Awakening The Silver Wolf

He didn't

Bella POV

Leon started to argue when I made that request but Doctor Julio dragged him out without giving him a chance to finish. I could hear Leon protesting from outside the cave entrance and honestly, that man needed to learn when to let things go.

When everyone was gone, I faced Asher who had his head leaning against my shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" I asked even though I already knew it was probably not the best question at that moment.

He chuckled. Low and tired.

"I feel like a tractor just ran over me." He replied.

I stopped myself from smiling.

That was the kind of answer you would get from me or Kiara but not Asher.

"You are picking up bad habits." I pointed out just to lighten the mood.

He didn't answer that but I felt him relax slightly against my shoulder.

We sat like that for a moment. The cave was quiet now without the sound of chains straining and that terrible growling.

Now, it was just the lanterns crackling and Asher's breathing slowly returning to normal.

I looked down at his wrists and realised that the silver chains were still there.

"These need to come off." I said but he shook his head.

"Leave them.I am not fully stable yet." He replied immediately.

"You are fine." I said, already looking for the lock mechanism.

"Bella…”

"You just apologized to me with your eyes when you came back to yourself." I said. "That is not someone who needs to stay chained." I pointed out.

Asher was quiet, unable to refute that.

He was afraid that he would relapse but with me around,I was not going to allow that. Neither was I going to allow my mate to remain chained.

My mate. Luna purred at that.

“ What if I…” Asher started but I hushed him, placing my finger on his lips. His eyes widened dramatically, like he wasn't expecting that move from me. I fought myself from chuckling at his reaction.

“ You have me now. I won't allow it.” I assured him.

“ Besides, the night is almost over. Without the blood moon,you don't need chains.” I reminded him.

He nodded then closed his eyes momentarily. He was probably mind linking Leon because the next moment, Leon appeared at the cave again.

“ You need something, Alpha?” He asked and I could see the caution written all over his face.

“The keys, Leon. That's what we need.” I replied instead.

Leon looked between Asher and I as if trying to read the mood.

“ Alpha…” he finally called, as if reminding Asher that he was asking him and not me.

“ Listen to her, Leon.” Asher answered, still leaning against me.

“ Yes, Alpha.” Leon answered with a smile before passing the keys to me.

Why did he seem happy to get Asher's go ahead?

I took the keys and chose not to overthink for that moment.

My mate was still chained,he needed my immediate concern not some assumptions plaguing my mind.

Asher winced when the silver lost contact with his skin, red raw marks left behind.

I sat back down beside him without thinking about it.

Leon had already retreated by now.

We sat there in silence until Asher broke it.

“ Don't you have something to ask me?” He baited and I took it, because that's what I had been waiting for.

“ I have a lot of questions but first tell me about the curse." I said.

Silence descended the space and I was suddenly convinced that Asher was not going to explain s**t to me.

"Asher." I called softly, trying not to let my frustration show.

"I just watched you half shifted and chained to a cave floor on blood moon night. I think we are past the point of protecting me from information." I pointed out and he exhaled slowly.

"My grandfather." He started, his voice still rough. "He was fated to a woman in our pack.

She was the pack sorcerer.

When they recognised each other as mates, she was certain that they were meant to be together. Everyone was because that's how fated bonds worked.”

I waited because I could hear there was more to it.

"He didn't choose her." Asher said. "He met my grandmother and rejected his fated mate to be with her instead." He said and I swear his jaws clenched at that revelation.

“ They say it was out of love, others say that it was because the sorcerer was of a lower social class than what my grandfather wanted for a Luna.” He continued.

"What happened to the sorcerer?" I asked.

"She was heartbroken of course but she didn't retaliate immediately. She waited until my grandfather and grandmother had children.

She waited until there was a bloodline to curse, then she acted."

I felt something cold settle in my chest.

"According to the curse, every Alpha male born of my grandfather's bloodline has until their thirtieth birthday to find and complete the mating bond with their fated mate. If they don't…" He stopped.

"They die." I finished quietly.

"Yes." Asher acknowledged.

"What about the blood moon? What's its connection with the curse?” I probed, partly out of curiosity and wanting to know what we were dealing with.

"Every blood moon accelerates it." He said. "The curse activates fully at twenty five. After twenty five, every blood moon that passes without the bond being completed makes it worse." He looked down at his hands.

“ Every blood moon, I have to be chained because I am a threat to my own people.” Asher confessed, chuckling bitterly.

“ Isn't it ironic? As the Alpha, I am supposed to protect my own people yet they have to be protected against me.”

Those words stabbed me hard in the chest.

“ Asher, it is not your fault. You are already being punished for a mistake you never did so why be hard on yourself?” I said in an attempt to console him.

“ It's not my fault but I can't change the fact that I was born from a cursed bloodline.” He lamented.

“ You've suffered alot.” I said, patting his back and hoping that will bring him some comfort.

“ Not really. The pack doctor found a way to help me suppress the pain every time the curse acts up.” Asher explained.

“ But the pills can only suppress it for some time, not cure it.” He added.

So the black veins I saw spreading further earlier are...

Wait a minute…

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Twenty nine." He said with a smile.

Those two words landed heavily between us.

Twenty nine? That meant he had less than a year?

"The sorcerer designed it to be cruel." He said, almost like he was reading my thoughts. "It was never just about dying. It was about the search. Every Alpha in my bloodline finds their fated mate but always surrounded by obstacles. Things that prevent the bond from being completed." His jaw tightened. "She wanted us to find the one person who could save us and lose them anyway. Like how she found out grandfather and he ended up rejecting her.

That was the real punishment.” He pointed out.

I thought about everything that happened between us.

From me trying to take my life to Asher finding me half dead in a river and me waking up and refusing the bond?

Everything seems to have been programmed to fulfill that bloody curse?

I have to admit, that sorcerer had been thorough.

"You knew all of this from the beginning?” I pointed out and he nodded.

"And you said nothing?” I pressed.

Asher nodded.

I turned to look at him properly.

"You sent me away,Asher.

You had Kiara drug me and put me in an apartment in a human town on blood moon night knowing what would happen to you without me here."

He met my eyes.

"Yes." He said simply.

I laughed. The sound came out small and disbelieving.

"You would rather die than tell me the truth." I pointed out, more like I accused him.

He had everything arranged for me but what about him? what would have happened if I didn't make it back? Did he stop to think about what I would feel if I learnt that my stubborness to leave harmed him?

of course he didn't.