The words of the ancient silver-eyed man echoed in my head like a riddle that wouldn't let go. "The cursed prince is not only bound to this forest… but to you. The bearer. The one with healing hands and a forgotten bloodline."
Cursed prince…? My eyes drifted back to Kael the gray wolf just as the fog that blanketed the forest floor began to shimmer and vanish. And then I saw him.
Or—it.
No longer just a wolf. No longer just a beast.
The creature before me stood on two paws—his upper body muscular and chiseled like a statue come alive, with human arms, broad shoulders, silver-marked skin… but his lower body remained that of a wolf. Thick fur, clawed paws, a long tail twitching with tension. His eyes—those haunting golden eyes—watched me for any sudden movement, pain or fear evident behind them.
My heart raced, and I took an involuntary step back. Was this a dream? A trick of the forest?
He didn't speak. He didn't growl. He just watched me. Waiting.
I could run. I could scream. I could stab him with the glowing blade still clutched in my hand.
But I didn't.
I don't know why.
Fear, yes. But something else lingered—recognition maybe. Or pity. Or even confusion. Something told me I shouldn't run. Something told me he wouldn't hurt me.
And the way he looked at me—it wasn't the look of a predator.
It was something deeper.
Then he opened his mouth… and spoke my name.
"Sophie"
Kael's POV
"Sophie", i called her.
Her name tasted ancient on my tongue, like it had always existed in my mouth but had been forbidden until now.
The transformation hadn't finished. My body still felt torn in two—caught between the beast I had become and the man I used to be. My magic, my instincts, the ancient bond—it was all reacting to her. Because she was the key.
I watched her eyes. She was scared… but still here.
Still facing me.
I wanted to fall to my knees. To tell her everything. To beg her to forgive a past that wasn't hers—but was also entirely hers.
And then… the forest responded.
The trees shimmered. The air tightened. And we were no longer in the same place.
We were inside a memory.
Not mine.
Not hers.
Theirs.
Ancestral Flashback – Third Person
A voice like wind and thunder filled the air: "To understand the curse, you must walk through the blood that sealed it."
The scene unfolded:
Long ago, the (Ashen Pack) now Valecrest Pack—Kael's ancestors—sought help from a powerful coven of witches known for their gift of healing and prophecy. Sophie's ancestor, a seer and apothecary, warned them of danger in trying to harness ancient magic to heal cursed wolves. She told them there is always a consequence and there is always a give and take. The then Alpha King doesn't mind the consequence or whatever the witch want in return, he told her to perform the healing magic on his son Jeffery, after his son recovered, the witch told him is time to play his part. The Alpha King asked what she want in return and then she asked their gods, who want collaboration through marriage, then came, a prophecy that her daughter Elira should be betrothed to Jeffery in marriage. The alpha king refuse at first, because they believe in "mate bond" but since it was a prophecy and his son hasn't find his mate yet he accepted, they got married while they were still living in the witch coven and Jeffery was still healing. After some months Elira got pregnant and gave birth to a twins (girls). The alpha king asked them to move back to their wolves pack, but the witch coven refuses that their kin is forbidden to live outside their coven, so her daughter won't be to joining their pack.
In their desperation—and fear— that the witch coven has known some of their secret. the wolves slaughtered the entire coven under the full moon. They stole all the witch's sacred vials, scrolls, and healing herbs, burn down everything, but before the head of the coven took her last breath she lay a curse on Ashen Pack… " Only their sixth generation and her sixth descendant" will break the curse. One will be the Bearer and the other will be the Breaker. Then they saw a baby crying in a corner, but they couldn't kill the baby left behind. And since she still has a wolf blood in her, the alpha king could not bring himself to kill his granddaughter. Then he remembered they were twins, they search for the other baby, but couldn't find her. Thinking she has been killed with others. The alpha king ordered that the baby should be taken to the human orphanage. When he got to their pack he never told his son what he did, but the curse was already on his son Jeffery.
She (the baby) was taken to an orphanage. Raised by humans.
That baby was Sophie's great-great-great-grandmother.
She grew up feeling… different. She always knew how to heal. Her wishes sometimes became reality. But she kept it hidden.
Until tragedy struck again.
Her adopted parents were killed in a werewolf accident.
She screamed. Fell to her knees. And in her grief, unleashed the first true surge of her hidden power. Her silver hair glowed. Her palms pulsed. Her cries shook the ground.
The village watched in awe and fear.
And then—she vanished with the bodies of her parents. Disappeared from the human world. Vanished into myth.
She reappeared in a new town. Quietly began a life of healing and helping—apothecary by day, witch by divine legacy. But she used magic only for the good… and only when needed.
And now…
Her descendant—Sophie—walks the same path.
Kael's Interjection (POV)
The voice of the forest rang with truth I'd long feared.
Sophie… was always meant to come back.
She was the Bearer.
And I—Kael Valeblood—was the Breaker.
Our bloodlines were entwined by fate, hatred, pain… and now, redemption.
The curse my ancestors brought into this world wouldn't end until the child of the murdered witch's line and the cursed prince of the wolf line stood in the same forest—together.
Not enemies.
Not lovers.
Not yet.
But soul-bound.
Because we were the beginning… and the end.