The Cursed Alpha’s Mute Bride – Episode 35
“No.” Wren’s answer filled the council room before Hunter could shape rejection into ceremony. She pulled her hand from his chest, not because she feared the darkness beneath it, but because he was using tenderness to disguise a decision made for both of them. “You do not get to call abandonment protection.”
Hunter flinched as though she had struck him. “If the command takes control, I could kill you.” The words cost him, yet fear made them absolute. Wren knew that prison. Gertrude had spent years presenting the worst possible future as the only one, then demanding obedience in exchange for safety.
“And if you break the bond without understanding the curse, you could strengthen it,” she replied. “Or kill your wolf. Or leave the command inside you with no way for me to reach you.” Hunter turned toward the rain-streaked window. The full moon would rise beyond those clouds tomorrow night. “Those risks are mine.”
“The bond is ours.” Wren stepped beside him rather than blocking his path. “Your body and your choice belong to you. But you cannot sever something shared and pretend only you pay the price.” The distinction silenced him. Their power had defeated the core precisely because neither claimed ownership of the other.
A knock interrupted them. Elara entered carrying medical instruments and the surviving fragment of the Moonstone, recovered from the battlefield. One glance at Hunter’s marks erased her greeting. She examined the white lines without touching them. “This is not ordinary poison. It is a command looking for the moment his natural power is highest.”
Elara placed the Moonstone fragment near his chest. The gem darkened, then projected an image of Hunter’s wolf bound by a white collar. One chain ran toward Wren through the mate bond. Another ran backward through generations of Silver Alphas. “Breaking your bond might remove its path to Wren,” Elara said carefully. “It would also remove the one influence that has allowed you to resist it.”
Hunter’s jaw tightened. “Can the command be destroyed?” Elara looked at Wren. “Not by force. The core created it from fear of union. Every attempt to protect each other through separation confirms the rule it was built to enforce.” The answer sounded simple only to someone who had never feared becoming a weapon against the person they loved.
Wren asked what the Moonstone needed. Elara traced the dim edge of the fragment. “A freely chosen bond at full strength. No prophecy, rank, or survival bargain. The curse must meet something it cannot reinterpret as compulsion.” Hunter gave a humorless laugh. “So we prove our love while an ancient command tries to make me tear out her throat.”
“You prove your choices before that moment,” Elara said. “The ritual begins at moonrise. Until then, neither of you should be alone.” She left Clay outside the door and carried the fragment to prepare a containment circle. Hunter watched her go, frustration shadowing every line of his body.
Wren wanted to reassure him, but promises could become another way of refusing to see danger. “I am afraid,” she admitted. “Not of your wolf. I am afraid you will decide I am safer without you and disappear before I can choose.” Hunter closed his eyes. The truth reached the part of him argument could not.
He told her what the curse had shown him since the shard entered his body: Wren bleeding beneath his claws, the Silver Pack calling him monster, Aldric’s heir dying because Hunter had wanted one night of happiness. The visions returned whenever he considered staying. “It knows every fear I have,” he said.
Wren touched the scar on his palm only after he nodded permission. “It knew mine too. It showed me the child I thought I abandoned. A vision can expose a wound without predicting the future.” Their fingers joined, and the white lines retreated slightly from his wrist.
Clay entered with news from the prisoners. Gertrude had asked to speak with Wren alone, claiming she knew the words used to activate the Silver counterforce. Hunter refused immediately. Wren looked at him until he corrected himself. “I do not want you alone with her.” It was concern, not command.
“Then you and Clay will stand outside the cell.” Wren went below the castle, where Gertrude sat behind moon-iron bars with her wounded shoulder bound. The former ruler smiled when Wren approached. “He plans to reject you, doesn’t he? Powerful men always call it sacrifice when they decide a woman cannot survive the truth.”
Wren ignored the bait. “What activates the command?” Gertrude’s gaze dropped to the Moonstone glow beneath Wren’s collarbone. “Love. The council understood that Hunter’s beast would be strongest when he had something to lose. The closer he came to breaking his curse, the more violently the counterforce would defend the old order.”
“How do we stop it?” Gertrude leaned close to the bars. “You cannot. When the full moon reaches its height, he will choose between killing you and severing the bond. If he rejects you first, he may remain himself.” Her certainty was too polished. Wren heard the missing piece. “May?”
Gertrude’s smile thinned. “No ritual is perfect.” Wren turned away. Behind her, Gertrude called, “Ask him whether love is still love when keeping it puts your life at risk.” Wren paused but did not look back. “Ask yourself whether protection means anything when the person protected never consented.”
Hunter waited outside the cell, fury banked under control. Wren told him everything, including Gertrude’s uncertainty. He listened without interruption. Then alarm flashed through the bond. Above them, a bell rang from the eastern tower.
They reached the courtyard as guards dragged a wounded scout through the gate. He carried a white mask tied to his saddle and reported figures gathering at every road into Wolfhart territory. The gate had closed, but the army had not disappeared. It had entered living wolves already marked by the old council.
The scout lifted his head, and white light replaced his eyes. He tore free of the guards with impossible strength and pointed at Hunter. “Counterforce,” he said in the captain’s empty voice. “Reject the heir before moonrise—or every wolf who shelters her will be cleansed.”