The Cursed Alpha’s Mute Bride – Episode 09
The fleeing wolf struck the ground beneath Hunter’s weight and shifted back with a cry. Hunter pinned him with one knee, golden eyes blazing through the rain. The clearing fell silent except for the man’s ragged breath.
Moments earlier, Wren’s attackers had laughed at the thought of Alpha Silver finding her. Now they stared in horror at the cursed Alpha crouched between them and freedom. His power pressed over the forest, forcing their heads down.
“What were you planning to do to my mate?” Hunter asked. His quiet tone promised that he already knew the answer. None of the wolves spoke.
Wren stood beside Clay, wrapped again in Hunter’s coat. Her fear filled the air, sharp enough for every wolf to scent. Hunter breathed it in, and something savage moved across his face.
The man beneath him tried to shift. Hunter caught his arm and twisted until a sickening crack echoed between the trees. The wolf screamed, his transformation collapsing before it could begin.
“That is the hand you used to drag her down,” Hunter said. He rose and let the injured man curl into the mud. “Be grateful it is the only thing I break.”
The other attackers scattered. Silver warriors intercepted two, but the largest crashed through the brush toward Eclipse territory. Hunter overtook him before he managed three strides and drove him against a tree.
“Cowards,” Hunter spat. “You found courage when she had no pack and lost it the moment someone stood beside her.” The man dropped to his knees without being ordered.
Clay waited for Hunter’s command. Eclipse law no longer protected Wren, but executing neighboring wolves could still ignite a border war. Hunter looked toward her before deciding, giving the victim a place in the judgment no one else had offered.
Wren did not want their deaths. She wanted distance from their hands, from Nikolaus’s lies, and from a home that had never been one. She shook her head, then pointed toward the Eclipse border.
Hunter understood. “Carry the injured one back,” he ordered the attackers. “Tell Gertrude that if another Eclipse wolf hunts Wren, I will consider it an act of war. Tell Nikolaus his warning still stands.”
The men gathered their companion and fled beneath the Silver warriors’ watch. Their fear lingered after the trees swallowed them. Wren listened until their footsteps disappeared, unable to believe the danger had truly passed.
Hunter turned toward her. Fury vanished from his expression so quickly it seemed to drain into the earth at his feet. He approached slowly, stopping before the closeness could feel like another trap.
“Are you hurt?” he asked. His gaze moved over the marks on her throat, her scraped palms, and the mud darkening her dress. Wren shook her head automatically.
Hunter’s brows drew together. “Do not tell me what you think will make this easier. Tell me the truth.” The words were firm but free of accusation. Wren looked down, then lifted her raw palms where he could see them.
He accepted the correction without comment. Taking a clean cloth from Clay, Hunter wiped the gravel from her skin one careful stroke at a time. His touch made no claim and demanded no gratitude.
No one had ever protected Wren before. Her father had loved her, but death had taken him before Gertrude revealed the full reach of her cruelty. Since then, kindness had always carried a price hidden beneath it.
Hunter brushed a wet strand of hair from her cheek. “You do not have to be afraid anymore,” he said. The promise was too large for one night, yet the mate bond warmed with the truth of his intention.
For a moment, the forest disappeared. There was only his hand beside her face, the scent of pine and rain, and the pull between them urging two wounded strangers closer. Deep behind Wren’s curse, her sleeping wolf pressed against the darkness.
Hunter felt her answer through the bond. His own beast, still furious from the fight, quieted beneath it. Hope entered the place where rage had lived so long, unfamiliar enough to hurt.
