DRAVEN'S POV.
The scent of fear carried faster than smoke. By the time I reached the upper hall, I already knew something was wrong. The murmurs that usually died the second I appeared didn't fade fast enough. They lingered, threads of whispers that slithered through the air.
"…the human…"
"…Alpha brought her back…"
"…his chambers, can you imagine—"
I didn't have to hear the rest. The moment they noticed me, the maids bowed low, trembling. I didn't say a word. Didn't need to. One look was enough to scatter them like frightened birds. But even as their footsteps vanished down the corridor, the damage was done. The rumor was out.
By nightfall, it reached the one person I'd hoped it wouldn't. I found her in the east wing…my mother, the Queen. She was standing by the great window, draped in silver and white, her reflection painted against the storm-dark glass. She didn't turn when I entered.
"You lied to me," she said softly.
Her voice was calm. Too calm.
I stayed at the threshold, silent.
"You said you sent the human girl back to her village."
"I did."
Finally, she turned. Her eyes, ice-blue and sharp enough to cut, met mine. "And then you went and brought her back. Do you take me for a fool, Draven?"
I clenched my jaw. "This isn't your concern."
"Not my concern?" she echoed, her tone dripping disbelief. "A human girl living within the Alpha's chambers is everyone's concern. Do you know what the council is saying?"
"I don't care."
"You should." She stepped closer, her voice low but furious. "They think she's your weakness. That you've finally gone mad after all these years of restraint. That the curse is rotting your mind."
I exhaled slowly through my nose. "Let them think whatever they want."
"Do not play games with me," she snapped, the mask slipping for a moment. "You've put this pack at risk. The council whispers, the servants gossip, and your authority cracks each time they see you protect that fragile little thing."
I said nothing.
Her eyes narrowed. "Why, Draven? Why risk everything for a human girl? What is she to you?"
That question hit deeper than I wanted to admit.
What was she to me? A mistake, I told myself. A distraction. Something I should have walked away from the moment I realized she could survive my touch. And yet…every time I tried to convince myself of that, I saw her face—frightened, stubborn, and alive.
My mother studied me in silence, reading the tension I couldn't hide. "You don't even know why you protect her, do you?" she whispered.
I turned away. "You will not touch her."
"Draven—"
"I said," I growled, my voice dropping low, "you will not touch her."
The air crackled. Her power flared, cold and biting like winter wind, but I didn't back down. For a long moment, the room held its breath.
Finally, she spoke, her voice trembling, not with fear, but something close to fury. "You would raise your voice at me. For a human?"
"I'm warning you," I said quietly. "If anything happens to her, mother or not, I will not stand aside."
Her lips curved into a humorless smile. "You sound just like your father."
That stopped me. She knew exactly how to draw blood without claws.
Before I could respond, she turned back to the window, dismissing me with a wave of her hand. "Do what you will. But when the curse takes her, don't come crawling to me for absolution."
"I won't," I said, and walked out before the silence could swallow me whole.
Zayn found me later in the hall, leaning against one of the pillars, his usual smirk dulled to something cautious.
"So, the Queen's heard," he said.
I gave him a flat look. "You knew."
"I might've overheard some of the gossip." He shrugged. "Word travels fast when it's about you, Alpha."
I pushed away from the wall. "Let them talk."
"Sure," Zayn said lightly. "Until they start thinking you've lost your edge."
I shot him a warning glance, but he didn't back down.
"Look, I'm not saying you shouldn't protect her. But you're giving them reasons to doubt you. The council's on edge, the Queen's fuming, and half the servants are convinced the human is your mistress."
I stilled. "My what?"
He smirked again. "Relax. I didn't start it."
I groaned quietly, dragging a hand through my hair. "Unbelievable."
"Well, you did bring her back to your personal chambers."
"Because it's the only place she'll be safe."
"Right. And the fact that no one's allowed in there makes it sound totally innocent."
I gave him a look sharp enough to shut him up.
Zayn raised both hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. I'll make sure the guards keep their mouths shut. But you need to understand something, Draven…your mother won't let this go. She thinks the human is dangerous."
"Dangerous?" I repeated. "She's barely strong enough to lift a broom."
"That's the point," Zayn said quietly. "The curse didn't touch her. That makes her more dangerous than you realize."
His words lingered long after he left. Because he wasn't wrong. Even I didn't understand what she was. When I first saw her that night, running from the wolves, terrified but unbroken, I thought she was just another foolish human who'd wandered too far into the mountains. I should've let my men handle it. I should've walked away.
But then she ran straight into me, and touched me.
That should've been the end. One second. One heartbeat. That's all it ever took, but she lived.
The curse didn't react. No pain, no burning, no death. Nothing.
For ten years, I'd carried the weight of that curse, watched every woman who dared get close to me crumble to ash in my hands. And then came this fragile, trembling girl who somehow survived the impossible. Since that night, I hadn't been able to stop thinking about her.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her again, her face upturned to mine, her pulse beating fast under her skin. The memory of her hand on me still burned, but not with pain. With something else. Something dangerous. Something I didn't have a name for. I'd told myself I brought her back because she begged. Because I pitied her. Because no one deserved to freeze in the mountains alone, but deep down, I knew it was more than that.
It was the way she looked at me, not like a monster, not like a curse, but like a man she didn't quite understand. And that was more terrifying than any curse the Moon Goddess could've placed on me.
I sighed and glanced out the window. The night stretched endless beyond the mountains. From here, the village below was only a shadow, half-drowned, half-forgotten. Maybe she'd been right to beg me to bring her back. The world outside these walls was crueler than the one within them.
Still, I couldn't shake the thought that I'd made a mistake. That somehow, by bringing her into my world, I'd set something in motion I couldn't control. Because now, the curse wasn't just mine anymore.
It was ours.