A Cure For The Cursed Alpha

CHAPTER THREE

ISABEL

I stood there frozen in shock, not knowing how to react as they all stared at me. Erica’s mouth and eyes were wide in horror. She sprang up from where she sat, dropping Alpha Leo’s head. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

I could feel her urge to rip me apart after hearing what Elder Lowell said. It was a blow to me too because how? How could the alpha’s life depend on taking me, a mere slave in his eyes, as his Luna?

Elder Lowell raised his hand slowly and pointed at me with a finger.

“She is the gifted one, the only one who has the power, the only one who can save you from the curse, my Alpha,” he said to Alpha Leo, whose face was also contorted with shock and horror.

“No way!” Erica growled at Elder Lowell, who trembled slightly. She was furious and didn’t care if she was speaking to an elder or not. She pointed at his face before speaking her next words.

“I think I know what’s happening here! Now tell us what this thing right here bribed you with!” She said, referring to me as a "thing." She turned back to Elder Lowell. “First, you refused to give her to Alpha Drew downstairs, and now you want to help her steal Leo away from me?”

I shook my head quickly, trying my best to show her that I was never a part of any of this, nor did I know what Elder Lowell was talking about. But before I knew it, she rushed toward me, grabbing another fistful of my hair—the part she enjoyed the most each time she assaulted me.

“Please, Erica...” I pleaded, but she didn’t listen as she dragged me into the room through the entrance where I had been listening. She was going to hurt and humiliate me once more tonight. Even though I had had enough and wanted to fight back, I couldn’t. I was weak, without a wolf, and she was also the Alpha’s bride-to-be.

Elder Lowell stood there as if pitying me, but he couldn’t respond to the accusations Erica threw at him, so he remained quiet for a while, his head bowed and his hands behind his back.

“Kneel!” she screamed, forcing me to my knees. I had no option but to comply, and a single tear ran down my cheek. I felt hurt, always taking the blame for everything when it came to Erica and Alpha Leo.

“You... so this was your plan all along? You’ve been planning to steal the alpha from me, and now you’re conniving with Elder Lowell to make it happen?” she growled in my face. I was done. I had promised not to say a word to defend myself against her accusations anymore.

Erica raised her hand to smack my face again, but as I braced myself for the hit, I was shocked when nothing happened. When I raised my head, I saw something unbelievable. Alpha Leo, though unstable and barely standing, had grabbed Erica’s hand from behind, stopping her from hitting me. There was silence as Erica turned to look at him in horror. This had never happened before—Alpha Leo had always watched her hurt me without saying a word. Although he had never hit me himself, he had hurt me with his words, which were even more painful than any physical blow.

“Erica, this is not the time,” Alpha Leo said to her. Before he could say another word, he began to slump again, and Elder Lowell rushed to take him back to bed before he lost his footing.

I had no idea what was happening or how I found myself in the middle of all this confusion, but what was worse was that I still couldn’t comprehend how I was supposed to help the alpha and prevent him from becoming feral.

“Luna, the alpha is right. Hitting her doesn’t change anything; it only puts the alpha at more risk. If anything happens to Isabel, the alpha will become feral, a beast in the wild, forever. This young woman holds the key to saving him, to breaking the curse,” Elder Lowell added.

“Come here, my child,” Elder Lowell said, signaling for me to join him where he stood near the alpha’s table. He slipped a knife from his robe and offered me his palm to place my hand.

This was the first time anyone had ever regarded me with a kind word, rather than treating me like a slave, ever since Alpha Leo’s father died. I was afraid, seeing him with that knife, thinking it could be a scheme to poison or kill me.

Elder Lowell smiled at me, seeing my hesitation in giving him my hand.

“Don’t be afraid, my child. Come, I would like to confirm that you indeed are a black-blooded wolf,” he said gently. I gulped and walked toward him, placing my hand in his. The moment the blade touched my skin, blood trickled down my palm, and just as I already knew, it was black.

I had lived with it all this time, never talking to anyone about it. I was always confused about why it was so, but I never thought it ran through my entire lineage. Standing there, Elder Lowell raised the blade to his face and smiled in relief as he turned to the Alpha.

“She is indeed a black-blooded wolf, my Alpha!” Elder Lowell said. I hung my head, trying to avoid Erica’s gaze, but I could still feel her eyes like arrows piercing through my skin. As for Alpha Leo, he always thought I was dirty, disgusting, and irritating, especially since I had no wolf at 20. He hated me my whole life—I had no idea what his expression would be now.

“You’ll have to make her your mate, your Luna. The prophecy states that, to break the curse, you must be bonded to someone of the blackblood lineage. The ancestors of the blackbloods were the ones who placed the curse years ago, on those who neglected them in the community.”

“They declared that they would be needed again in the future, and this is that future. Now you need a blackblood to survive,” Elder Lowell explained, revealing the truth behind the curse and how it could be broken.

“That is not happening! I’m supposed to marry the alpha in three days and become his Luna. I won’t allow you to come in here and shove this slave, Isabel, between us,” Erica said, my head still bowed in humiliation.

Before I realized it, Erica lunged forward. The chaos made me raise my head, and in a flash, she had snatched the knife from Elder Lowell. Suddenly, she plunged it into my gut, and my breath hitched. My eyes widened in horror and pain as she twisted the blade.

“Erica!” Alpha Leo screamed in horror.

“What have you done?!” Elder Lowell rushed forward, trying to pull the blade out. But all I could do was cough up blood—thick black blood—as I dropped to the floor, my heartbeat slowing, and darkness enveloping my vision.