CHAPTER 1 - Caged and Cursed

Selara’s POV

They shoved me into the cage like I was an animal.

Iron groaned beneath me as my knees scraped the rusted bars, the cold biting into my bare skin. Chains clanked against my wrists, already rubbed raw from days—maybe weeks—of being dragged through mud and darkness. My hair, filthy and matted, hung across my face, sticking to my lips as the crowd roared with laughter.

The black market stank of blood, sweat, and despair. The cries of other captives echoed around me—wolves broken and collared, witches gagged and shackled, even humans trembling in terror. But I wasn’t like them. I was worse.

I was the cursed one.

Whispers followed me like gnats, buzzing at every step of my miserable existence. She killed her own mother the moment she was born. She carries death in her veins. Bad luck even to touch.

I’d heard it all. I’d lived it all. And now, I was displayed here like some cursed relic, shoved into an iron cage too small to sit up in fully, my filthy knees pressed to my chest.

“Look at her.” A man barked a laugh, tossing a stone at me. It smacked against my shoulder, and I flinched. The crowd erupted with jeers. “Not even worth a silver coin.”

Another leaned close, his breath foul, his eyes gleaming with cruel humor. “Filthy mongrel. Cursed wolf. I wouldn’t even take her for free.”

Their spit hit my cheek. Their laughter sliced deeper than any whip.

And then, her voice cut through the din—sharp, cruel, dripping with venom.

“Pathetic, isn’t she?”

I forced my head up, and there she was. Ravena Duskbane. Of course, I knew her, she was famous.

Tall, stunning, draped in black silk that shimmered even in the dim light. She was everything I wasn’t—powerful, elegant, adored. Her golden hair gleamed like fire, and her eyes burned with the smug superiority of someone who had everything handed to her. I’d seen her once before, from the shadows of the borderland. The daughter of a High Alpha, whispered to be ruthless, ambitious, untouchable.

And now, she was here, smirking down at me like I was trash at her feet.

“They say she killed her mother with her first breath,” Ravena cooed, her voice carrying over the crowd. “Can you imagine? A cursed birth, a cursed life… no wonder no pack wanted her.” She crouched, her manicured fingers curling around the bars of my cage. Her perfume wafted toward me—sweet, intoxicating, sickening. “I wouldn’t waste even my dogs on her.”

Laughter roared around us, a tide of cruelty. Heat crawled up my neck, but I refused to look away. I glared at her through the curtain of my filthy hair, though my body trembled.

“Maybe she’d make a decent plaything,” Ravena added, smirking as she dragged her gaze over my shackled form. “Though who would want something that reeks of blood and bad luck?”

Humiliation burned through me. I wanted to snarl, to scream, to claw at her face with the wolf buried deep inside me—but my wolf was silent. Deadened. She hadn’t spoken to me in years.

So I stayed silent, caged and cursed, while their laughter devoured me.

The bidding began.

Men barked numbers. Coins clinked. The auctioneer’s voice rang sharp, announcing me as though I was cattle. “A cursed wolf, unclaimed, unbonded, no pack ties—rare goods, gentlemen, rare goods. Bid now before she rots.”

“Not worth a copper,” someone shouted.

“Maybe a silver if she’s quiet in bed!” another howled.

The crowd erupted. Hands reached through the bars, fingers pinching, pulling at me, tearing what little was left of my tattered shift. I whimpered, shrinking back, my shackles cutting deeper into my wrists as I tried to cover myself.

And that was when it happened.

The doors of the market slammed open.

The sound cracked through the chaos like thunder. The crowd went silent. Even Ravena straightened, her smirk faltering for the first time.

A figure stepped inside.

He moved like a predator, every stride radiating power. The dim torchlight caught on the sharp planes of his face, the dark fall of his hair, the broad shoulders that seemed to swallow the space around him. The crowd instinctively stepped back, parting in silence, their mockery dying on their lips.

And then… his eyes.

Gray. Cold steel that cut straight through me.

The moment his gaze locked on mine, something inside me cracked open. My lungs forgot how to breathe. My blood roared in my ears. It wasn’t possible—no, it couldn’t be—but my body knew before my mind could even name it.

Mate.

The word thundered in my soul. My wolf—silent for years—stirred with a faint, broken whimper.

His jaw clenched, his chest heaving as if the bond struck him just as hard. His lips parted, and in a voice rough with disbelief, he whispered the word aloud.

“Mate…”

The sound shattered me.

For a heartbeat, I wasn’t cursed. I wasn’t worthless. I wasn’t filth in a cage. I was his.

The iron groaned as his hand wrapped around the bars. With a snarl that shook the walls, he tore the lock free, metal bending beneath his strength like it was paper. Chains shattered as he ripped them from the floor, his power radiating like fire.

The crowd gasped. The auctioneer stammered. Ravena’s face twisted with fury.

But all I could see was him.

His warmth enveloped me as he lifted me into his arms, my filthy body pressed against the hard wall of his chest. For the first time in my life, I felt safe.

And then his voice dropped, lethal and cold, each word a promise etched in blood.

“She’s mine. And I’ll burn this entire place to the ground if anyone touches her again.”

Silence.

The market trembled. The scent of fear rolled off the bidders, thick and heavy.

I clung to him, trembling, torn between terror and something far more dangerous—the wild, forbidden spark of hope.

For twenty years, I’d been cursed, abandoned, unwanted.

But now… now I was his.

And nothing would ever be the same.