "He's our Alpha. We don't abandon him."

Lila lowers her gaze, but the question stays, hanging in the air like smoke.

I want to roar, to make them see I'm still here. That I'm still trying. Still fighting. But I'm silent. Useless.

Rylan begins to pace. His claws dig into the dirt. "His scent is strong near the city," he says. "Crescent Bay's outskirts. We start there. We start tonight."

The others nod with determination. Even though I see the despair they're all feeling, there is no fracture in their unity. They trust Rylan. They believe him. But it's not just belief. They need me.

I think of where I am again. The apartment is warm and homey. Her hands moved with the kind of precision that came from doing what had to be done. She didn't know what I am. She just helped, like a human should. Scared, but still, she reached for me.

Her touch sparked hope in me. But hope can be dangerous. And involving her could cost her everything. Her fragility, her humanness, and the kind of world she loves.

The forest hums with very old magic. I can sense it. It feels older than anything I can think of. It's the kind of power that doesn't care who gets hurt. The artifact is part of it. A key. A key to what, I still don't know.

I don't know what it does. Only that it cursed me. That it has hunters crawling through the trees, armed with silver, looking to end us. My pack is on edge. And they're right to be. Everything feels wrong, but what I sense is dark.

I am still Kael Draven. Not just a beast anymore.

But the clock is ticking. Each full moon takes a little more. Each night stretches the line between man and monster. I think of Elena's hands again. The way she touched me without fear. The way her eyes saw more than a dog even though she couldn't tell what.

I know she's either the answer. Or maybe, the end of me.

Rylan's voice rises again. He lays out the search plan. "Pairs. We cover the city outskirts. Stay low. Avoid the hunters. If you catch Kael's scent, signal."

They split up, each of them moving into the forest. Rylan stands alone for a moment. His head bows. I feel the weight on him. The strain of leading without me. The fear he hides.

I want to walk into that clearing. Tell him he's not alone. But I can't. My body won't let me. I just stay here. Listening to what I can.

The pain in my side flares up again. Despite the stitches, it still burns. I should be healing faster. The curse is slowing it down.

Her face won't leave my thoughts. The curve of her jaw. The focus in her eyes. She didn't flinch when I bled on her floor. She didn't look away, even in her doubt.

She's human.

But there's something else there.

I felt it. When she touched me, it wasn't just pain that faded. Something shifted.

Something shifted inside me.

Maybe that's why I let her take me in. Why I didn't run. Why I'm still here, hiding safely, instead of fighting my way back to the forest.

She's my only shot. But if I'm wrong, if I drag her into this and the hunters find her...

No. I can't let that happen. I won't.

My pack is searching. The hunters are closing in. And time is running out.

She has no idea what's with her. She has no idea what she's brought to her room.

But I'll protect her.

Even if it costs me everything.