Page 92 of The Cursed Wolf King

Raina whispered, “Do you know what oracles were before the Great Separation?”

I shook my head, ashamed of my ignorance.

“They were the voice of the Shadow Moon Goddess herself,” she said. “Guides. Protectors. They were meant to be the balance between strength and wisdom. But when the packs fractured, when trust crumbled, the oracles became scapegoats. Their power was feared, misunderstood. And so, they were hunted and harnessed.”

Her words rang true in every part of my body. My mother, her endless warnings, the way she’d hidden meaway… I thought of the oracle girl I’d met behind the dumpster, her words haunting me still.

“And we come from the Crux pack, right?” I asked.

Raina’s lips curved into a faint smile. “Crux pack,” she said softly. “That was a sweet idea. A pack that disappeared, absorbed into other southern packs, and was revived through modern lore. Crux isn’t the only pack to have disappeared over time, but stories about them can be dangerous.” She shook her head. “To say oracle wolves came from a single pack is like saying all wolves who can scent from afar come from the same pack. I believe in your gifts—those are very real. The rest is a fairy tale. Crux, a pack of oracles, led by an alpha so powerful she could see the threads of fate itself… It was the shifter version of unicorns and princesses. I don’t mean to disappoint you.” She laid a hand on my forearm. “I don’t want you to chase a ghost pack either.”

Perhaps her words should have been comforting, dismissing a burden I’d felt since I met Dahlia in that back alleyway. But I wasn’t comforted in the least. Deep down, I knew Crux pack wasn’t a fairy tale. It was real. And I was part of its legacy.

A sharp pain hit me, like I was being stabbed within, but without any real wound—a pain of warning.

“Raina,” I huffed, clutching my chest as I tried to steady my breathing. “What is this?”

Raina moved closer, scanning me with the precision of someone who’d seen generations of wolves through their darkest moments. Her hand rested lightly on my arm. She inhaled deeply through her nostrils, the sound louder than was natural, and when she exhaled, the air blew my hair like a gust of wind.

“It’s the bond,” she said, her voice tinged with a gravity that made my wolf still. “The connection between fated mates isn’t just emotional, Eve. It’s visceral. When one half is in danger, the other feels it.”

That didn’t make sense. “He’s not here. He’s?—”

“Far from you, yes,” she interrupted gently, her beaded silver hair catching the dim light as she leaned closer. “And that distance stretches the bond to its limits. You’re not just feeling your own pain—you’re feeling his—and you’re experiencing the pain of a bond at risk.”

My mind was racing. Logan’s face flashed in my mind. Was this agony his? Was he hurting, and I was simply… borrowing it?

“If it’s part of our bond, why does it feel like it’s killing me?” I asked as I felt the stabbing pain again.

Raina looked over my body, my arm. She took my hand and brought it toward her, exposing my pack mark, which had blended into a mass of abstract art. “Your bond isn’t complete, and yet it is powerful enough to change your pack affiliation even before he’s fully claimed you. That’s the fated bond of the time prior to the Great Separation. Bonds like yours aren’t meant to endure separation. It’s like pulling the threads of a tapestry too far apart—they fray, unravel, until there’s nothing left holding them together. The pain you feel is the bond’s way of trying to stay intact while your connection is tenuous.”

The comparison hit me hard. I sure felt like I was unraveling. Every beat of my heart felt fragile. “So, this is normal?”

“Normal?” Raina gave a wry smile, shaking her head. “There’s nothing normal about fated mates. It’s rare enough to find one, and rarer still for the bond tomanifest so strongly. I’ve seen this before, Eve, and I know what it means.”

“What does it mean?” I whispered, though part of me didn’t want to hear the answer.

“It means Logan is in danger. And your bond is trying to warn you.”

My wolf growled low and deep, her energy surging as if to confirm what Raina had said. My body trembled, caught between fear and fury.

“What do I do?” The question was so simple, but the answer evaded me completely.

“Something in you already knows,” Raina said simply, squeezing my arm. “Follow it. The bond can make you stronger if you let it. But only if you find a way to give yourself to it fully. Bonds like yours aren’t just connections—they’re compasses. If you trust it, it will lead you to him.”

A wave of scent reached me and my nostrils flared.

My wolf stirred, her hackles rising.

Raina was already moving. The elder’s serene composure hardened in an instant, her body tense as she rose from her chair. Her silver hair gleamed in the soft light. She opened the door and without a word, she shifted. The transformation was fluid, her wolf emerging with grace and precision, her coat a pale gray that seemed to shimmer like mist. She moved to the bungalow’s door, her body low, growling softly as her nose tipped upward to scent the air.

Someone was coming.

Someone who didn’t belong here.

41

EVE

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