All Chapters of Destined to Save the Cursed Alpha: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

ANAIYAHA week after Nikolai marked me, I left the main grounds for the woodland trail with mud already coating my boots and no plans to impress anyone.I needed somewhere to think. Between the council’s questions and the attention my mark attracted, even a walk had started to feel complicated.Nikolai gave me space when I requested it. Still, my question from the other night stayed with me.‘What happens if I can’t save you?’His lack of objection surprised me when I told him I was going for a walk.“Staying on the trail?” Jamal called, waving from the gate.“That depends. Is there a council meeting hiding behind a tree?”“Not that I’ve been warned about.” His grin made my shoulders loosen.“Then yes.” I waved back and followed the narrow trail into the woods.For several minutes, walking helped. Nobody questioned my judgment or looked at my neck before looking at my face. Birds called overhead, and smaller animals disturbed the underbrush, then hurried out of sight.I stepped over an

ANAIYAHMy heel caught in the dirt. I corrected my stance, raised my hands, and tried the defensive step again.Then pain hooked beneath my ribs. My knees struck the ground.For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.“Anaiyah?” Jamal crossed from the nearest training ring and crouched beside me. “Where are you hurt?”I pressed my palm against my side. Nothing had hit me. The ache deepened. “Take me to Nikolai.”“I’ll get the healer.”“No.” I caught his forearm. “Him. Please.”Jamal helped me upright.‘Find him,’ Lunara urged.I knew this cold pressure. I had felt it last night, holding Nikolai while something beneath his skin fought against my touch.“He went to the infirmary,” Jamal explained.My fingers tightened.“Then walk faster.”Nikolai sat beside an examination bed, speaking quietly to the physician. He looked up when I entered. His left hand stayed rigid against his thigh.“Why have you stopped training?”“You’re hurt.”“I’m not.”“You’re a terrible liar.”Jamal eased his arm away when

ANAIYAHBy morning, I had stopped pretending I would fall asleep again.Nikolai watched me as I pulled on my boots.“Walking?”“Thinking. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way to do it less.”His mouth shifted, but the smile didn’t hold. “Stay inside the patrol routes.”“I will.”He caught my hand before I left and kissed my knuckles.I carried that warmth downstairs, along with the question neither of us had answered.Would breaking his curse give us a life together—or end his?Outside, I followed a familiar path toward the lower gardens. Gardeners worked beyond the compound’s stone boundary, and warriors regularly crossed the outer grounds.I wasn’t alone. Not until the path curved and their voices faded.Lunara stirred. ‘Someone’s here.’Crushed grass lay beside the trail. Fresh soil marked a boot print.I turned back.A sharp chemical scent cut through the damp earth. Then a figure stepped between the trees.The blade reached my shoulder before I could call out. I twisted. Steel sli

VAREKThe courier entered with rainwater dripping from his hood and placed a sealed vial on my desk.“Where was it collected?”“The report is attached.”“I’m asking you.”“I carried it. That’s all I was paid to do.”Moonlight fell through the ceiling slit. The blood looked ordinary until I turned the glass. Silver-gold threads clung beneath the stopper.My wolf lifted his head.The Moonblood line had been extinct for centuries. Every surviving account claimed the last descendants died during the old conflict.My family had repeated it until history became certainty.I set the vial down.“Stay by the door. Don’t touch anything.”The courier withdrew his hand from the desk.I opened the concealed drawer and removed a dark silver instrument. Its shallow engravings were nearly worn smooth. I set it inside a circle of salt, laid iron thread beneath it, and uncapped the vial.One drop touched the metal. Nothing happened.Then light caught in the first groove.A branching crescent formed insi

ANAIYAHWooden weapons cracked together. My fingers closed around the fence, my heart thumping against my ribs like a caged animal.In an instant, I was back in the gardens, the assassins blade replacing the training rings. My feet remained stuck, everything else around me moving in slow motion.Then, somewhere to my right, a warrior laughed and reset his stance. Everything returned, bringing me back to the present.I clutched my chest, pressing my heels into the ground to keep me standing.Several days had passed since the attack and nightmares still plagued my dreams.Voss had cleared me for light practice that morning, provided my healing side didn’t hurt. Yet, I couldn't shake the attack. Every unfamiliar sound tightened my muscles, and every stranger's scent made Lunara lift her head.Silver Crest moved around me as usual, yet safety felt different now. Someone outside the pack wanted me dead, and nobody knew why.My arm still ached beneath the bandage, and the wound pulled whenev