When the Healer Became His Curse

CHAPTER 2

Nyx’s POV

Everything stopped as Kieran's smile vanished and every head around us turned toward the village center. Another scream followed, then another, each one worse than the last, mixing with sounds I had never heard in our peaceful valley like roars, snarls, and the c***k of breaking wood.

"What's happening?" Kieran asked, but I was already running.

My legs carried me toward the screams before my mind caught up. Behind me, Mara called my name and other students started shouting, but all I could think about was my family.

I ran faster, my heart pounding so hard it hurt as the screams grew louder with every step and smoke rose above the houses, black and thick.

I rounded the corner and my legs gave out beneath me.

The valley was burning.

Orange flames ate through the houses I grew up in while black smoke choked the air and turned everything red. Bodies lay in the dirt like broken dolls. The air tasted like ash and blood, thick enough to make me gag.

This couldn't be real. This had to be a nightmare.

But the heat on my face was real, the smoke burning my lungs was real, and the bodies were real.

"No." My voice came out as a whisper. I tried again, louder. "No, no, no."

I stumbled forward on shaking legs as warriors in red and black armor moved through the chaos like shadows. Their wolves prowled between the flames, huge and terrifying, bigger than any wolf from our pack. One of them dragged old man Chen from his house and threw him down like he weighed nothing.

Who were these people? Why were they doing this?

A woman's cry pulled my eyes to the town square and my heart stopped.

My mother knelt in the dirt with her hands tied behind her back, blood running down her face from a cut above her eye. Around her, the rest of my pack huddled together while children sobbed into their mothers' skirts and elders tried to comfort them with shaking hands. Warriors with tied hands were forced to their knees by armed guards.

I saw Finn looking so small kneeling there, his whole body shaking until a guard shoved him down next to Mother and he fell hard. Isla clung to Mother's dress with both hands, tears on her face, but she didn't make a sound.

My father stood in the center of it all.

Alpha Marcus Silverlake stood with his chin up even though a blade pressed against his throat and blood already ran down his neck from where the edge cut his skin. He met my eyes across the distance, and I could feel what he was saying, a warning not to do anything stupid and a final goodbye.

I shook my head. No. Not goodbye.

The man holding that blade made my breath catch.

He was huge, taller than my father, with dark hair and power that rolled off him in waves so thick I could feel it from here. An Alpha. Not just any Alpha. Someone important and dangerous.

"Where is the Black Rogue Alpha?" His voice cut through the screams and crackling fire like a blade.

"I don't know." My father's voice stayed steady even with that blade at his throat. "The Lake Pack has been isolated for three generations. We have no contact with rogues."

"Liar."

The Alpha grabbed my father's shoulder and forced him to turn, pointing at something behind the burning temple. My father's face went white.

"Explain that."

"I can't. We're healers. We don't deal in dark magic. Someone else must have put it there."

"Then why is the Black Rogue symbol carved into your altar? Why does it glow with curse magic? Why did my scouts find rogue scent markers all through your territory?"

"We didn't put them there." My father's voice cracked. "Please. We're innocent. We're just healers."

"Innocent?" The Alpha laughed without humor. "My father is dead. Forty-three of my warriors are dead. My mate was taken and tortured for a year. All because of the Black Rogues. And now I find their symbol in your sacred temple, carved with fresh blood."

He pressed the blade harder and more blood came.

"I will ask you one more time. Where is the Black Rogue Alpha hiding?"

"I don't know!" My father's voice rose. "I swear on the Moon Goddess, I don't know!"

I couldn't watch anymore. My feet moved before my brain caught up, carrying me forward without permission.

"Stop!" I ran toward them. "Stop, please!"

Guards moved to stop me but I dodged them and threw myself between the Alpha and my father.

"We're healers. That's all we are. Please, you have to believe us. We've been isolated for generations. We can't have anything to do with whoever hurt you."

The Alpha stared down at me.

Our eyes met and everything changed.

Heat started in my chest and spread like fire as my wolf pushed forward, pressing against my skin and speaking with complete certainty.

Mate.

I felt him in a way I had never felt another person, not just seeing him but feeling him. His rage burned in my throat. His grief sat heavy in my chest. His pain wrapped around my ribs and squeezed until I couldn't breathe.

This was my mate. The Moon Goddess had chosen him for me.

The Alpha's face went white, then red, and his eyes turned black as his wolf surged forward.

"No. This is their trick."

"What?" I couldn't breathe as my wolf howled inside me, desperate to get closer. "I don't understand."

"The Black Rogues sent a false mate bond." He grabbed my arm hard enough to bruise. "They think this will weaken me."

"It's not false!" The words burst out as my arm burned where he touched me. "I felt it. You felt it too. The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes."

"The Moon Goddess can be fooled by dark magic." He shoved me aside like I weighed nothing. "I won't fall for the same trap twice."

He turned back to my father and terror shot through me, cold and sharp.

"No, wait!" I lunged forward but two guards caught me and dragged me back as I fought and screamed. "Please! He doesn't know anything! You're making a mistake!"

The Alpha raised his blade high.

"Then you'll die not knowing."

"No!" The scream tore from my throat.