Chapter 49
The obsidian bowl clatters to the floor as Alex’s back arches off the bed, a strangled gasp tearing from his throat.
His skin, moments ago ashen as moonstone, floods with sudden color–first a faint pink, then a healthy bronze.
Luna’s shriek of relief echoes.
“It worked! The gods be praised, it worked!”
Her eyes are wild with tears.
“My sweet girl–after all Alex did to you, the way he mocked your gifts, the times he threw your remedies into the fire–you still saved him.””
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Mathew growls softly at my side, but I place a calming hand on his arm.
Luna grabs a fistful of my hair, pressing my forehead to hers in the gesture of gratitude.
“Lia. You’re a goddess sent to save us.”
She pulls back, eyes blazing.
“I’ll draft the edict myself: the princess Lia, with lands stretching to the wolfsbane forests. Your village will want for nothing–let every wolf know the name Lia is blessed!”
I bow my head.
Alex’s golden eyes flutter open, catching mine.
Gone is the feral haze, replaced by a clarity that makes my beast snarl.
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He struggles to sit, wincing as new muscle knits over old scars.
“Li-” His voice cracks, and he swallows, Adam’s apple bobbing.
“I… gods, I was a fool.”
Tears spill over, tracking through the dirt on his cheeks.
“I thought your womb’s magic was a trick, a way to climb into my bed. I thought you’d poisoned Sadina’s mead to steal my attention.”
He reaches out, but Mathew’s growl stops him short.
“I threw your healing herbs into the fire because… because I was afraid.”
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Afraid of a power he couldn’t control.
Afraid of a she–wolf who didn’t cower at his
snarls.
His next words come in a rush, like a dam breaking.
“The night you cleaned my battle wounds while I slept–you used wolfsbane to stave off infection. The time I found you praying at the Moon Altar–you were begging the gods to lift my curse, not summon it. I see it all now, Lia. I see-”
Alex’s his gaze burning through me like a branding iron.
“In the past life,” he rasps, ignoring Mathew’s growl beside me,
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“I found Sadina’s bloodied letter after Fenris slaughtered her. Her pup–my pup–ripped from her womb.”
Ex
A
His voice breaks, but his eyes stay locked on mine.
“I thought you’d orchestrated it all, Lia. I thought your ‘fertile curse‘ was a weapon to destroy us.”
“But this life–Sadina lives! The healers say her pup grows strong in her womb.”
“And you–you saved me twice over. ”
“No more mistakes, Lia. No more Sadina.” He reaches out, as if he can drag me to his side by will alone.
“Let’s forget the past lives. This time, I’ll build you an altar of moonstones. I’ll-”
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“Your highness” My voice cuts through his ravings.
I step forward, letting Mathew’s mating mark on my neck catch the light.
S
“While you were howling at death’s door, I took a mate.”
Mathew steps beside me. “She wears my mark,” he growls.
*X
“Her neck, her womb–they belong to a Beta who knows how to cherish a she–wolf.”
Alex’s ribcage heaves against the obsidian headboard.
“I’ll give Mathew the Northern Fenrislands,” he gasps.
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N
“Enough silver to gild every tree–just drink the abortifacient.”
His voice drops to a feverish growl.
“Your womb was made for my heirs. Let Sadina whelp in the stables for all I care.”
“Your generosity reeks of desperation.”
I trace the mating scar on my neck.
“Mathew’s seed took root in my womb while you were howling for death. His pup will suckle at my breast, not yours.”
His golden eyes bulge, pupils shrinking to slits. “You lie! Why save me if not-”
“-to watch you rot from the inside.”
I step closer.
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“Your life is a debt I collected, not a gift. Now choke on it.”
“Lies!” He howls. “The ancient texts say a fertile wolf’s blood bonds to her true mate! You must love me–why else would your magic heal me?”
I tilt my head.
“That was just biology, Alex. Your cursed body craves what it can’t have: a womb that isn’t poisoned by your arrogance.”
His enraged snarl shakes the rafters, but I’m already turning.
Mathew stands beneath the portcullis.
The moment our eyes meet, his entire body relaxes.
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“Little wolf,” he rumbles, cupping my cheek.
His thumb brushes the mating mark.
“Did he bare his fangs?”
“Only his stupidity.” I lean into his palm. “But his bark is weaker than a pup’s first howl.”
“Do you think me weak for saving him?”
“Never.” His voice is rough, but he won’t meet my eyes. The fur along his spine bristles, a telltale sign of conflict. “But the way he looks at you like a starving direwolf at a fresh kill
”
I place a hand on his cheek, forcing his gaze to mine.
“You think I spared him out of love.”
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Mathew’s growl is low in his throat, not denial.
I laugh, plucking a flower.
“Death is too kind for a creature like Alex. Did you know his ancestors hunted my people for sport? Skinned us for our ‘magic‘ pelts? Burned our dens to the ground?”
The flower’s scent is sharp, like ice and regret.
Killing him would have been a mercy. A quick end to his howling. But this…”
I toss the bloom into the wind, watching it spiral toward the castle.
“This is a curse. Every day he’ll wake craving my blood, knowing he can never
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have it. Every moon he’ll feel his body rot, remembering it was my gift that keeps him alive.”
“You kept him alive to suffer.”
“To atone.”
“He’ll spend his days watching me thrive with you, knowing he could have had this. He’ll hear
pups howl and remember the ones he threw to the dogs. And when his body finally gives out, he’ll beg for my blood -only to die knowing it was his own greed that poisoned him.”
The castle bell tolls, a mournful sound that carries over the fields.
Alex’s howl follows, weak but furious, like a pup denied its mother’s milk.
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Mathew’s arm wraps around me, pulling me close.
Sadina stands near the carriage.
When our eyes meet, her gaze turns to liquid silver–hatred.
“Easy, little wolf,” Mathew rumbles, his arm tightening around my waist.
“Let the fools howl.”
We walk past the frozen fountain, where Alex’s blood has turned the water black.
I glance back at the castle tower, half–expecting to see him at the window.
આ સોસ છે કે
Instead, there’s only the flicker of torches behind stained glass, like the eyes of a rabid beast.
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Live, Alex.
Live and feel every ache my blood infuses into your veins.
My healing blood is a curse. With each drop, I bound him tighter to a fate worse than
death.
His organs will rot slower, his scars will throb harder, and every full moon, the urge to drink from me will drive him mad.
Sadina’s carriage rumbles to life behind us, but I hear her sharp intake of breath as she realizes the truth.
The pup in her womb–conceived with a lowly guard during Alex’s “cursed” infertility- will be born with none of the Alpha’s golden
eyes.
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And Alex, desperate for an heir, will cherish it like a godsend, never knowing he’s been cuckolded in both lives.
The End
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