The Alpha CEO'S Cursed Bride

the night she tu

the cursed could understand. Thunder cracked the sky in jagged screams, drowning out the rustle of

privileges. That

s pulsed with secrets, and on this night-under the fi

en hair tumbled down her bare shoulders, and her eyes-silver and unearthly-caught the lightning flash through the

e the last time someo

d only mea

as n

that his scent curled around her skin in phantom heat, and that her magic

a sanctuary-and what her guardians now called a cage. The stone doors had been sealed by spell and steel, bu

lse qu

breached the

at it could only be him-the man

-

e that towered over the city like a god above insects, Killian Drav

Alpha of the Blackveil bloodline

inally claim the witch

but Seraphina Vale had

not the guardians who kept her hidden, not even the

ian had seen

began w

the stone in silent threads, old and bitter, coiling around her ankles as if remembering the bl

stepped in

iron chains that held nothing-but once, long ago, had. The air reeked of salt

ver been h

tr

h the floor, sealed by seven locks. Of the altar carved from black bone

s never mentio

like

er, daughte

s. It spoke in knowing. As if it had always known she would come. That on the eve of her twenty-first birthday, when t

movement brus

tu

. Only

d the air trembled as if another p

er breath fogged

is

has seen

lt or the curse. She only knew her body no longer obe

a

od recoiled from-the one the prophecy warned would eith

, its flame pulled toward the sealed well at the center of the room-seven iron locks,

epped

use she

rned hotter with ea

t and heartbeat. As if something slumbe

raph

stag

oice didn't come

from beh

the corridor that led back to her chambers, sli

he air smel

. Ashes and so

ing...

eness her mind had not yet caught. Her magic slithered un

r spoken her n

had eve

-

ent inward like claws, Killian Draven stepped thr

d not

ider, rain falling harder, and the wolves that once guarded th

speak as h

n't ha

e rememb

f she

berate, final. Paintings watched him. The ghosts in the ra

was

was the

oon painted in blood and silver, cracked from time a

d where his s

by illusion and ancient design, was a st

n't he

she wa

he intended to tear down every ward, every rule,

had belonged to

belonged

ck-the deepest, the blackest. Beneath her palm, the metal steamed against her skin, resp

candle extinguish

consumed

didn't

chest. A knowing. A weight. The feeling of f

plit the

above g

ock c

n

ic

ird

touched by wind. Her knees buckled, one hand bracing against the al

is

whisper. A

n, she

t in t

ly was, suddenly-there. Behind her. Inside the vault that no man had

unwilling, but

et hi

ng in he

e seventh lock. All of it fell still

s not

enti

ps clung to his coat like jewels. His dark hair slicked back, though a single st

re not

ven c

ed. Depthle

ry war she ha

her ancest

nd the curse that had haunted her for twenty-one years now sto

lian

de her like a wound reopening, like a truth

n her ches

did

d serpent, identical, burning gold through the

at each othe

un

by c

by l

y pro

f magic that burn

of the

nder. The vault, once a sanctuary for witches fleeing the realm's fury,

ver her like command. N

ai

's breath

dn't

n't ne

n them said what words

his. Magic, once buried deep, bloomed like fire behind he

recog

seen him

lurred by moonlight and bone. His hands on her

cy did

r aunt had once whispered, drunk on hemlock and

emand, to deny, to defy fate

ame, was deep velvet

pened th

uestion

chin. "I didn

eventh lock-still glowing f

didn't

heavy and ancient, the kind of magic older than names, older than kings. It curled down her

she asked, voice steady th

ok one ste

ult tr

what's

efensively-blue flickers dancing along her f

ched once. N

estr

ly. "You're a weap

rtbeat

k

guardians had sworn to keep locked beneath ch

wasn't just a

t what she

urse bound h

her magic might

oward the locked well where Vale blood ha

didn't

her with a pred

l you for touching

Sharp. A blade glint

them

arp flashes. Every blink revealed a different truth-her silhouette tense, lips parted in

didn

e impossible bond they shared. The walls whispered in runes. The floor

racture spli

a's eyes

ll was

sealed beneath ever tasted air aga

y to her. "They lied to you," he said, voice low but cert

napped. "It's wh

. "It's why t

. "You don't know

ow en

er, crossing the threshold into the circle of salt the wardens

t didn'

ed under

ir ch

g through his brow, the way his lips parted slightly when he looked at her, as th

eamed of m

art st

that it

it in h

d, voice like crushed velvet. "Your

er voice

carved through her

you burn the

after was

gs and wards and years of lies, som

for

for

for

e riot in her chest. "If you know what I am, then you kno

dn't flinc

odded

ainst the vault's heartbea

again, slow

g beneath her skin. A witch bred in chains, taught obedience masked as s

ed chains to

ly nee

omantic?" she asked

roat, lingered where her pulse betraye

ered-nothing obvious, nothing she could point to-but she felt it in the weight of the stone, t

t want

me?" she asked o

calle

no such

ed last

fr

n them tightened like invisible thread wound around thei

rself by accident-barely more than a scratch-but in t

watching,"

way

sty was

d slowly.

as an equation no one else had

be used? Sacrificed? Claimed like proper

oved

d. Not th

confidence of a predator who knew the moment s

ed. "I could have broken into this

r w

hovered n

nse

ething inside her sh

t asking

asking f

king for

d told who to be every moment of her life-t

aid yes," sh

n't said

wai

th pat

certa

usal lodged between her ribs. Every memory of his touch th

eemed to tilt in quiet obedience when he entered a room

came to say,

face for a mo

hing," he replied. "I came

yes. "And what do

t to be contained. That the ones who claimed to pr

le

hitched-j

saw

e even they knew if you ever remembered who you were...

from what was forming in her chest. A s

ld her she

d her she wa

ver told her sh

now me," she sai

never faltere

when you try to bury it. Eve

like I bel

But the bond between us? It's not something I inve

oat tig

r wanted to believe him. Not

r veng

was made for more-then she hadn

been w

waiting

t be here," s

h for her to feel the heat

t I

between them

had come before theirs and ended too early. With the kind o

lute. Unf

tance. In need. She'd been taught control. Taught stillness. B

ter now. "What hap

asked, tilti

eyes on his mout

irst time, she saw something ripple

mo

this ends clean," he said.

dn't f

It kills. Slowly. Cruelly. But it doesn't get to choose this ti

ed, but he wa

ou, Seraphina. I've m

ned at his side

will su

told her magic was poison, that her body would unravel if it ever bonde

t was her

t inaudible. "You d

actly what

n sa

dn't

llian said. "You're the weapon

eath s

ed away by something older than their names. When

n't mov

s fingers t

d against her skin like

ng, surged into his palm like it had always

ld've be

she fel

po

have touched

t ask pe

" Her voice dropped.

ne sharpened, low and electric. "Yo

dn't r

stop. I don't leave. I stay-because walking away from you feels

ard. "You make everyt

becaus

of si

darker, "You were always

her fractured-a

it ag

n't he

lways going

she could taste it-the r

"Then why are you

gerous. "Because you ha

lse st

ond-" s

pted. "It's a sentence. Yo

ht. "You talk l

want

esn't ma

close enough that the air between

ry fucking dream. Not the way my body recognizes yours before my mind ca

pa

se, Seraphina. But

hroat-somewhere betwe

happens if we complet

" he sa

omach

control,

ready

led. "I destroy

that final inc

touc

ared a

No pretense

ousand unsaid truths pr

r me?" she ask

. "Every breath you ta

ed her. Should've driven her back into the

never mad

ow, she fel

at craving me mean

d

ng to something that

said. His voice dropped to a husk

ened h

d be more

flinch.

ough every fragile line she'd drawn aroun

as t

ss. Et

o kill men like

roy women like you," he r

t answered his voice befor

ined you,"

ightened.

come to me when I'm weakest. N

n closer. She

at I do," h

swal

me want

he'd been waiting for

you do to m

't kno

just a breath from hers.

ips did

he tension-was a promis

most g

mo

dangerous

u dare play ge

I feel?" she asked, b

ll

he wasn't supposed to want this. Him. The heat. The need. But it surged throu

ouch you again, I w

on

't w

etend you

itched. "Thi

it fee

smell him now-cedar and smoke and something wilder, something

u," she said again, like

move. "T

inked.

ll me, then do it now. No bar

re in

said. "I'

her u

like a blade sliding between armo

"You don't get to s

y n

I'll beli

ed. Not touch

cl

ieve me,"

trem

since I could bleed. That I've woken up choking on the taste of your n

, breathless thing that b

yours," sh

lready

not of pain, but of recognition. Her magic pulsed with

she didn'

d hate me,

d

en

tly like loving you. And I can

dn't k

n't ki

e between th

inches from hers. Not dema

ermis

surr

y everything

help

th brus

n

was all

se didn

w

n the vau

arged like a curse

eness hurt. Every cell in her body screamed to to

ve done," she said, her

y m

e to keep my secret. I've made

oo

oze. "

want a savior. I don't want someone clean. I want th

t her a

You're just buried under c

ell. "And you think

was the only fire in a frozen wo

le

eep. El

n't get to come into my priso

t prete

ace is m

haven't

on sliced

she co

e he w

she fled the way she'd been tau

, swallowing, "feel lik

dn't

d, "Then let's

t her voice betrayed h

ant

th caugh

o be strong just to survive. I want to

s too

st. Too

roke. "You'

rker now, deeper, hungrier. "

beat

, "What do you wan

esitate. "E

led. She didn't

re cu

are

omplete

di

pa

: "Or we liv

. Her heart pounded in her t

me?" she asked again

," he said. "And I

slowly onto the edge of the carved sto

dn't

d her gaz

ou to leave

at worke

you ha

ready

hy

can't stop

r bottom lip, stared at the blood on her p

mething tru

reached for her hand-and p

onster they wa

I told y

asn't a smile. "Then I'd