Page 39 of Cursed By Fate

“Your trust is weakness. Just like that girl.” He lunged at me, but I was ready. I caught him by the neck, slammed him into thestone, and watched the shock cross his face as it split with the impact. He wasn’t used to losing.

“It’s called strength,” I said, breathing hard, every muscle in my body alive with energy. “Maybe if you had any, you’d know what it looks like.”

I sent him flying, felt the power in my limbs as it followed through. But then the light caught my eyes, Serena’s fight pulling my focus as she shifted back into her human form to deal with her father. I saw her and Alaric in a tangle of emotion and defiance, the raw force of their connection spiraling into the air around them.

Alaric had no clue who he was dealing with. His voice, so full of authority, tried to cage her in. “The ritual is the only way. Your stubbornness will destroy us both.” He grabbed for her arm, but she twisted away, the glow of the altar painting her face with fierce determination.

“Destroy you, maybe,” Serena shot back. Her words cut like knives. “I’m not your daughter anymore. I’m Tristan’s mate. Do you have any idea what happens if the wrong wolves use these stones for this ritual?” Her agility made her a blur as she broke free from his grasp. She was beautiful in her defiance, a wild and unstoppable force.

“You think you have a choice?” Alaric said, the scent of desperation thick on him. He didn’t understand, not really. And that’s why he would never have what he wanted.

“I know I do,” she said, landing a blow that sent him reeling. She stood over him, chest heaving, heart blazing with the truth and freedom she’d been denied. Her gaze locked with mine for a heartbeat, raw and powerful. We knew this was it. We were too far gone.

The air crackled with tension, energy looping and tangling, binding us in a way that made the whole damn room feel like it was about to collapse. Ewan closed in again, a blur of speed andanger, but his attacks meant nothing. Not against the heat of my blood and the sight of Serena finally breaking free.

We were locked in combat, the walls narrowing around us as power swirled through the space. The sound of fangs, fists, of battle, of defiance—they filled the chamber, echoing with the force of everything I’d ever wanted to say. Everything I couldn’t. I let it out with a guttural howl, every word left unspoken a blow that sent Ewan staggering back. I was stronger than him, stronger than any of them. Because Serena made me that way.

The altar flared brighter, violent and insistent. I felt it in my bones, the ritual near completion, and knew we were almost out of time. Serena’s raw need to end this radiated across the room, charging the air with urgency and fire. And then I saw it in her eyes—a spark, a decision.

She looked at the altar, then down at the mark glowing on her wrist. “It was never about killing the curse,” she whispered. “It was about breaking the cycle.”

Before I could shout her name, she broke from her fight with Alaric. Broke away from everything, a wild determination on her face.

“I’ll end it myself!” she yelled, rushing the altar, fierce and untamed, ready to take it all.

“Serena!” I cried out, desperate and useless. But she was already gone, charging toward the heart of the ritual. Toward the only thing left that could stop us.

Her pain burned through me, searing and blinding. Serena was on the altar, light flooding her body until she was nothing but agony and fire. Her scream ripped through my soul. I didn’t think. Didn’t stop until I made my way to her.

“You are my life now, Serena. My mate. My fire. Your enemies are mine, your pain is mine, your future is mine to protect. I love you—endlessly, irrevocably, beyond time itself. I choose you in this life and every life after.”

My mind was a blank rush of terror and desperation as I lunged for her, instantly shifting my form to pull her from the light and take her place. The energy was pure fire, a force of nature, too strong and too wild. I didn’t care if it killed me.

And then it hit.

The power slammed into me, a living, breathing force. It didn’t wait, didn’t pause. It swallowed me whole. I fell onto the altar, the energy coursing through my veins like a tidal wave, ripping through muscle and bone. Every cell of my being exploded with light and heat and pain, until I was sure I would come apart at the seams.

The roar of it drowned everything else, and I gave myself over to it, the sheer magnitude of it too much to fight. I was on the edge of everything, teetering between life and oblivion, and I didn’t care. Didn’t care because I knew Serena was safe. I could feel her presence even in the darkness, a beacon that held me steady while the storm ripped me to pieces.

This was the truth of it. Not power stolen, but power shared. Not domination—but sacrifice. That was the bond. That was the cure.

The power pushed me to the brink, then beyond it. My body arched against the assault, and I was sure it would never end. But slowly, slowly, the intensity waned. I felt it loosening, a release of breath, a shudder of finality. It left me hollow and full at once, the shock of it vibrating through every part of me. The chamber pulsed with volatile magic. Cracks spiderwebbed through the stone, as if the mountain itself could no longer hold this power.

The celestial stones vibrated with energy, a violent and chaotic hum. Then they cracked, a thousand fractures blooming across their surfaces, before shattering completely. A flood of divine light burst out, an ethereal supernova that blazed through the chamber and sent everything flying. In one deafening thud,bodies hit the ground. Hard. The world reeled and tilted around us, the dust rising like smoke.

And then, there was nothing.

The light faded, leaving us in a haze of ash and silence. I blinked against it, stunned and dazed, until the world came rushing back. My body ached, my mind was a jumble, but I was alive.

Serena was there, pulling me close, her touch urgent and warm. Her eyes, wide with fear and relief, met mine. I could see the glow of the birthmark on her wrist, no longer a crescent moon but a full and shining moon with a star, and felt the pulse of its twin on my own skin. The symbols matched, vibrant and alive, beating in time with each other like a shared heartbeat.

We were changed.

My chest tightened as I realized Serena never meant to survive it. The curse shattered not because I saved her—but because she chose to burn for all of us. That’s what ended it. Her choice. Her fucking courage.

The mountain trembled beneath us, a slow and rumbling protest, as if aware of its power slipping away. I could feel it, the severing of a bond that had lasted generations, giving way to something new. We were free, the entire Stormvale pack unshackled from the land, and I didn’t know what that meant. But I knew it was ours.

Serena clung to me, her strength returning, her presence as real and fierce as I’d ever known it. We held onto each other in the dust and the debris, the raw edges of the world shifting around us, knowing we had risked everything. And knowing we had won.

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