Chosen By The Cursed Alpha King (Emilia) novel Chapter 106

EMILIA’S POV

His throat worked as he swallowed hard. The air between us thickened, almost impossible to breathe through. My pulse wouldn’t slow down, and I could hear the faint sound of it rushing in my ears as Damiens Lips parted.

“Emilia…” he whispered again, voice breaking a little. “I don’t think we’re really mates.”

For second, thought I didn’t hear him right.

My breath hitched. “What?”

He didn’t look at me. His gaze fell to the blanket, jaw clenching like he was holding back something sharp.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” he said quietly. “But the day I saw you…

I felt something. It was strong, powerful-almost uncontrollable. My wolf was restless. He was clawing in my head, begging to be near you.

The pull was overwhelming, Emilia. I couldn’t think of anything else.”

He finally looked up. His eyes were full of so many emotions I couldn’t name them all-pain, regret, maybe even shame.

“I thought that meant you were my mate,” he continued. “That’s what it felt like. But the night Maximus marked you… something broke inside me. I felt pain-real, physical pain. And I felt betrayed. Not because of you, but because of what it did to me. It didn’t make sense.

He paused, his voice trembling slightly. “That night… no matter what happened, one of us should have died. I swear to you, Emilia, I wouldn’t Have been able to control myself. The urge to kill him-it would have been unstoppable, wild and raw. Even after days passed, it woldn’t fade. It would grow worse. But then…”

I felt cold all over, his words sinking into me like slow poison.

“I don’t know how to explain this,” he said again, shaking his head. “But something deep inside tells me… we’re not mates. Maybe it was just me. Maybe I wanted it so badly that I convinced myself it was true.

Maybe because I liked you from the very first moment I saw you, and that blinded me.”

He exhaled shakily. “Or maybe it was the fact that Maximus wanted you. That he was obsessed with you. I didn’t want to admit it then, but maybe I just wanted something he couldn’t have. For once, I wanted to win. So I fed that feeling-the illusion that we were destined.”

The room fell into a deep, heavy silence. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak.

I just stared at him.

His chest rose and fell unevenly, and when he whispered, “Please don’t hate me,” the words shattered something in me.

I didn’t know what to feel.

Relief? Anger? Sadness?

All I knew was that my heart hurt.

Maybe that was why I never felt the same kind of pull toward Damien that I did with Maximus. It wasn’t that Damien wasn’t kind or strong-he was. But with Maximus, it was something deeper. Something I couldn’t explain. Like my heart and his had always known each other, even before our bodies did.

But then again, Maximus was mated to Raina. None of this made sense.

I pressed a shaking hand to my mouth, trying to breathe through the mess of thoughts twisting in my head. Before I could stop myself, the question slipped out.

“Why do you hate yourselves so much?”

His eyes snapped to mine-sharp, startled. For a long moment, he didn’t say anything. Then his jaw tightened, his throat moving as he forced the words out.

“It wasn’t always like this,” he said finally. “When we were kids, I used to be protective of him. Maximus and I… we were inseparable.

Wherever I went, he followed. Wherever he went, I followed. We were brothers, Emilia. Real brothers. There was a time I would have done anything for him.”

He looked away, staring at the far wall like it held every memory he wished he could forget.

“But then things started to change,” he continued softly. “He wasn’t the same. It was like something inside him snapped one day. His anger came out of nowhere-sudden, violent. He’d break things, destroy everything in his path for the smallest reason. And every time it happened, I sawless of my brother and more of the beast inside him.”

My chest tightened.

“Our parents started treating him differently,” Damien said, voice flat now. “They hovered over him, worried about him, constantly trying to keep him calm. At first, I understood. I knew he was struggling with something he couldn’t control. But it didn’t make it hurt any less, Emilia. Every time he lashed out, every time they rushed to comfort him, I felt invisible.”

He laughed bitterly under his breath-a sharp, humorless sound.

“The last straw was when my father told me Maximus would be king.” His hands clenched in the sheets. “He knew how much I wanted that.

He knew I was the first son. He said Maximus was the chosen one-that the crown belonged to him. And do you know what he told me? That i should manage our human businesses instead. That I was better suited for the humans.

His voice cracked on the last word.

I didn’t move. Couldn’t.

“After that,” Damien went on quietly, “Maximus just… shut everyone out. Me, our parents, everyone. He built a wall around himself and stopped caring about anything or anyone. Whatever bond we had-it broke. Completely.”

“What about you, Emilia?” he asked quietly.

I blinked. “What do you mean?”

His eyes darkened. “You love him, don’t you?”

The question hit me like a punch to the chest.

I froze. My heart stumbled in my ribcage, and for a moment, I couldn’teven find my voice. The room suddenly felt too small, too bright, too quiet.

Damien didn’t look away. He just watched me with that steady, searching gaze, waiting for an answer I wasn’t ready to give.

My throat went dry. My lips parted, but no words came out.

Love him?

The thought echoed in my head over and over again, louder each time.

Did I love Maximus?

I thought about the way my body reacted whenever he was near-the way my pulse raced, the way the air seemed to change around him, the way his presence filled every empty space inside me. I thought about the pain in his eyes when he looked at me, the way his voice broke when he said my name, the way his touch felt like both fire and safety at once.

And knew the truth.

I had always known.

But saying it out loud felt like betraying everything-Damien, myself, maybe even fate.

My heart pounded so hard it hurt. I tried to look away, but Damien’s eyes held me still.

I could feel the words rising in my throat-the confession, the truth I’d been running from since the moment Maximus touched me.

But before I could speak…

Damien leaned forward slightly, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Emilia,” he said, “please don’t lie to me.”