The Villain Alpha's Cursed Mate

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Finnian huddled in on himself at a corner, his head resting on his knee, and his entire body quivered with fear. The relentless whispers encircled him like a storm, and each one gnawed at his sanity. His hands were pressed tightly against his ear, but it was futile – those cruel, insidious voices still slithered into his mind, threatening to take over.

’You are a monster...’

’Did you see the terror in their eyes... ?’

’They will kill you... !’

’They despise what you’ve become... !’

’Your sister will never forgive you... !’

’I can protect you...’

’Surrender to the curse...’

Each taunt, every venomous word, seeped mercilessly into his thoughts, and it dragged him deeper into despair.

Finnian whimpered and shrunk further into himself. The darkness around him was absolute, an impenetrable void where his sight failed him entirely. Every time he sank into this eerie, dream-like state, he would find himself trapped in this place. Now, terror gripped him, paralyzing his will to wake up, as fear of what he might see — or worse, what he might be doing – consumed him.

"Go away!" he cried out, his voice desperate as he pleaded with the disembodied voice to stop tormenting him. To his astonishment, the voices suddenly fell silent, leaving an eerie stillness in their wake. His entire body stiffened when he caught the sound of footsteps echoing in the distance, growing steadily louder.

Panic surged within him as he strained to see through the suffocating darkness, but it was futile. The shadows clung onto everything, hiding the source of his dread.

Then, out of the inky blackness, an unfamiliar man with a blindfold emerged.

Finnian’s eyes raked the towering figure before him, a shiver coursing down his spine as the man lowered himself to his level. Finnian’s wide blue eyes traced the outline of the stranger’s face, his gaze fixed briefly on the dark blindfold and the dark rune etched into the man’s skin. There was an eerie, ethereal glow that surrounded the two of them, making them visible to one another, and Finnian’s heart raced with fear.

Was this an angel of death?

"So you’re Finnian," Donovan’s voice pierced the silence, calm, yet unnervingly authoritative. He tilted his head slightly and gently reached for Finnian’s cheek, pulling it, and the poor lad’s breath caught in his throat. His gaze darted to the hand on his cheek, and it shifted back to stare at the pure curiosity on the stranger’s face.

No one has ever entered this place before.

"Are you..." Finnian’s voice faltered, his hand unconsciously tracing the outline of the dark rune etched into his neck. He could sense it –this man bore the same mark as him, the same darkness. "Are you like me?"

Finnian tensed as the man settled beside him in the shadows. Though he sensed no immediate threat, a lingering unease gnawed at him, keeping his defenses up. That was until the man decided to speak.

"We’re not so different," he murmured, a faint, knowing smile playing at the corner of his lips. "We share this dream. A rather bleak one, wouldn’t you agree? Tell me, aren’t you desperate to wake up from here, or have you grown accustomed to being ensnared in this void?"

Finnian shook his head, curling into himself as he hugged his knees tightly. "I’m scared of facing everyone. I don’t want to hurt anyone, not my sister, not my brother. I didn’t mean to hurt that guard either – but they all think I did. I don’t want to become a monster. My sister will hate me if I do." Tears pooled in his eyes, glistening as they threatened to spill over.

Donovan listened to his quiet sobs, and he felt the boy’s pain from merely observing the rate of his heartbeat. For a fleeting moment, Donovan saw a reflection of his own past in the boy before him. His hand instinctively raised, as if to offer a comforting pat on Finnian’s head, but then he hesitated, his fingers curling into a tight fist as he restrained himself, leaving the gesture unfinished.

"Would you like to hear a very short, sad story?" Donovan asked, his voice becoming unexpectedly soft. It made Finnian blink at him in confusion, and he started, "There was once a boy, not much younger than you, who committed a terrible crime. He killed a king, and the voices drove him to do it. He faced a brutal trial because he let the curse consume him in anger, perhaps fear as well. He had no one to defend him, to save him, and they punished him cruelly, determined to erase him from existence. He suffered simply for being alive. But do you know the difference between you and that boy?"

Donovan turned to Finnian, "he had no one to remind him that he wasn’t alone. With no one to guide him, he made many mistakes. But you, Finnian, have something he never did – a sister who is willing to shake hands with the devil for your sake, someone who is ready to stand by you, monster or not. The voices you hear are like poison. The more you listen to it, the harder it becomes to find your way back until they consume you entirely. The moral lesson of that story is to ignore the voices. Don’t become the boy who got lost in the whispers and doubts."

Donovan leaned back, his hands bracing the ground as he shifted his weight.

Finnian’s eyes searched Donovan’s face, his fears momentarily forgotten as he inched closer to Donovan. "What became of the boy?" he asked, his tone betraying a mix of concern and eagerness to find out how it ended.

A low chuckle escaped Donovan’s lips at his enthusiasm, "I’m not going to tell you that just yet," he replied, a hint of teasing in his voice. "First, you need to wake up and face what’s coming. I can sense the Alpha wolf within you. Hiding away in fear – is not what an Alpha does, and it’s certainly not what your wolf wants. Don’t you dream of leading your own pack, someday?"

"My brother is an Alpha," Finnian murmured, his lashes drooping at the thought of his brother, and Alpha Rhyne. "Alpha’s aren’t kind. I don’t want to become an Alpha," he admitted. "I’ve never told anyone about this, they all think I’m a regular shifter, and that’s what I want to be."

"Is that so?"

Finnian glanced at his companion, "you won’t tell anyone about it, right?"

"You’re taking quite a risk, confiding in a stranger you just met," came Donovan’s reply, and Finnian countered back, "I can say the same about you. Sharing your past with me isn’t something you should do with a child. I could snitch on you if I’m equally bribed."

The two of them remained silent and looked ahead into the distance with a thoughtful hum, almost mirroring each other’s expression. A small smile curved Finnian’s lips, and he turned to the stranger.

"Do you have a name?"

"Hm?" Donovan’s ears twitched at the unexpected question. "And why do you need that information?"

"I’m going to wake up soon," he said. "I won’t let the curse do to me what it did to you. Still, I want to meet you again, I know you exist somewhere, right?" He frowned suspiciously, and Donovan clicked his tongue, feeling instigated by a child.

"Focus on your trial and hope for your own survival, you little runt." he tsked.

Finnian rolled his eyes dramatically. He wouldn’t lie that he was anxious, but he no longer heard the voices, and maybe, just maybe, he could get through this without having to harm anyone. His sister won’t hate him like the curse proclaimed.

"Hey," Donovan uttered, gaining his attention. "I need you to remember something else, not all Alpha’s are like your brother. You have the chance to be a different kind of Alpha, so focus on being your own Alpha, not on your brother’s shortcomings. Your father was an Alpha himself, wasn’t he?" He then rose to his feet, waving his goodbyes as he walked off. "Perhaps, we might meet again, if you survive. For now, I must take my leave, and so should you."

"But what if I don’t survive?"

Donovan paused, a shadow of a smile crossing his face before he continued walking away. "I’ll make sure you do, maybe not for your sake entirely." And just like that, he disappeared into the darkness, leaving the boy alone with his thoughts.

When Finnian eventually awoke, his gaze settled on his sister, and Leonardo who were with him in his chamber. He sat up, noticing the look of relief in her face.

"Sister?" he murmured, his voice weak. ƒreewebɳovel.com

His eyes drifted to the nearby nightstand, where a syringe and an empty blood package lay ominously. Before he could ask questions, a firm knock on the door interrupted him.

"It’s time, Lord Finnian."