Page 36 of The Cursed Wolf King

I hadn’t been with Damianeverand the thought of Alaric’s desire, the stench coming off him, made me want to gag.

“Except I think Alpha Grayson has his eye on you.”

He clicked his tongue and winked before stuffing his hands in his pockets and strutting out of the prison.

Grayson.

My throat closed up as I desperately tried to push the thought aside. I needed quiet, needed space, to reach into the void of the Shadow Moon Goddess for any vision that would help me find a way out of this.

“Seems they aren’t done with you yet.” Mariyah chuckled.

“Shut up.” I closed my eyes, seeking the place inside me that would transcend into the space where visions could arise.

“I still have my bargaining chips, don’t you worry about me, little dove. And this old body is more lithe than one might think. You could almost call me a serpent shifter, except I always keep this shape. Something wholly alluring about being a mature woman, wouldn’t you say?”

I exhaled sharply, trying to block her out.

“You, on the other hand?—”

“Shut up.”

She cackled again. “You are fucked.”

18

LOGAN

Isat with my closest circle, their faces tense and thoughtful as they absorbed what I’d told them about the old woman and her talk of a curse. Moonlight spilled through the windows, casting shadows across their expressions. Every one of them was taking this as seriously as I’d expected.

Elder Raina broke the silence first.

“Logan, curses have been spoken of before in our history, mostly as warnings to keep rival packs at bay. Powerful rumors, yes, but hardly ever real.” Worry crept into her tone. “That woman could be a red herring, meant to rattle us, make us fear ourselves.”

Rhys, seated to my left, leaned in closer, his expression dark. “What if she’s not? The old curses were spoken about like this for a reason—meant to break a pack from the inside out without lifting a single claw.” He paused. “What’s been happening to us, it’s almost too coincidental. Our losses, nopups born, even parts of the land that seem like they’re withering.”

I nodded, pressing my hand against the table. “That’s exactly it. If the curse is real, we’re facing something insidious, tearing us apart slowly. But if it’s a trick, the Heraclids could use it to make us doubt ourselves. Either way, it’s a threat.”

Killian and Blair, my enforcers, sat together, exchanging a look. They were a strong, thoughtful pair who liked to weigh things between them first, communicating through the pack bond before they spoke. I felt their hesitation through the bond, a low hum of energy moving back and forth.

“Out with it,” I said. “What are you thinking?”

Killian raised an eyebrow and nodded to Blair, who spoke first. “Look, Alpha, I don’t trust the Heraclids, not one bit. They’d throw anything our way if they thought it would weaken us. But if there’s even a chance this curse is real, then we’re already seeing it take its toll.”

Killian chimed in, “If the curse is real, it could go far beyond a few unlucky breaks. It could be generational. This curse could be woven into our land itself, the bloodline of the pack. It wouldn’t end here—it could break Orion apart for good. We have to find the curse-sayer.”

They were voicing the same fears I had, the same dread that had twisted in my gut ever since the old woman spat out the wordcurse.

Raina’s sigh filled the room. “I wish I could dismiss the possibility of a generational curse, but that would be reckless. We know that curse-sayers have held a place amongsupernaturals since the beginning of time. The Seven Sisters were experts at manipulating them for their own purposes.”

The Seven Sisters were celestial forces, stars given form, and they saw the shifters of Earth as mere playthings. They spun destinies for their amusement, setting realms at odds with one another and reveling in the chaos that ensued. The shifters suffered endlessly because of them, yearning for harmony, which seemed impossible to attain. But the arrival of the Shadow Moon Goddess set everything right, commanding the Orion pack to lead. That was, until the Great Separation. Curse-sayers existed, there was no doubt. But when the Great Separation happened, they were forced to draw their power from somewhere other than the Shadow Moon Goddess. That alone was enough to make the idea disturbing. Powers that didn’t originate with the Shadow Moon Goddess often played into someone else’s agenda.

Blair looked at me, his wolf not far from the surface. “Alpha, curse or no curse, we’re with you. But if there’s a chance it’s real, we need to prepare. Confront the curse-sayer head-on and demand answers.”

“Forget answers,” Killian grumbled. “We have to kill the curse-sayer.”

I let their discussion filter through the room. My mind had already drifted, thoughts tangled with memories. I rubbed at the tattoo on my forearm, the familiar shapes of Wyatt’s and Nash’s initials beneath my fingertips a bitter reminder.

My brothers—strong, proud, always watching over me. Even now, their lives still sparked in my blood. They weren’t dead, I was sure of it, but they weregone.

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