Chosen By The Cursed Alpha King (Emilia) novel Chapter 31

But I did not move.

Let the Alphas fight. Let them bleed. Let them prove their worth beneath the moon. This was their battle, not mine. My role was to command, to calculate, to ensure that every single enemy who dared to cross me remembered my name with their last breath.

Another body hit the ground below, lifeless. I exhaled slowly, the night air cool against my face, and allowed my mind to settle into its familiar calm. My beast clawed, snarling for release, but I ignored him. There was no need to waste my strength on such insects.

The rogues were already finished. They just didn’t know it yet.

The sharp sound of hurried footsteps behind me cut through the night’s symphony. I didn’t turn. I didn’t need to. The scent alone told me who it was.

Lucien.

My Beta stopped a respectful distance behind me. His breathing was controlled, but I could hear the faint strain in it, the heaviness that betrayed what he carried. My jaw twitched. I despised hesitation.

“Speak,” I ordered, my voice a low command, cold and final as steel.

“The rogues are being taken care of,” Lucien said. His tone was even, though I caught the flicker of unease in his scent. “The Alphas fight well. They rogues don’t stand a chance. It will be over soon.”

I inclined my head slightly, my eyes never leaving the battlefield. That much I already knew. His hesitation told me this wasn’t why he had come.

“But…” he began, and stopped.

My fingers tightened against the stone railing. My beast snarled in my chest, reacting to my irritation. I despise when words are left unfinished, when men falter in front of me as though they fear what they must say. It wastes my time.

“What is it?” I asked, my voice dropping lower, colder, a promise of punishment if he dared hesitate again.

Lucien exhaled, the sound sharp and reluctant. “The girl,” he said finally. “I’ve searched everywhere. I can’t find her.”

The words slid into me like a blade.

I turned.

Slowly. Deliberately.

Lucien stood rigid, his shoulders squared, but I saw the flicker of unease in his eyes. He knew what it meant to bring me this kind of news. He knew the danger of speaking her name in this context.

Emilia.

The name rippled through my mind, sharp and electric. I let the silence stretch, thick and suffocating, savoring the tension in the air. My beast went still inside me, alert, waiting. Even he knew what those words meant.

My lips twitched in what might have resembled a smirk.

It had been so long since I’d felt anything close to amusement. So long since anyone had dared to spark it in me. But now… Emilia. Do you really think you can get away from me?

A low chuckle rumbled in my throat, dark and humorless. The sound made Lucien’s eyes go round in shock, though he wisely said nothing. He knew I did smile or laugh.

The rogues below screamed as another body hit the dirt. The palace behind me buzzed with panic. And I stood there, cold and calm, already knowing how this game would end.

She thought she could get away from me.

But what she didn’t know is that if there’s anything my beast likes to do; is to hunt.

And right now she has just become his prey.

I didn’t dare look back. I couldn’t. My entire body screamed against it, instinct clawing at me, telling me that if I ever turned my head, if I let my feet falter for even a heartbeat, I would never make it out alive.

The forest wasn’t just dark-it was alive. Every shadow felt like it breathed, every root seemed to grasp at my ankles. The storm above cracked the sky wide open, lightning flashing with violent brilliance, painting the world in split-second blinding white before plunging it back into suffocating black.

The thunder rolled after, deep and bone-rattling, like the growl of the Goddess herself.

And still, I ran.

My lungs burned, the air sharp and icy as it ripped through me. But none of it mattered. Not the ache in my throat, not the thorns clawing at my skin as branches whipped against me.

All that mattered was the voice inside my head, cold and certain.

If they catch you, Emilia, there will be no escape. Ever.

So I pushed harder. Faster.

The first cold drop of rain splashed against my cheek, sliding down like a tear that wasn’t mine. Then another, and another, until the sky opened up above me. Sheets of icy rain poured down, soaking me to the bone, plastering my hair to my face, blinding me.

But I welcomed it. Let it wash the palace from me. Let it strip me bare of the filth, the cage, the cruelty of that place.

Freedom was worth the storm.

Then I heard it.

A howl.

Low and long, the sound carried through the trees, vibrating in my chest.

My heart stuttered, then slammed into a faster rhythm.

I didn’t need to look back to know what was behind me.

Rogues.

The rain did nothing to mask the sound of them. Paws pounding against the earth. Snapping branches. Snarls and growls low in their throats, hungry and cruel.

The stench of them hit me next-feral, bitter, sharp like blood and rot.

I gagged, bile burning my throat, but I didn’t stop running. Couldn’t stop.

Lightning flashed again, and for a split second I saw the forest stretch endless ahead of me, but no safety. No shelter. Just trees and shadows and more shadows.

The first growl tore through the rain behind me, so close I felt it vibrate the back of my neck.

I nearly stumbled, panic clawing up my throat, but I forced my legs to move faster. My lungs screamed, fire in every breath, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but putting distance between me and the monsters on my heels.

Then something blurred past me.

A shadow. A shape. My heart seized.

The reek of rogue filled my nose, making my eyes sting. I didn’t have to see him to know one was right there, circling, playing with me like prey.

Goddess help me.

I jerked to the side, feet slipping in mud, but I kept going. The forest tilted, the trees spinning, but I forced my body forward. Another growl. This one right at my back. Hot breath brushed the damp fabric of my dress.

Then impact.

Pain exploded in my side as I was shoved hard into the ground. My shoulder cracked against a root, pain shooting white-hot through my arm. Mud splashed up, choking me. My palms scraped raw as I clawed for purchase.

I gasped, scrambling, shoving against the weight pressing me down.

But then it was gone.

I shoved myself upright, dizzy, spitting dirt. My hair clung to my face in thick, wet tangles, but I forced it back, blinking against the rain.

Three.

Three rogues circled me, their eyes glowing red in the darkness, their teeth bared in jagged snarls. Their fur was slick with rain, their muscles rippling beneath it, shadows within shadows. 1

The chill of the storm sank deeper into my bones, but it wasn’t just the cold. It was their eyes. That savage hunger. That promise of death.

They paced slowly, deliberate, their growls vibrating through the night. My breath came fast and shallow, every instinct screaming at me to drop, to cower, to give in.

But I wasn’t stupid. And I wasn’t weak.

My nails dug into the mud at my sides. I spat into the dirt, baring my teeth right back at them. “Come on, then,” I rasped, though my voice shook. “I’m not that easy.”

They snarled, circling tighter.

I moved too. Slowly, carefully. My mind raced, calculating. Every move mattered. One wrong step and it was over.

Then I saw it. A gap. A sliver of space between the largest one’s shoulder and the tree behind him.

My only chance.

I didn’t think. I didn’t breathe.

I moved.

I ducked low, so fast the rogues didn’t expect it. My body scraped against the mud, tearing my skin, but I shot forward through the gap before they could close it.

And then I ran.

The forest blurred again, the sound of my heartbeat drowning everything else.

Behind me, the snarls rose, furious. Claws raked the earth, paws pounded after me. They were faster. Stronger. They would catch me.

But I wasn’t going down without a fight.