Torn By The Alpha's Curse

I couldn't take my eyes off the white walls as I continued to ponder on what to do. My father was three doors down, hooked up to machines that kept him alive, one expensive second at a time.

Sarah, my younger sister, sat beside me. Her nurse scrubs were wrinkled from a double shift, and her eyes had that hollow look we both wore these days. She reached over and squeezed my hand without saying anything. We had run out of comforting words weeks ago.

The doctor had been clear this morning. Dad needed a specialized treatment, something new and experimental that insurance would not cover. The cost made my stomach turn.

Even if I worked three jobs for the next five years, I could not make that kind of money. And Dad did not have five years. He had months, maybe less.

"We'll figure something out," Sarah whispered, but her voice cracked. She did not believe it any more than I did.

I nodded anyway, because that is what you do. You pretend there is hope even when you are drowning.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and when I checked to see who was calling, I realized it was an unknown number. I almost ignored it, but something made me answer.

"Noah Carter?" The voice was deep, smooth, and instantly recognizable even though I had not heard it in two years.

"Ethan?" My throat went dry. Sarah's head snapped toward me, her eyes wide in shock.

"I heard about your father. I would like to meet with you. Today, if possible."

My heart hammered against my ribs. Ethan Thornton. Alpha of the Thornton pack. The man who had loved my older brother more than life itself. The man whose world shattered when my brother died.

"Why?" The word came out harsher than I intended.

There was a pause. "I have a proposition that might help both of us. Can you meet me at Cafe Lunar in an hour?"

I should have said no. I should have hung up and blocked the number. But desperation makes you do stupid things.

"I'll be there."

Sarah grabbed my arm the second I hung up. "Noah, no. Whatever he wants, the answer is no."

"You don't even know what he's going to say."

"I don't need to. That man is dangerous. He's cursed and..." She swallowed hard and continued with a stern face.

"He's the reason Tommy died. I will not let him use you."

I had no idea what Sarah meant by that. Ever since Tommy died, she'd been accusing Ethan of having a hand in it, claiming he was a cursed Alpha.

First, Ethan's mates turned out to be males instead of females like everyone else. And they usually ended up dead after a few months in the relationship.

This was the fate of my brother, whom Ethan had claimed a few months ago under the full moon.

I didn't know if Sarah's assumptions were true. But one thing was really important to me right now. And that was my sick father, whom I couldn't bear to see lying so helpless.

I pulled my arm away from Sarah gently. "We don't have any other options, Sarah. Just let me hear what he has to say."

She looked like she wanted to argue more, but we both knew she could not. We were out of options, out of time, out of everything except desperation.

Without wasting much time, I sprang up from the chair and hurried out immediately, ignoring Sarah's calls.

Cafe Lunar sat on neutral territory, a place where pack members and humans mixed freely.

I arrived ten minutes early, my hands shaking as I ordered a coffee I could not afford and did not want.

The barista gave me a sympathetic look. My Omega scent was so faint that most people could not detect it, but she probably smelled the anxiety rolling off me in waves.

Ethan walked in exactly on time, darting his eyes around the whole place, probably searching for me. He always had perfect timing, perfect posture, perfect everything—except a longer time with his mates.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair and those golden-brown eyes that seemed to look right through everything. He wore an expensive suit like he was heading to a business meeting, not about to ruin someone's life.

Ethan spotted me after a short while and began to walk over. I forced myself to stay seated, ignoring every instinct that screamed at me to run.

"Noah." He sat down across from me. "Thank you for coming."

I didn't wait for him to sit comfortably. I needed answers to the questions bubbling in my head immediately. Besides, I wasn't here for small talk.

"What do you want?" I blurted, and Ethan raised his brows slightly, then shrugged and leaned back in the chair.

"I want to offer you a contract marriage. Three years. You would act as my mate, help stabilize my wolf. In return, I will pay for your father's treatment. All of it. Plus enough money to secure your family's future."

The coffee cup almost slipped from my hands, but I clenched my fingers around it, holding it in place.

"You cannot be serious."

"I am completely serious. My wolf has been unstable since the bond was severed. The pack elders are concerned. I need someone who can help calm the worst of it, and you look enough like him that it might work."

There it was. The truth laid out cold and clinical. He did not want me. He wanted a living, breathing reminder of my dead brother.

"That's sick," I whispered.

"That's practical. You need money. I need stability. We both get what we need, and in three years, we walk away. No attachments."

I should have thrown the coffee in his face. I should have walked out. But I thought about Dad hooked up to those machines. I thought about Sarah working herself to death. I thought about how I had always been the invisible one anyway, the brother no one really noticed.

Maybe being a ghost was what I was meant for.

"I need to think about it."

Ethan slid a business card across the table. "You have twenty-four hours. After that, the offer expires."

He stood up and left without another word, leaving me alone with the worst decision of my life.