Page 19 of Cursed By Fate

“Yeah,” he said, and there was an unfamiliar softness in his voice. “I know.”

I didn’t belong here. I didn’t belong anywhere, but here was especially not where I belonged. I glanced at Tristan, then tried to act like I wasn’t watching every move he made.

More of the pack settled into the tables, loud and careless and happy. It was a sight I’d never seen before: a room full of people, at ease with each other. Like the entire world wasn’t out to get them. Even if it was, no one seemed worried about it. They passed platters and poured drinks, touching shoulders and whispering jokes. I wondered if this was what Tristan was used to, and what he was doing keeping around a cursed outsider like me.

He laughed at something Bram said, looking so much a part of this universe it was hard to imagine he was the same alpha who’d thrown me in a cell and changed the entire course of my life. Not that I was imagining anything, of course. I tried not tostare, but the more I tried, the more it happened anyway. He reached for a bowl of mashed potatoes and I caught myself being jealous of a starch.

Two little kids raced past, ducking under tables and giggling while their parents watched with mild amusement. The room vibrated with the sounds of voices and laughter, so different from what I was used to it felt like being dropped on another planet. Back home, we ate in silence within our own homes, a thousand unwritten rules keeping us as far from each other as we could be while sitting at the same table. Here, there was no distance at all. It was terrifying.

A girl across the room shrieked as a hunter held a fish in her face, gesturing with wild enthusiasm. The old man next to them tried to one-up his story, waving his fork for emphasis. More laughter. More food. More drinks. More of everything.

I watched the way the Stormvale wolves moved and talked, like they had no secrets to hide or betrayals to worry about. And maybe they didn’t, which was more foreign to me than any other part of it. I reached for a platter, unsure if it was okay to take anything. Uncertainty wasn’t a feeling I liked.

Tristan noticed my hesitation, smirking a little as he scooped mashed potatoes and meat onto a plate, setting it in front of me before I could stop him. I felt a flash of annoyance, and then something else. Something I refused to name.

I was just about to tell him to keep his distance and his help when Ewan made an impressive show of sitting as far away from me as he could. I couldn’t tell if his glare or his hair was redder. “Someone’s eager to impress the guest,” he said, drawing out the last word like it was a disease.

“It’s cute, right?” I said, keeping my voice light. I shoveled mashed potatoes into my mouth like I didn’t care. “Maybe if I stay long enough, he’ll carry my books home from school.”

Ewan stabbed at a slice of meat, his fork almost bending under the effort. “Guests leave eventually,” he said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. “Hostages are different.”

I felt a hot ripple of eyes on me. Tristan’s hand gripped his drink so hard I thought it might shatter. “She’s our guest, Ewan,” he said, each word a punch in the air.

“Right, and all we have to do is forget she’s an enemy alpha’s daughter and was raised in rival territory her whole life,” he spat back.

“Ewan!” Tristan growled. “That’s enough.”

Ewan grinned and held up his hands in surrender. “Whatever you say, Alpha.” But he looked right at me when he said it, like we both knew it wasn’t Tristan’s call.

A kid at the next table dropped a plate. The crash felt more like a challenge than an accident.

The minute the broken plate hit the floor, Ewan was back at it, hitting harder and meaner than before. “So,” he said, his voice bright with pretend curiosity. “Is it just a coincidence you ended up in our care?”

I smirked, refusing to let him get under my skin. “The last guy who underestimated me got his ass kicked.” The rest of the pack stopped pretending not to listen, eyes flicking from me to Tristan and back again.

“Ewan,” Tristan growled as a warning. His voice was cold and sharp, like he was trying to slice through the tension.

Ewan raised his eyebrows at me, ignoring the Alpha completely. “Not a very tidy coincidence, though. How convenient that the alpha’s daughter ends up here, safe and sound.”

I felt Tristan start to stand, his anger wrapping around me like an unexpected shield. “Back. Off.”

But I was faster, cutting him off before he could intervene. “I can handle this,” I said, my voice low and determined. I metEwan’s stare, defiance flaring in my chest. “Besides, if the runt of the litter has something to say, he should say it.”

The red-haired beta folded his arms and let out a huff. “Go ahead then, Silver Ridge. Handle it.”

The rest of the pack watched us, and I saw doubt start to creep into a few faces. I wasn’t the only one wondering where my loyalties lay.

“I get it,” I said, louder now. I put the slightest tremor of a laugh in my voice. “You’re threatened because your pack never had a guest with better hair.”

Some of them snorted with laughter, the sound jagged in the tense air. Ewan didn’t laugh.

“You might not think this is funny,” he said, his voice hardening. “But your Alpha might, I’m sure he’d love to hear about it after he storms this place to steal our damn property again. Rumor is he’s planning a move against our pack. Now you show up here and we’re not supposed to be suspicious at all?”

Tristan’s hand fell to the table with a hard, frustrated thud. His eyes burned into Ewan. But his focus slid to me as he waited for my next move.

I made sure I was looking right at Ewan when I spoke. “You do remember it was your pack who kidnappedme,right? I don’t recall voluntarily being tied up with wolfsbane-laced ropes or thrown into a cell.”

Ewan let out a displeased grunt in response as his focus shifted to Tristan.

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