The Cursed King

Five

"Mr. Wolf? Where are you?"

I blinked into the dimness, my hands out in front of me like a classic horror movie victim. The glowing flora had managed to creep inside this house too, though they were thankfully much scarcer here than they were out on the streets.

Suddenly, a heavy weight tapped my shoulder. I practically jumped clean out of my skin, squeaking in terror.

"It's me," his voice rumbled, the deep vibration resonating right through the floorboards.

Seriously, I have never met anyone with a voice that powerful. Every time he spoke, it sounded less like a casual statement and more like an absolute royal command. It was the kind of voice that made a girl feel incredibly small, and dangerously weak in the knees.

"Oh, thank God," I gasped, clutching my chest as my heart rate slowly descended from the stratosphere. "Do you have any idea that you just gave me a near-fatal heart attack? I could have died right here on this rug!"

Mr. Wolf looked down at me, his massive ears twisting forward. His expression was a bizarre mix of deeply apologetic and entirely clueless.

Okay, wow. He's actually... kind of cute.

I instantly short-circuited. Wait. Did I really just classify a seven-foot-plus towering hybrid of an apex predator and a god as 'cute'? The man had claws that could strip a car engine, for heaven's sake! He was supposed to be monstrous, not adorable.

"I'll forgive you just this once, then," I said, crossing my arms and huffing to save face.

Mr. Wolf nodded with dead seriousness.

I stared at him. Is he for real?

I was totally being a cheeky brat, and he was taking it like a formal treaty negotiation.

"Let's search through there," he said, pointing a massive, clawed finger toward a pitch-black hallway that looked like it led straight to the underworld. I obediently glued myself to his hip as we stepped into the dark.

From what I was beginning to gather, Mr. Wolf was an anomaly. He carried the weight of literal millennia, yet there was a strange, untainted innocence to him, almost like a child who hadn't learned how to be cruel. Sure, he looked like a walking nightmare at first glance, but he clearly harbored an undeniable soft spot for things weaker than him. Case in point: me.

He could have snapped my spine the second I dropped into his realm, but he chose to let me breathe. It was right there in his eyes; he didn't possess the human urge to harm just for the sake of it. In a lot of ways, he was far more animal than man, innocent, straightforward, and safe. He wasn't a monster. Not like the human ones I locked up back in the city.

I stared at his broad, massive back with a newfound sense of respect. Though, as my eyes traced the lines of his shoulders, my thoughts took a wild, highly inappropriate detour.

Man, his back is entirely my type, I mused, my inner monologue completely betraying my morals. Look at those bulging muscles. The guy could probably crush a mountain range with his bare arms.

Then my eyes drifted to the top of his head, where two pointy, remarkably fluffy German-shepherd-style ears twitched at the ambient noise.

The image instantly sobered me up. Aelia, you are an absolute disgrace. The man literally spared your life, and here you are objectifying his supernatural physique like a total creep. Be thankful, not thirsty!

But honestly, who could blame me? The guy possessed a physique that would make a fitness influencer weep. I have hormones, okay? They're just reacting to the stimuli.

Determined to save my remaining sanity from a complete meltdown, I forced myself to start a normal, human conversation.

"So... what exactly used to be here?" I asked, my eyes darting awkwardly between his bicep and his left ear. One half of my brain was telling me it was fine to appreciate the view, while the other, more rational half kept screaming that he was a literal wolf.

"This was the capital of the Kingdom," he murmured, his pace slowing. "The home of the Mene pack. These flowers... they are named after this city. They are Mene flowers."

The sheer weight of his grief hit the air like a physical blow. His broad shoulders hunched forward, and his gaze dropped to the floor, completely lost in a painful memory.

I bit my lip, a wave of heavy guilt washing over me. Dammit, Aelia. You shouldn't have asked. It felt like I had swallowed a dry bowl of sand, it was stuck right in the middle of my throat, impossible to swallow and too heavy to spit out.

"No, it is okay," Mr. Wolf said gently, his ears twitching back toward me. "You can ask me anything."

"Do you... do you want to hear about Earth instead? Or humans?" I offered rapidly, desperately trying to pivot away from his trauma. I vowed right then to be incredibly careful with my questions moving forward. I didn't know what kind of horror story had left him stranded here alone for thousands of years, but it clearly wasn't something he deserved to relive.

"Humans?" he echoed, pausing at a grand threshold.

"Yeah. Humans. Aren't you even a little curious about what my world looks like?"

"Here," he said instead, looking over his broad shoulder.

"Here what?"

"I found some cleaning supplies," he rumbled, pulling a surprisingly majestic, intact broom out of a dusty alcove. "And we should be able to find some suitable textiles in Nicos and Garren's chambers."

Carrying a handful of ancient tools, he led me into a massive master bedroom. Calling it 'big' was a massive understatement; the place was magnificent, dripping with an old-world, royal aesthetic. I could only imagine how breathtaking it must have been before the dust took over. Intricate, hand-carved patterns wound across the high ceilings and stone walls, giving the space an aura of ancient luxury.

Even the furniture was colossal. The bed frame dead center in the room was easily thrice the size of a standard human king bed, and the nearby sofa looked like it could comfortably sleep a family of four. It made sense, though. If everyone else in his pack had been as massive as Mr. Wolf, the furniture had to accommodate the scale.

"Here," he said, handing me a bundle of dark, heavy fabric from a wardrobe.

My eyes nearly popped out of my head as I held it up. "Yeah... I seriously doubt this is going to fit me, Mr. Wolf." I held the tunic against my frame; I would literally drown in the fabric. It looked like a sail for a small boat.

Mr. Wolf awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, his ears pinning back. "Ah. Shall I look for a child's garments instead? Adallina's clothes should fit your stature well."

He disappeared back into the massive walk-in closet, rummaging through the shelves before emerging with four distinct dresses. He stepped close, holding one up against my shoulders to measure the length.

"These will work," he decided, handing them over before neatly returning the giant tunics to their shelves. On his way back, he grabbed a few more colorful bundles and piled them into my arms.

"Wait a second," I said, running my fingers over the smooth, flawless fabric. "How are these clothes in such perfect condition? They've been sitting in an abandoned closet for thousands of years, right? How do they look like they were dry-cleaned yesterday?"

"The textiles were traded directly from the moon realm," he explained simply. "They were woven using the magical threads of the night fairies. They cannot chafen, rot, or fade with time."

"Ah. Right. Magical fairy thread," I muttered, shaking my head. "Of course. Look, I'm sorry if it feels like I'm constantly interrogating you. This entire reality is just a lot to take in. I'm sorry for being a bit of an asshole about it."

Mr. Wolf merely offered a soft grunt and gestured for me to follow him. Before I could object, he scooped me up onto his back in a seamless piggyback ride, carrying me and our new supplies back up to the castle's high balcony.

Once we returned to the master suite on the balcony, Mr. Wolf didn't just drop the supplies and leave, he immediately grabbed the broom and offered to help clean. I certainly wasn't going to turn down the extra muscle; the room was massive and covered in centuries of grime.

"Tell me about them," he rumbled as he effortlessly swept away massive piles of dust with a single swipe.

"About who?" I asked, wiping down a stone ledge.

"The humans."

"Ah. Humans," I let out a dry, cynical chuckle. "Well, to be perfectly blunt, we're kind of the bad guys. My world operates a lot like a corrupt animal kingdom. The powerful prey on the weak, exploiting them in the worst ways imaginable just to get ahead."

Mr. Wolf paused his sweeping, his brow furrowing. "They sound terrible. The strongest among a pack should always protect the weakest. That is the first law."

His words caught me off guard, a genuine smile tugging at my lips. It was deeply ironic. In the eyes of anyone on Earth, this seven-foot-tall apex predator would be labeled an existential threat, a monster to be locked in a lab or hunted down. And yet, his morality was infinitely purer than most of the people I worked with.

"Yeah, a lot of them are pretty bad," I agreed softly. "But even in a rotten barrel of apples, you find a few good ones. There are people who dedicate their entire lives to helping strangers, people who will willingly sacrifice everything just to keep someone else safe."

"There is bound to be light wherever darkness lingers," he commented, his deep voice surprisingly philosophical. "That is simply the course of nature."

"You're not wrong," I smiled, tossing a damp rag into a bucket. "And the bad apples need to be kept in check, right? That's where my job comes in."

"Yes," he agreed.

"Do you want to hear some of the ridiculous stories from my precinct?" I asked, glancing over at him.

Mr. Wolf gave a firm, eager nod of his head.

For the next hour, I happily chattered away. I told him embarrassing stories from my awkward teenage years, detailed some of the weirdest, most baffling cases I had ever solved as a detective, and shared basically anything that popped into my head. Mr. Wolf was the ultimate listener, completely attentive, his ears tracking my every word, occasionally chiming in with a short, insightful comment.

With his supernatural speed and strength, the entire wing of the castle was sparkling clean in record time.

Once the dust was cleared, Mr. Wolf unrolled the remaining items he had carried from the city. He produced a series of thick wooden panels intricately engraved with swirling floral patterns. They looked like massive pieces of a puzzle. With a few swift, precise movements, he snapped the panels together, assembling a beautiful, elevated bed frame right before my eyes.

"No way!" I gasped, my eyes lighting up. "Is that for me?"

Mr. Wolf offered a small, proud nod.

"Oh my god, thank you so much, Mr. Wolf!" In a sudden burst of genuine appreciation, I threw my arms around his torso for a quick squeeze before rushing over to test out the new furniture.

The wood felt incredibly dense, as solid and unyielding as tempered steel, yet beautifully crafted. Mr. Wolf then handed me a massive bolt of woven silk to use as a sheet. As I unrolled the shimmering fabric across the wood, I realized it was impossibly long.

The sheer yardage allowed me to fold the silk over itself into ten thick, luxurious layers. I didn't even need a mattress; the folded silk created a cushion that felt softer than a literal cloud.

It almost felt like a crime to use something this exquisite as a makeshift mattress pad. If I brought a single yard of this fairylight silk back to Earth, it would easily sell for the price of solid gold. It was hands-down the finest material I had ever touched in my life.

"What is wrong?" Mr. Wolf asked, noticing my hesitant expression. "Do you not care for the fabric?"

"No! No, no, it's not that at all," I assured him quickly, smoothing my hands over the cool surface. "I love it. Honestly, I love it too much. It's so beautiful I almost feel guilty sleeping on it."

"Sleep well, human," he rumbled, stepping back into the shadows of the doorway.

That night, I slept like the absolute dead. The sheer exhaustion of the day, combined with the strange, tranquil aura that seemed to blanket the castle, knocked me out the exact second my body pressed into the silk layers.

But my peace didn't last.

In the dead of the night, my eyes snapped open as a sound tore through the quiet realm, a loud, agonizing, blood-chilling howl that echoed through the stone halls, dripping with a raw, ancient pain that made my soul ache.

~•~