Mira’s POV
“Didn’t your parents tell you?” Elder Eden’s voice carried a strange calmness, the kind that only made my heart beat faster.
I blinked at her, confused. “Tell me… what?”
She and Elder Alex exchanged a look. Even Alpha Sirius, who had been leaning casually against the window frame, straightened at her words. The air in the room seemed to tighten.
Elder Eden folded her hands on the table. “Mira, your father, Neil Delaine Moonriver, he was a good man. But he made choices that defied our pack’s laws. You said he died of a mysterious illness, yes?”
I nodded slowly. “That’s what my mother told me. He was only twenty-five.”
Elder Alex sighed deeply, his tone firm but not unkind. “He didn’t die of illness. He died because he broke the Moonriver curse.”
My brows furrowed. “Curse?”
Eden nodded. “A curse placed on our bloodline generations ago by the witches of the Northern Coven. A witch swore vengeance and bound our family to a scroll. Since then, every firstborn of the Moonriver Alpha’s line must marry whomever that ancient scroll decrees. If they refuse, the curse takes their life on their twenty-fifth’s birthday.”
I stared at them, unable to speak for a moment. “That’s impossible.”
Alex’s eyes were grave. “We’ve buried too many to call it a superstition.”
Eden continued, her tone quiet but steady. “Your grandfather’s brother died at twenty-five. So did your father’s cousin. And then, your father himself. He refused to honor the scroll and marry the heir of Thorndike Pack. Instead, he chose your mother.”
The room felt smaller, as if the walls were closing in. “So you’re saying he died because he married my mother?”
“Yes,” Eden said softly. “He broke the pact. And the curse never forgets.”
I swallowed hard. My mother’s face flashed in my mind, her soft smile, her tired eyes, the way she used to hum to me at night. All this time, I thought my father’s death was a tragedy of fate, not punishment.
Elder Alex’s gaze met mine. “You are his only child, Mira. The curse follows blood, not distance. Which means it rests upon you now.”
I froze. My breath caught in my throat. “Me?”
“You are the daughter of Neil Delaine Moonriver,” he said. “And as his first and only offspring, the curse demands your obedience to the scroll.”
I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. “You mean… if I don’t marry whoever that scroll dictates, I’ll die?”
Eden nodded once. “Yes. The moment you turn twenty-five.”
That afternoon, they came for me again—Alpha Sirius, Elder Alex, and Elder Eden. Their expressions were solemn, their footsteps echoing down the long corridor that led beneath the pack mansion. I followed them, unsure whether I was walking toward truth or doom.
The air grew colder as we descended. Torches flickered along the stone walls, casting long shadows. At the end of the tunnel stood a heavy steel door guarded by two sentries. Elder Alex pressed his palm to a carved emblem on the wall, and the door clicked open with a low hum.
Inside was a circular chamber illuminated by moonlight pouring from a narrow opening in the ceiling. In the center rested a stone pedestal, and on it lay a rolled parchment sealed with an old silver sigil.
“This is it,” Elder Eden said quietly. “The ancient scroll of the Moonriver line.”
I stepped closer. The air around it seemed to shimmer faintly, as if something unseen pulsed from within.
“Place your hand on it,” Elder Alex instructed. “The scroll responds to blood. It will reveal the pack your bond is tied to.”
I hesitated. “And if I don’t?”
He met my gaze. “Then you tempt the same fate your father did.”
For a moment, I stood there frozen. My mother’s voice echoed faintly in my head: He died of illness.
No—he died of a curse. A curse he chose by loving her.
My hand trembled as I reached out. The parchment was warm to the touch, almost alive. The moment my skin brushed its surface, silver light burst from the sigil, swirling around the chamber. The symbols began to rearrange, glowing brighter and brighter until a single name burned in the air before me.
THORNDIKE PACK.
I took a step back, heart pounding. “Thorndike,” I whispered. “The same pack my father was supposed to marry into.”
Elder Eden’s eyes closed briefly, as if she’d been expecting it. “It seems the curse hasn’t changed its mind.”
Elder Alex nodded grimly. “The witches bound our bloodline tightly. Since Neil Delaine defied his fate, the curse passed to you. The only way to survive beyond twenty-five is to fulfill what he did not, to marry into the Thorndike Pack.”
I felt a surge of panic. “But I don’t even know them. I don’t want to marry anyone. I just came here for justice, for my mother.”
Eden’s expression softened. “I understand, child. But vengeance is meaningless if you’re dead.”
Her words struck deep. I thought of my mother again, of how she lived her whole life in fear, alone, raising me with nothing but faith. If I died at twenty-five, everything she’d endured, everything I’d survived, would mean nothing.
“I want to live,” I said finally. My voice came out steady. “If marrying into Thorndike Pack is what it takes, then so be it. I’ll do it.”
Elder Alex nodded once, solemnly. “Then the curse will spare you. You’ve chosen life.”
Alpha Sirius, who had remained silent throughout most of it, finally spoke. “Very well,” he said. “I’ll contact the Alpha of Thorndike Pack myself. They’ll be informed of the scroll’s decree.”
