Breed Me Cursed Alpha (Lyra and Ronan) novel Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Lyra

I bring the tray myself.

VPN

50

55 vouchers

No guards. No ceremony. Just bread still warm at the center, soup that smells like something meant to heal instead of interrogate, a cup of water I carried too carefully because my hands would not stop shaking.

Kyle is awake when I enter.

He looks smaller in the infirmary bed than he ever did at home. The anger that used to sit on him like armor is gone, stripped away by bruises and exhaustion. For a moment, he looks like a boy who lost a fight he never learned how to win.

“Hey,” I say softly.

His eyes lift. They widen.

“Ly,” he breathes. Like it hurts. Like it matters.

Something in my chest loosens.

I close the door behind me and set the tray down. “You should eat. The healers said you can manage solids if you take it slow.”

He nods, watches me like he is afraid I will disappear if he blinks. “You didn’t have to come.”

“I wanted to,” I say. And I mean it.

I pull a chair close and sit. The silence between us feels different here. Not sharp like home. Not heavy with expectation. Just quiet, waiting to see what we will do with it.

Kyle lifts the spoon with a trembling hand. It rattles against the bowl.

I reach out without thinking. Steady his wrist. Guide the spoon. It feels natural, like muscle memory my body never forgot even when my heart tried to.

“Sorry,” he mutters.

“You don’t need to be,” I say. “You’re hurt.”

He eats slowly. A few bites. Then he stops, face tightening.

I take the cloth from the basin and dip it in warm water. “May I?”

He hesitates, then nods.

in warm

I clean his face first. Carefully. Gently. Blood lifts away in thin red smears. The skin beneath is yellowed and swollen, marked by hands that were not careful. When I move to his arm, he flinches.

20:19 Thu, Feb 12 d.

Chapter 36

…

“I won’t hurt you,” I promise.

“I know,” he says quickly. Too quickly.

I pause, look at him. His gaze drops.

VPN 50

55 vouchers

“I’m glad you’re here,” he adds. “I always wondered what you’d be like if… if things had been different.”

My throat tightens. “I wondered too.”

For a moment, I let myself imagine it. A brother who did not look at me like I was an obligation. A brother who did not measure my worth by obedience. A brother who would have stood beside me instead of above

“I thought you hated me,” I admit.

He exhales. “I did. I think I was taught to.”

The words sit heavy, but they make sense. Everything about home makes more sense when you see it from the outside.

I finish cleaning his arm and set the cloth aside. My hands are steady now.

“I’m here,” I tell him. “You don’t have to be alone.”

He looks at me like I just handed him something precious.

That is when it happens.

A pressure blooms behind my eyes. Not pain. Awareness. Like a door opening somewhere deep inside my chest.

‘Lyra.

I jolt so hard the chair scrapes loudly against the stone.

“What?” I gasp, heart racing. I look around the room, expecting to see someone else. A healer. A guard. Anyone.

Kyle stares at me, alarmed. “What’s wrong?”

I shake my head. “Nothing. I just… thought I heard-”

‘You did.’

The voice is not outside me.

It is not even loud.

It is warm and firm and unmistakably mine.

20:19 Thu, Feb 12 d..

Chapter 36

I grab the edge of the bed to steady myself. My pulse pounds in my ears. “Who are you?”

‘I am Catalina,’ the voice says. Calm. Certain. ‘And you are finally listening.’

My skin prickles from scalp to spine. “I’m losing my mind.”

‘No,’ Catalina replies gently. ‘You are waking up.’

VPN

65 vouchers

Kyle is still talking, asking my name, asking if I am alright, but his words feel distant, like they are traveling through water.

‘You should not trust him,’ Catalina says.

My stomach drops. “What?”

‘The one in the bed,’ she clarifies. ‘He smells wrong!

I swallow hard. “He’s hurt.”

‘So is a snake with a broken fang,’ Catalina answers. ‘Pain does not make someone safe.’

I look at Kyle. Really look.

His eyes are on me. Watching. The softness is there, yes. But beneath it, something tight and coiled.

“You don’t like him,” I whisper.

‘I smell deceit,’ Catalina says. ‘Layered and careful.’

My heart starts to race for a different reason. “Ronan trusts him that should be enough.”

‘Ronan trusts his head,’ she replies. ‘You trust your heart.”‘

I feel suddenly exposed. “He’s my brother.”

‘Blood is not truth, Catalina says. ‘Bond is

The words land gently.

Then she presses.

“That boy in the bed, she continues, voice steady, unwavering… is the same one who made you kneel on stone floors until your legs went numb. The same one who laughed while you scrubbed his bathroom clean of his own filth. The same one who reminded you, every time you cried, that your mother died birthing you

My chest tightens.

“No,” I whisper. “He was a child too. He was taught-”

‘He was old enough,’ Catalina cuts in. ‘Old enough to know pain when he caused it.’

20:19 Thu, Feb 12 d.

Chapter 36

Kyle shifts, grimacing. “Lyra? You’re scaring me.”

I force a smile onto my face. “I’m fine. Just tired.”

I stand, needing space, needing air. The room feels smaller now. Charged.

‘Be careful,’ Catalina warns. ‘Kindness is your strength. It is also your blind spot!’

I pick up the tray. “I’ll come back later,” I tell Kyle. “You should rest.”

He reaches out, fingers brushing my wrist. The touch is light. Almost desperate.

“Don’t go,” he says. “Please.”

My wolf stirs. Not angry. Alert.

“I won’t be far,” I promise.

I step away. His hand drops.

As I open the door, Catalina speaks again, quieter this time.

‘If he asks you for anything,’ she says, ‘do not give it.’

I pause in the doorway, heart thudding.

“Why?” I whisper.

Her answer is immediate.

‘Because he did not come here to be saved.’

The door closes behind me with a soft, final sound.

And for the first time since Kyle arrived, fear settles in my bones.

VPM

50

55 vouchers

20:19 Thu, Feb 12 d