Chosen By The Cursed Alpha King (Emilia) novel Chapter 54

The night reeked of copper and ash.

The blood moon bled across the sky like an open wound, its crimson light spilling through the narrow slits in the underground walls. It painted the stones in shades of murder and memory, and I tasted its call the way a drowning man tastes salt water-desperate, poisonous, inescapable.

The chains cut deeper tonight.

Black iron. Soraya’s strongest spells. Every link etched with magic that burned like frozen fire against my wrists and ankles. I had demanded this, demanded a cage I could not break, but the magic bit into my skin like the jaws of a starving wolf, hungry to taste bone. Blood slicked my palms. The scent was sharp and metallic, feeding the beast that paced inside me.

tilted my head back and glared at the ceiling where the moonlight seeped through. “Goddess,” I rasped, voice already fraying at the edges. “Do you hear me?”

Silence.

Always silence.

My throat tightened with a rage so raw it scalded. “I hate you,” 1 whispered, then louder-“I HATE YOU!” The words tore from my chest in a roar that bounced off the stone walls, rattling the chains until sparks of blue magic flared along the runes.

The air thickened with power, the familiar pressure of the curse descending. My muscles trembled as the first tremors of the shift ignited beneath my skin. Heat bloomed, searing, relentless. It started as a low burn in my bones and then erupted, a wildfire racing through veins that no longer felt human.The beast stirred

I clenched my jaw until my teeth ached, fighting the inevitable. “Not yet,” I snarled, though the command was meaningless. The beast never listened. It only hungered.

Pain lanced through my spine, sudden and merciless. My back arched, every vertebra grinding like shattered glass. A scream ripped free before I could swallow it. The sound scraped my throat raw, but it didn’t matter. The transformation never cared for dignity.

– The heat intensified, molten and merciless. My blood felt like it was boiling, every heartbeat a hammer blow against fragile flesh. Skin stretched. Bones cracked. Nails blackened and curved into claws. I bit down on the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood, trying to anchor myself to the pain before the madness took hold.

It didn’t work.

A second scream tore out of me, hoarse and jagged, echoing in the chamber like a curse. The sound wasn’t entirely human anymore. Too deep. Too wild. The beast was close.

I wrenched against the chains, instinct overriding thought. Magic flared where irop met skin, biting deep. Sparks seared my flesh. The scent of burned blood filled the air.

The moon burned hotter.

My body convulsed, seized, stretched beyond reason. Fur erupted along my arms in jagged patches. My jaw snapped forward with a sickening crack, teeth lengthening into fangs. My vision fractured-half red haze, half merciless silver light. The beast howled inside my skull, demanding release.

“No!” I bellowed, shaking so violently the chains rattled like a thousand screaming bells. “I will not-”

Another wave of pain hit, drowning my words. My knees buckled. The iron cuffs bit deeper, carving grooves into raw flesh. Blood slicked the floor, dark and gleaming beneath the moon’s crimson light. I could feel it pooling under me, warm and alive, and the scent sent the beast into a frenzy.

The magic along the chains flared blue-white, burning against my skin.

Magic surged like lightning, a current meant to contain me. It felt like being electrocuted from the inside out-every nerve screaming, every muscle convulsing. I jerked against the restraints, body thrashing uncontrollably.

The chamber filled with the sound of metal groaning under strain. The smell of ozone. The sharp crack of bones reshaping. My own ragged screams.

The Goddess remained silent.

Hatred boiled over, pure and blinding. “I HATE YOU!” I roared again, the words a raw wound. “I HATE YOU FOR THIS CURSE!” My voice fractured into a growl as the beast forced its way upward, my throat vibrating with a sound no human throat should make. “DO YOU HEAR ME? I HATE

The shift took me mid-sentence.

My spine bowed untill thought it would snap. Fur exploded across my chest and shoulders. Claws burst fully from my fingers, black and wickedly curved. My vision went red as the beast’s eyes opened inside my skull.

Half man. Half monster. Nothing human left.

I threw my head back and roared.

The sound shook dust from the ceiling. Magic chains flared brighter, sparks raining down like burning snow. The beast lunged within me, ramming against the walls of my mind, demanding blood.The iron cuffs trembled. Magic flickered.

Not enough.

I thrashed, muscles bulging with unnatural strength. The pain was exquisite, every movement tearing flesh, grinding bone. I wanted to stop-goddess, I wanted to stop-but the beast would not allow it. It demanded motion, demanded destruction.

Blood poured from my wrists where the cuffs bit deeper. My ankles burned as the shackles ground against bone. Every heartbeat.was a drumbeat of agony.

Still I pulled.

The chains groaned, protesting.

Magic sparked. I pulled harder.

My claws flexed. My jaw ached with the urge to tear, to feed. Every scent beyond the chamber sharpened the faint trace of guards above, the heartbeat of prey in the distant woods, the intoxicating whisper of Emilia’s bloo somewhere in the castle.

Kill.

The command pulsed through me, irresistible, electric.

staggered to the door, half man, half beast, my mind a battlefield of fractured thoughts. The iron-bound barrier that had once seemed unbreakable now looked fragile, laughable. I slammed my shoulder into it.

The door shuddered.

Again.

The iron groaned, hinges screaming.

Again.

The lock burst, shards of metal clattering across the floor. Cold night air rushed in, carrying the scent of life-blood, fear, flesh. My beast snarled in delight.

I stepped into the corridor, claws clicking against the stone. Every shadow smelled like prey. Every heartbeat was a drum calling me to the hunt.

Somewhere above, a guard shouted. Footsteps pounded.

Good.

Let them come.

The beast surged forward, claiming what remained of my mind. My thoughts dissolved into hunger, into a single, savage truth.

Tonight would be painted in blood.

I threw back my head and roared, the sound echoing through the castle like a death knell.

The hunt had begun.