Breed Me Cursed Alpha (Lyra and Ronan) novel Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Ronan

The lake stills behind me, ripples fading into glass.

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Cold clings to my skin, water running down my back and arms, grounding me just enough to keep my hands steady. Lyra stands at the edge of the clearing, a few careful steps away. She pretends to look anywhere but at me. I pretend not to notice how tightly her shoulders are drawn.

Cain notices everything.

I finally look at her. Really look at her.

Not as my mate. Not as the bond humming under my skin. Not as the problem the pack keeps trying to turn her into.

Just Lyra.

She stands a few steps away, hands clasped loosely in front of her like she’s bracing herself for the world to push back. Her hair catches the light in uneven strands, darker at the roots, lighter where the sun finds it. Her eyes are too honest for a place like this, too open, like she expects truth even after everything she’s survived.

There’s nothing fragile about her stance, even when she’s scared. She doesn’t shrink. She holds her ground without knowing she’s doing it. Her scent isn’t submission, no matter what her father trained her to believe. It’s quiet strength. Endurance. A will that learned to bend instead of break.

And it hits me then, sharp and terrifying.

She isn’t small.

She never was.

She just never stood where someone let her be seen.

And I have never wanted anything more than I want to keep her standing exactly where she is.

‘There she is, he says, thick with satisfaction. ‘Close. Warm. Ours!

“Quiet,” I mutter, reaching for the clothes I left on the rock. My fingers shake. I hate that. Cain enjoys it.

Lyra’s voice is soft. “Ronan?”

“I’m fine.” The lie tastes thin. I pull on my shirt, then stop, jaw tightening. Cain presses forward, crowding me from the inside like a hand on my throat.

‘You bare her mark to the world’, he says. ‘You let the pack think her as ours. And still you refuse to finish it.

“It is finished,” I snap. “The mark matters.”

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Chapter 27

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‘It is a promise’, Cain replies. ‘Not fulfillment. A promise you keep breaking!

I step closer to Lyra without meaning to, then force myself to stop. I put my body between her and the treeline, an old habit. Protection first. Explanation later.

Lyra studies my face. “You’re not fine.”

“I said I am.”

Cain laughs. It is not a sound so much as a pressure that curls through my chest.

‘You stand half-dressed in front of her,’ he says, ‘and still you deny what she is asking for.

“She is not asking,” I growl.

Lyra’s breath catches. “Ronan, what are you talking about?”

I swallow. Words feel dangerous right now. Every sentence costs me ground.

‘Claim her,’ Cain says. ‘End this.’

“No.”

‘You make us look weak.’

“We are not weak.”

‘Then why does she still walk unclaimed?’

Anger flashes hot. “Because claiming her means losing control.”

‘Control is a story you tell yourself’

“And stories keep people alive.”

Cain surges closer. My vision tightens at the edges. The forest seems to lean in, listening.

‘You know what follows, he says.

“We mate,” I answer. “We lose ourselves.”

Good.

“And she gets pregnant.”

Cain does not hesitate. He does not flinch. He leans in with pride.

‘Yes.’

The word hits like a blow to the gut.

flinch. Hy

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Chapter 27

“She would die,” I say, aloud this time.

Lyra freezes.

“What did you say?” Her voice is thin, careful.

I cannot look at her. I cannot soften it. Cain is too close.

“She would die giving birth,” I say. “That is how the curse finishes breaking.”

Cain swells, pleased.

‘She would carry our pups,’ he says. ‘Strong ones. Blackfang heirs’

My hands curl into fists. “She would not survive it.”

‘Everything costs something,’ Cain replies. ‘The pack paid. Now it is her turn.’

“No,” I snarl. “Never.”

Lyra steps forward. “Ronan, stop. You’re scaring me.”

Fear. Clean and sharp. It floods the bond.

Cain drinks it.

‘Mine,’ he says.

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The pressure slams into me. I stagger, breath tearing free. I throw an arm out, a silent warning to Lyra to stay back.

“Don’t,” I choke. “Please.”

She stops, eyes wide.

Cain takes advantage of the pause. He shoves, hard. The world tilts. My thoughts scatter. The sound of the lake dulls, as if I am sinking.

“No,” I growl, digging in. “Not now. Not here.”

‘You chose fead over strength, Cain roars. ‘Now feel what that costs.

I brace, dragging up every scrap of discipline I own. I have held him before. I know the weight of him, the angles of his force. I push back, teeth grinding, breath ragged.

For a heartbeat, I hold.

Then Cain changes the pressure. He does not push straight. He twists. He crowds my center, pressing into the space where instinct lives.

‘She wears our mark, he hisses. ‘She stands here aroused by mere scent of us. And you refuse. That is not

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Chapter 27

strength. That is fear.

“I am protecting her.”

‘You are hoarding her.’

I stumble. Lyra gasps.

“Ronan!”

I force my head up. “Stay where you

are.”

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Cain surges again. My vision fractures. The forest breaks into pieces, edges bright and wrong.

This is worse than before.

“You’re not supposed to be able to do this,” I gasp. “Not like this.”

‘You taught me,’ Cain says. ‘Every time you chose restraint over dominance. Every time you pulled back!

Memory slams into me. Blood on stone. Years lost behind my own eyes. The slow crawl back, inch by inch, until control returned.

My chest tightens painfully.

“Not again,” I whisper.

Cain’s presence expands, filling everything. My connection to my body thins. My hands feel distant, like they belong to someone else.

Lyra’s scent spikes. Fear. Confusion. Hurt.

That fear hits Cain like a signal.

‘She wants certainty,’ he says. ‘I will give it to her.’

“You will not touch her,” I snarl.

‘You cannot stop me.

Panic slices through me. Cold and absolute.

This has only happened once before. Once, when Cain pushed me so far back I could not even reach the

surface.

It took twenty years to return.

I feel that distance opening again now.

“No,” I breathe. “Lyra.”

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Chapter 27

She takes a step toward me. “Ronan, please.”

I reach for her through the bond, desperate. It slips.

Cain surges. Hard. Brutal.

My control fractures.

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I feel myself shoved backward, my presence thinning, my grip on the world loosening. The forest dims. Sound stretches. The lake’s hush becomes far away.

I will claim her, Cain snarls. I will end this weakness.

I try to scream. I try to move. My body does not answer the way it should.

I am losing.

And she is standing right in front of me.

AD

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