Caspian's POV (Two Days Earlier)
I can't remember the last time I slept without screaming.
Another wound opens on my ribcage—the seventeenth new one today—and I bite down on my leather belt to keep from crying out. The pain is worse than any battle injury, worse than the time I took three silver arrows in a territory war, worse than anything I've ever experienced.
And it never stops.
"Alpha, you need to rest." Commander Drake hovers nearby, his face tight with worry. "The healers say—"
"The healers can't do anything!" I snarl, immediately regretting it when the outburst makes my wolf howl in agony. Every time I lose my temper, the curse digs deeper.
Drake flinches but doesn't leave. "The Council is demanding answers. Border packs are reporting incursions. The Shadow Ridge pack attacked our eastern territory last night and our warriors... they lost, Alpha. Twenty trained fighters against twelve rogues, and we lost."
The words hit me like a physical blow. My pack doesn't lose. We're the strongest in all the territories. We've held our borders for three generations without a single defeat.
But now we're weak. Because of me. Because of what I did to her.
Aria.
Just thinking her name makes the curse flare, sending fresh agony through my already wounded body. Through our twisted bond, I can feel her—alive, powerful, and absolutely furious. The connection that should have bound us together in love has become a chain dragging me toward death.
"How many casualties?" I force myself to ask.
"Seven dead. Twelve wounded." Drake's jaw clenches. "And that's just from last night's attack. The western border reported similar losses two days ago. Word is spreading, Alpha. Other packs smell blood in the water."
I close my eyes, fighting down rage that will only make things worse. My father built this pack into the most feared force in the territories. I've spent ten years maintaining that legacy, making us stronger, making us untouchable.
And I'm destroying it all because I rejected my mate.
No. Not just rejected. Destroyed.
I remember her face—those amber eyes filled with hope when the bond snapped into place, then shattered by my cruelty. The way she begged me to listen. The way she screamed when the bond broke.
The way I walked away without looking back.
"Goddess, what have I done?" The words slip out before I can stop them.
"You did what you thought was right," a smooth voice says from the doorway.
Lyanna Shadowmere glides into the room, beautiful as always with her long dark hair and emerald eyes. She's been my friend since childhood, the daughter of my father's closest advisor. She's stood by me through everything—my father's death, my rise to power, every hard decision I've made.
She's also been in love with me for as long as I can remember.
"Caspian, you can't keep blaming yourself." Lyanna sits on the edge of my bed, her hand cool against my fever-hot skin. "You rejected the Emberly girl because her family killed your father. That's not cruelty—that's justice."
Something about her words makes my wolf growl low in my mind, but I'm too exhausted to examine why.
"Justice doesn't feel like this," I mutter, gesturing to the wounds covering my body. "This feels like punishment."
"Then we fix it." Lyanna's voice hardens with determination. "That girl is killing you with her curse. You need to find her and make her stop. Force her to break the bond properly. Use your Alpha authority."
"She's in the Burning Wastes. No one survives—"
"Then send warriors to retrieve her body if she's dead, or capture her if she's somehow alive." Lyanna's eyes flash. "You're the Alpha King, Caspian. You don't bow to curse magic or rejected omegas. You take control."
Part of me—the part that's ruled through strength and fear for ten years—agrees with her. I should send warriors. I should fix this by force.
But another part, quieter and growing stronger, whispers that force is what got me into this mess.
Before I can respond, Elder Thaddeus Ironclaw enters without knocking. His iron-gray hair and cold eyes remind me uncomfortably of my father, and his presence has always been... complicated.
"Alpha." He bows stiffly. "I've come with news about the Emberly girl."
My whole body tenses. "What news?"
"My scouts report she entered the Burning Wastes eight days ago." Thaddeus's expression is carefully neutral. "The Wastes consume all who enter within hours. She's almost certainly dead by now. The curse should fade with her death."
Hope flares in my chest, but it's immediately crushed by something else—a sick, hollow feeling I can't name.
If she's dead, I'm free. The curse ends. My pack recovers.
So why does the thought make me want to vomit?
"The curse hasn't faded," I point out, touching the fresh wound on my ribs. "If anything, it's getting worse."
"Curse magic can linger," Thaddeus says smoothly. "Give it time. The girl was weak, powerless. The Wastes would have killed her quickly."
But through the bond, I feel something that contradicts his words entirely.
Power. Enormous, terrifying power growing stronger by the day.
"She's not dead," I say quietly.
Lyanna and Thaddeus exchange glances.
"Caspian, you're not thinking clearly," Lyanna says gently. "The curse is affecting your mind. Making you feel things that aren't real."
"I can feel her through the bond!" I snap, then immediately regret it as pain explodes through my chest. When I can breathe again, I continue more carefully. "She's alive. And she's... different. Stronger."
"Impossible," Thaddeus dismisses. "The Emberly line was weak wolf stock with delusions of power. Even if she somehow survived the initial heat, she has no resources, no training, no—"
The bond suddenly flares so violently I gasp.
Through it, I feel her. Not just alive but soaring—literally flying through the air on wings made of fire. I feel her joy, her freedom, her absolute refusal to ever kneel again.
And I feel her rage when she thinks of me.
"She's not in the Wastes anymore," I whisper, clutching my chest. "Or rather, the Wastes aren't killing her. They're... protecting her."
"That's madness," Thaddeus says sharply.
But I know what I feel. Through the curse connection, images flash through my mind—ancient ruins, spirits made of flame, power awakening like a volcano erupting.
Aria isn't dying. She's transforming into something beyond anything I imagined.
"I need to see her." The words come out before I've thought them through.
"No!" Lyanna grabs my arm. "Caspian, you can barely stand. You can't possibly—"
"I'm going." I try to stand and nearly collapse. Drake catches me, his face grim.
"Alpha, with respect, you're in no condition to travel," he says. "Let me take a team. We'll bring her back."
"She won't come willingly." I know this in my bones. "And forcing her will only make the curse worse. I have to go myself. I have to..." What? Apologize? Beg forgiveness? Explain that I rejected her because I was afraid and angry and so consumed by vengeance for my father that I couldn't see clearly?
All true. None of it enough.
"This is suicide," Thaddeus says coldly. "The girl has probably been consumed by dark magic. She'll kill you the moment she sees you."
"Maybe." I finally manage to stand on my own, though my legs shake. "Maybe that's what I deserve."
Lyanna's eyes fill with tears—real or fake, I can't tell anymore. "Please, Caspian. Don't throw your life away for some omega who's probably already dead or corrupted. Stay here. Let others handle this. You're needed here."
But through the bond, I feel another surge of power. Aria has just learned to fly. She's soaring through the sky, experiencing freedom for the first time, and the pure joy radiating through our connection makes my chest ache with something that isn't curse-pain.
She was supposed to be mine. My mate. My Luna. The other half of my soul.
And I destroyed her because I was too proud and too blind to see what the Moon Goddess was giving me.
"Gather fifty warriors," I order Drake. "Silver weapons, protective charms against fire magic. We leave in two hours."
"Caspian, no!" Lyanna stands, her composure finally cracking. "You can't—this is—"
"It's my decision." I meet her eyes, and something in my gaze makes her step back. "I created this mess. I'll fix it."
She stares at me for a long moment, emotions warring across her face. Finally, she nods stiffly. "Then I'm coming with you. Someone needs to keep you from getting yourself killed by a cursed omega drunk on stolen power."
The way she says "stolen" makes my wolf snarl again, but I'm too focused on preparing to argue.
As they leave to gather the warriors, I touch the curse wounds covering my body. Each one represents a cruel word I spoke, a moment of suffering I caused.
You are not worthy to breathe the same air as me.
This omega is not worthy to stand beside me.
I sever this bond. I deny this fate.
The words echo in my memory, and shame burns hotter than any curse fire.
I don't know what I'll say when I see her. I don't know if she'll even let me speak before attacking. I don't know if I can fix this.
But I have to try.
Two hours later, I stand at the border of the Burning Wastes with fifty of my best warriors, Lyanna at my right hand and Drake at my left. The volcanic wasteland stretches before us, black glass glittering in the setting sun.
"Alpha, the heat—" one warrior begins.
"I know." I take the first step across the border, and immediately the curse flares. Through the bond, I feel Aria's awareness snap to me. She knows I'm coming.
And she's not running.
"Move out," I order.
We march into the Wastes, and with each step, I feel the bond pulling me toward her like a moth to flame. The heat should be unbearable, but the curse connection seems to protect me—or maybe condemn me to reach her so she can destroy me personally.
After an hour of walking, one of my scouts returns at a run. "Alpha! We found something. There are ruins ahead, and—" He swallows hard. "There's someone standing at the entrance. Waiting."
My heart pounds. "Description."
"Female. But, Alpha..." The scout's voice shakes. "She has wings. Wings made of fire."
Lyanna grabs my arm, her nails digging in. "It's a trap. Dark magic. We should retreat and—"
But I'm already moving forward, pulling away from her grip. Through the bond, I feel Aria's presence like the sun—brilliant, burning, impossible to look away from.
We round a ridge of volcanic glass, and there she is.
The world stops.
Aria stands before ancient temple ruins, and she's nothing like the broken omega I rejected. Her copper hair burns with actual flames. Her eyes glow molten gold. And spread wide behind her are wings—massive, beautiful wings made of living fire that light up the darkening sky.
She's terrifying.
She's magnificent.
She's everything I threw away.
"Aria," her name falls from my lips like a prayer.
Her burning eyes lock onto mine, and her expression is colder than ice despite the flames surrounding her.
"Alpha Blackthorn," she says, her voice carrying power that makes my warriors step back. "You came."
"I came to—" What? Apologize? Beg? Fix this?
But before I can finish, another figure steps out from behind her.
A male. Tall, powerful, with silver-white hair and storm-gray eyes. He moves to Aria's side with casual confidence, and the protective way he positions himself makes rage explode through my chest.
"Who is he?" The words come out as a growl.
Aria's smile is sharp as broken glass. "This is Zephyr Stormfang. He's been teaching me to use my power. Training me. Protecting me." She pauses, and her next words drive a dagger through my heart. "He's been everything you never were."
Jealousy unlike anything I've ever felt consumes me. This stranger stands beside my mate—MY mate—looking at her with admiration and respect while she looks at him with trust.
Trust she should have given to me.
Trust I destroyed.
"Aria, please," I step forward, and immediately twenty flames spring up in a circle around me. A warning. "I need to talk to you. I need to explain—"
"Explain?" Her laugh is bitter. "You had your chance to explain two weeks ago when you rejected me in front of everyone. When you told me I wasn't worthy to breathe the same air as you. When you walked away while I was dying on the floor."
Each word is a whip, and I deserve every lash.
"I was wrong," I force out. "About everything. Your family, the bond, you—I was wrong."
"Oh, now you're wrong." Fire dances around her clenched fists. "Now that the curse is killing you. Now that your pack is falling apart. Now that you need me to save you." Her eyes burn brighter. "How convenient."
"It's not like that—"
"Then what is it like, Alpha King?" She spreads her wings wider, and the display of power is breathtaking. "Tell me. Did you come to apologize? Or did you come to cage me and force me to break the curse?"
The truth must show on my face because her expression hardens.
"That's what I thought."
"Aria, wait—"
"No." Her voice cracks like thunder. "You don't get to 'wait' anymore. You don't get to make demands. You rejected me, Caspian. You threw me away like garbage. And now look at me." She rises into the air on her fire wings, power radiating from her like heat from the sun. "I don't need you. I don't need your pack. I don't need anything from you except to watch you burn in the curse you brought on yourself."
Zephyr touches her arm gently. "Aria, your flames—"
She's losing control. Fire is spreading from her in waves, making my warriors back up frantically. The temperature spikes so high that several wolves cry out.
And through the bond, I feel it—her pain beneath the rage, the betrayal still fresh, the part of her that wanted me to be different but knows I'm not.
"I'm sorry," I say, putting every ounce of sincerity I have into the words. "I'm so sorry, Aria. I was cruel and blind and—"
"STOP!" She screams, and the ground cracks beneath the force of her power. "You don't get to apologize and make this better! You don't get redemption! You destroyed me, and I will NEVER forgive you!"
The curse bond suddenly convulses with violent energy. New wounds explode across my body—dozens of them, deep and agonizing. I collapse to my knees, gasping.
Through blurring vision, I see Aria land, her face pale. For just a second, I see concern flash across her features—the bond making her feel my pain whether she wants to or not.
"Aria," Lyanna's voice cuts through the tension. She steps forward, her face a mask of false sympathy. "Look what you're doing to him. The curse is killing him. Is this really what you want? To murder your fated mate?"
Aria's burning eyes snap to Lyanna, and something dangerous flashes through them.
"And who are you?"
"I'm Lyanna Shadowmere. Caspian's... friend." The way she says 'friend' implies so much more. "I've known him since we were children. And I'm begging you—please, release him from this curse. He made a mistake, but he doesn't deserve to die for it."
"Doesn't he?" Aria's voice is ice. "My family died for lies. I was tortured for years for crimes we never committed. I was rejected and humiliated and left to die. But he doesn't deserve to suffer?"
"Your family practiced dark magic—" Lyanna begins.
"LIAR!"
The word explodes from Aria with such force that Lyanna stumbles backward. Aria's phoenix sight—the ability to see truth through lies—must be showing her something.
"You're lying," Aria says slowly, flames gathering around her. "I can see it burning off you like smoke. You know my family was innocent." Her eyes narrow. "You know because... oh Goddess. It was you."
Lyanna's face goes white. "I don't know what you're—"
"It was YOU!" Aria screams, rising into the air again. "You're the one who lied about my family! You're the reason they died!"
And through the bond, I feel the truth slam into me like a fist.
Lyanna. My trusted friend. The woman who's stood by me for years.
She lied. She murdered Aria's family with false accusations.
And I believed her.
"No," I whisper. "Lyanna, tell me it's not true. Tell me you didn't—"
But Lyanna's mask is cracking. Her face twists with something ugly—jealousy, rage, triumph gone wrong.
"They had to die!" she shouts. "The prophecies said a Phoenix Heir would rise and take everything from me! I've loved you since we were children, Caspian! But the Moon Goddess chose her instead!" She points at Aria with shaking hand. "So yes, I lied! I destroyed her family! And I'd do it again!"
The world tilts.
Everything I believed. Everything I built my hatred on. Everything I used to justify destroying my mate.
All lies.
Aria's scream of rage shakes the earth. Fire explodes from her in a massive wave, and only Zephyr grabbing her stops her from incinerating everyone.
"Aria, control!" he shouts. "Don't let rage control your fire!"
But she's beyond hearing. The phoenix power is consuming her, feeding on her fury and pain.
And I realize with horrible clarity: she's about to kill us all.
Including herself.