All Chapters of Destined to Save the Cursed Alpha: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

ANAIYAHI'd been standing outside Adrian's bedroom door for three minutes before I knocked.Three minutes of listening to sounds I had no business hearing. Three minutes of staring at the wood grain, telling myself this was fine—just another morning. I'd survived worse.I knocked."Enter."I pushed the door open.The she-wolf in his bed didn't bother covering herself. Neither did Adrian. He lay there watching me with those green eyes, waiting to see what I'd do with it.I looked at the wall behind him."I said come in." His voice carried the particular softness that meant he was paying close attention. "Look at me, Anaiyah."'Don't.'I looked at him.He smiled.The woman beside him was Mara—a warrior's daughter with a ranked family, a healthy wolf, and zero interest in acknowledging my existence. She stretched slowly, deliberately, and slid out from under the sheets without a single glance in my direction. Omegas weren't worth acknowledging. The door clicked shut behind her.Adrian ha

ANAIYAHAdrian stood behind his desk when I was pushed through the door. He lifted a silver tray without looking at me and held it across the desk."Deliver this to Alpha Dravenmoor's quarters."I crossed the room and took it.The cup was full—dark liquid, wine by appearance. My fingers wrapped around the tray, and I walked out.The smell reached me in the corridor. A shadow beneath the wine, bitter in a way that had no business being there. Lunara stirred immediately.'Put it down.'I kept walking.Deep down, I knew what the smell meant. Couldn't have explained how, but I just did. Something inside me had recognized it, and what it recognized was dangerous.I'd taken it anyway, because the alternative would be immediate and severe, and I knew exactly what that looked like. I had the healed bruises to remind me when I forgot.So, I climbed the stairs with the tray level and my mind turning the same question over with every step: I wasn't going to watch him drink it. I knew that alread

NIKOLAII stood at the center of Crescent’s gathering grounds with Orion at my side.The entire pack had been pulled from their morning routines. Warriors lined the edges of the clearing. Omegas stood near the back; heads lowered. Servants hovered behind them, afraid to breathe too loudly.The poisoned cup sat in my hand.Orion glanced at it. “Are you going to kill him?”“No.”“You’re feeling merciful.”“I don’t need to kill him.”Surrounded by his warriors, Adrian emerged from the main house. Daniel followed close behind, already calculating how to turn whatever happened next into a story that protected him.Adrian stopped several feet away. “You summoned me like a subordinate,” he said.I lifted the cup. “This contains enough wolfsbane to stop an Alpha’s heart.”The courtyard went silent.Not the respectful kind. The kind that happened when everyone was calculating what to do with the next thirty seconds.Adrian's composure didn't break. It shifted—a fractional tightening at the jaw,

NIKOLAII gave the orders before the dust from the challenge settled.Adrian was under guard in his personal quarters. Daniel was not to leave Crescent territory—if he moved toward the border, he was to be stopped. Theo was to report to me before sundown. And every document connected to Aaron and Daniella Vale's accusation, trial, and execution was to be brought to me immediately.Later, around mid-afternoon, I was standing in Adrian's former office, watching the training grounds. Warriors trained in both human and wolf forms, their movements jerky and awkward."How has this pack kept standing for so long with such poor training?" I wondered aloud.Orion entered without knocking, wearing the expression he wore when he was deciding whether to say something.He said it."You conquered Crescent in under a day, stripped an Alpha publicly, and have at least six immediate political matters demanding your attention." He tilted his head. "Why are you investigating a thirteen-year-old case?""B

NIKOLAIThe file in front of me was too clean.I sat in Adrian’s former office with Orion’s research folder open across the desk, Crescent Pack quiet beyond the closed doors.Most of the pack still didn’t know what to do with me. After all, I defeated their Alpha in front of them, and their Beta manipulated records. Now, I occupied the office that had belonged to Adrian and those before him.They had every reason to be uneasy.I turned another page.Aaron Vale’s alleged attempt to overthrow Alpha Antoine was documented with impressive precision. Dates matched. Witness statements aligned. Patrol logs supported the accusations. Every report pointed toward the same conclusion.Too neatly.Proper investigations were messy. Witnesses forgot details. Patrols overlapped. Reports contradicted one another. People lied badly, then lied worse when pressed.This file read as though someone had decided Aaron was guilty first, then built the evidence around that decision.I reached the older records