Breed Me Cursed Alpha (Lyra and Ronan) novel Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Ronan

5

I hear him before I feel him.

Cain does not knock.

He never has

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The moment the council chamber door slams behind me, the air in my chest turns sharp and metallic, like I’ve bitten down on a blade. My vision tightens. My pulse surges. And there he is, pacing the inside of my skull like a caged thing that has finally been given a reason to break its teeth.

They will die, Cain growls.

“Not now,” I mutter, pushing through the outer doors and into the open morning. “Stand down.”

They will kneels, he corrects. And then they will bleed.

He flips me off.

I snarl under my breath. “You’re a bastard.”

That earns me a low, pleased rumble. Cain enjoys being named. He enjoys being acknowledged. He enjoys it even more when I’m angry enough to let him close.

I don’t stop walking.

I don’t slow.

The fortress blurs at the edges as I cut across the courtyard, ignoring the startled looks, the half–solid pack members who sense the shift and step back instinctively. They know what it means when the Alpha King moves like this. They know better than to get in the way.

Cain pushes harder.

“They spoke of replacing us, he snarls. ‘Of using her. Of commanding us.’

“I heard,” I say through clenched teeth. “That doesn’t mean we slaughter them.”

It means we remind them,‘ he says. ‘What Blackfang does to those who forget!

My hands curl. Nails bite into my palms. I can feel my bones itching already, the familiar ache of a shift clawing its way up

my spine.

“No,” I growl. “We leave. We cool off.”

Cain laughs inside me. It is not a pleasant sound.

‘You are lying, he says. “You are afraid of what you want.’

I break into a run.

The forest greets me like an old accomplice. Trees rush past. Damp earth pounds under my feet. My lungs burn, but I don’t slow. I push harder, faster, letting the distance build between me and the fortress, between me and the council table, between me and the words that are still echoing in my head.

Chapter 25

Weak heart. Soft king. Sentiment.

Cain surges.

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Pain lances through my legs as the shift begins whether I want it or not. My stride stutters. My shoulders jerk. The world tilts as my balance changes, my body stretching, warping, breaking itself apart to rebuild.

“No.” I snarl. “Not yet”

Now, Cain roars.

Fur explodes across my skin. My spine arches violently. The sound that rips out of my throat is not human. It is a challenge. A warning.

I hit the ground on four legs, the impact jarring my bones, and the forest snaps into brutal clarity. Every scent sharpens. Every sound slices clean. The earth hums with life and blood and weakness.

Cain takes half my mind with him.

We run

The wolf’s body eats distance like it was made for it. Trees blur. Branches snap. Leaves tear. Cain pushes us back toward the territory without hesitation, without doubt.

We end this,’ he snarls. ‘Now.

“No.” I shout inside him. “We do not kill our own.”

“They stopped being ours the moment they threatened her!

The image flashes unbidden. Lyra’s face. Her hands trembling in my sleeves. Her trying to stand straight under a weight no one should have put on her shoulders.

Rage floods me so fast I almost lose my grip.

Cain seizes the opening.

The wolf veers sharply, claws digging into the ground as he pivots back toward the pack lands. The pull is violent, undeniable.

“Stop,” I command.

‘Make me

“Fine.

I do the only thing I can.

I drive us straight into a tree.

The impact is thunderous. Bark explodes. Pain detonates up my leg as I twist at the last second and smash my hind leg against the trunk with everything I have.

Bone cracks.

White–hot agony screams through me.

Cain howls in fury.

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Chapter 25

You idiot!

“Better than a murderer.” I spit

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We tumble, roll, crash into the undergrowth. I force control just long enough to lock the limb at the wrong angle, to keep. the weight on it, to slow us.

For a heartbeat, it works.

Cain snarls, staggering, the wolf limping as the damage drags at his stride. The forest spins. My vision tunnels.

You think pain stops me?‘ he snarls.

The bone knits.

I feel it. The sickening slide and pull as flesh and bone reweave themselves, as the curse and the gift of our blood undo my sabotage with brutal efficiency.

The leg holds.

Cain laughs again, triumphant.

Nice try, he says. “My turn.’

The wolf lunges forward. faster now, angrier. Every instinct in him screams for dominance, for blood, for the satisfaction of tearing down those who dared question us.

I claw back control inch by inch, my mind screaming against his.

“No.” I roar. “I will not be the king who kills his pack.”

Then you will be the king they kill, Cain snaps back.

We wrestle like that, consciousness grinding against instinct, control snapping and reforming in ugly bursts. The wolf surges forward. I drag him sideways. He snaps at shadows. I force him to veer away from the scent of the pack.

My head pounds. My chest burns. The world narrows to motion and argument and the sound of our own breathing tearing through the forest.

She will die if we do nothing,‘ Cain growls suddenly, quieter. “They will make it happen.‘

The words land deep.

My resolve falters.

Cain takes advantage instantly, driving us forward again, closer now, close enough that I can smell the faint echo of home on the wind.

“No.” I whisper. “I won’t lose her. Not like this.”

“Then let me protect her.

“You don’t protect,” I snap. “You destroy.”

“That is protection.”

I see it then.

The lake.

TIE

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Chapter 25

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It flashes through the trees, a dark, glassy expanse catching the morning light. The smell of it hits us like a wall, cold and sharp and wrong.

Cain recoils instinctively.

‘No.

I grin. wild and breathless.

“Oh yes.” I say “You hate this.”

The wolf digs his claws into the earth, skidding, trying to turn away, trying to bolt back toward the forest. His fear is sudden and raw, a spike of instinct that has nothing to do with pride or dominance.

Water, Cain snarls. You will not-

I force us forward.

The shoreline rushes up. Pebbles scatter under our paws. The air cools abruptly, heavy with moisture.

Cain fights me with everything he has now, throwing his weight sideways, trying to break my focus, trying to force a turn.

“Control freak.” I taunt, breathless with effort. “Stubborn bastard.”

He growls, low and furious, the sound vibrating through our chest.

The water is right there.

I don’t hesitate.

I fling us forward.

Cold slams into us like a fist. The shock is instant, brutal. The lake swallows the wolf’s momentum, dragging us down, soaking fur and muscle and instinct in a suffocating grip.

Cain screams.

Not out loud. Inside me. More like a yelp

Out! he roars. ‘Get out!”

The wolf thrashes, panicked now, the elegant killing machine reduced to flailing limbs and blind terror. Water fills our ears. Our breath stutters.

I laugh

It tears out of me, half–mad, half–relieved. “That’s it. Run away from the big bad lake.”

You are insufferable,‘ Cain snarls, retreating hard, fast, abandoning the shift with a speed I’ve never felt before.

The wolf collapses inward, slamming back into my chest like a door being kicked shut.

I break the surface in human form, gasping, water streaming off me as I stumble into the shallows. My legs give out and I drop to my knees, coughing, laughing, shaking.

The forest is quiet again.

Cain sulks

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Chapter 25

I can feel him curled tight and angry inside me, licking his pride like a wound.

“Still think killing everyone was the answer?” I ask between breaths

A low rumble answers me. Not agreement. Not apology. Just presence.

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We sit like that for a long moment, the lake lapping gently at my legs, the morning sun creeping higher through the trees.

The rage drains slowly, leaving behind exhaustion and the familiar, bone–deep ache of restraint.

They won’t stop, Cain mutters at last.

“I know,” I say.

And neither will 1.

I push myself to my feet, water dripping from my clothes, my muscles sore but my mind clearer.

We turn away from the lake together.

For now, the forest holds.

For now, the wolf is quiet.

1 strip off the soaked clothes and let them fall, knowing this isn’t over.

But the war is far from over.