Page 13 of Cursed By Fate

I pulled my wrist away, and the light faded. The night rushed back in, filling the space with a heavy silence. Tristan stared at me, his usual confidence shattered by what had just happened. His jaw tightened, but something flickered in his eyes. Not fear. Not anger. Something like awe.

We were both stunned, both speechless. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew it was important. More important than anything I’d ever faced.

Lila was the first to find her voice. “What the hell was that?” she asked, her eyes wide with shock.

I didn’t have an answer. I wasn’t sure I wanted one.

Tristan took a deep breath, his expression shifting from surprise to something else. Something like hope. “Come back with me,” he said, and this time it wasn’t a demand. It was a plea.The alpha façade cracked for a second. Just a second. And I saw the man underneath.

I looked at Lila, at the forest, at my wrist where the light had been. There was too much to figure out, too much I didn’t understand. I needed answers.

“Serena,” Lila said, her voice steady and supportive. “It’s up to you.”

I hesitated, weighing the risks and the promises and the unknowns. Going back to a rival pack’s compound was dangerous, but it might be the only way to find out what was happening. To learn the truth about the curse and Tristan and everything that had been hidden from me. I didn’t trust the mountain. But I trusted the way his voice steadied the chaos in mine.

“I’ll come back,” I said finally, my words surprising even me. “But you don’t own me, Tristan.”

He nodded, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “We’ll see about that.”

Lila hugged me tight, her eyes telling me she’d be there, no matter what. She slipped something into my hand, closing my fingers around it before I could see what it was. “Just in case,” she said, her expression fierce and full of promise.

Then she was gone, disappearing into the night, leaving me alone with the alpha.

Tristan’s gaze met mine, the connection between us as strong as it was confusing. “Ready?” he asked, and it wasn’t a question.

I didn’t answer, but I took a step toward him.

I had to know. I had to find out.

No matter the cost. Because deep down, I already knew—I wasn’t walking into a prison. I was walking into fate’s fire, and something inside me was ready to burn.

Chapter four

Tristan

Serena's skin had been fire under my touch, a searing confirmation that left me reeling as we reached the mountain compound. My pack watched, their suspicion a palpable scent as we crossed the stone gates. Inside, moonlight filtered through crystal skylights, the air heavy with pine and sage…and something deeper, like the mountain exhaled secrets it had buried for centuries. She didn’t belong here, and yet Icouldn’t bring myself to put her back in that cell. My birthmark tingled where it met hers. The mark flared beneath my skin—not painfully, but insistently, like it was waking up. It felt like a question, the kind you can't un-ask.

The revelation haunted me as I led her deeper into our stronghold, through the ancient corridors carved directly into the mountainside. Stone pillars loomed overhead, etched with symbols of our lineage, wolf insignias guarding the path. The runes shimmered subtly as we passed, like they were catching moonlight that wasn’t there. The mountain’s energy had changed. Not loud. Not angry. But aware. As if it, too, recognized her. I should have returned her to the dim confinement where the rest of her pack languished, where she would pose no risk to us or herself. But something in me balked at the thought. I knew her father, Alaric, the alpha of the Silver Ridge pack. And I knew the rumors about how he treated his daughter.

A long shadow cast by obligation stretched before me. As a formidable alpha, I suddenly found myself unsure. Unsettled. I could hear the whispers ripple through my pack like a gust of winter wind. They did not trust her. They wondered why I did. As did I.

Her footsteps were soft but unyielding behind me, echoing through the stone passages. I stole a glance back at her, catching the glint of her fiery hair in the moonlight—a living flame, too wild to be snuffed out. Her hazel eyes caught mine with a knowing intensity. I turned away, my resolve slipping like sand through my fingers. She was fire in a place carved of earth and stone—wrong, or right in ways I didn’t yet understand.

In my private chambers, I watched Serena's eyes take in the room. They were drawn with a curiosity that matched my own toward her. I could almost hear the pack's murmurs through the thick stone walls. They would think I was compromised. Weak.The space around us seemed to shrink under the weight of our silence, charged and volatile.

“You've moved me up in the world, I see.” Her voice cut through the tension, sharp and ironic. She traced her fingers along the wooden frame of the bed—a gesture so casual it felt almost intimate.

“Don't get used to it,” I said, more gruffly than intended. I turned to the broad window, its crystal panes like the eyes of some indifferent god. Moonlight spilt over us, too bright and too cold.

“And here I thought you were starting to like me.” Her words dripped with sarcasm, but beneath it, I heard something more. Was it doubt? Hope?

“Why are you doing this?” she pressed. I could feel her eyes boring into my back, burning hotter than before.

Because I'm a fool, I thought. Instead, I said, “You're more use to me alive and talking than silent in a cell.”

A flicker of something—was it pain? anger?—crossed her face, but she quickly masked it with a sly smile. “Sounds like your version of sweet talk, Alpha.”

I looked at her then, truly looked, and was startled by the pull I felt toward this woman whose very existence threatened all I had sworn to protect. “You shouldn't be here, Serena.”

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