Falling For The Demon Wolf-Chapter 36: The Curse

VIOLET

Darkness wasn’t empty.

It breathed.

It pulsed.

It whispered.

I wasn’t dreaming. Not really. It was deeper than that—older. Something between memory and prophecy, something not mine... and yet, buried inside me.

I stood in a field of white ash, the sky red like blood, the wind howling with screams that didn’t belong to this world.

In the distance, a lone figure stood—tall, broad-shouldered, wrapped in black smoke and flame.

Zain?

No... not him. Not really. He had his face, his body—but his eyes were glowing gold, ancient, and wrathful. He turned, and when he spoke, it was in a language I didn’t recognize. But somehow... I understood.

"You bound me once. You will do it again."

I took a step back. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

His voice echoed across the plain. "You remember."

Flashes hit me like lightning:

—My hands covered in blood.

—A silver blade, curved like a fang.

—A crown broken in two.

—Zain kneeling, chained, eyes full of rage and... love.

And a name whispered over and over in the wind: Kaerith.

"Who is that?" I cried. "What does it mean?"

But the world shattered like glass around me—and I fell through.

Fell back into the pain.

Fell back into the mark.

Back into my body—

—

ZAIN

I entered the packhouse through the back, silent as death.

I didn’t need to ask where she was. I felt her.

Every heartbeat.

Every breath.

Cian was waiting outside the door, arms crossed, tension etched deep into his face.

"She hasn’t stirred," he said. "But her mark’s still glowing."

I didn’t answer.

He stepped aside.

And I entered.

The room was dim, but her body was outlined in silver light spilling through the window. Her skin glistened with sweat, her brow furrowed. She was fighting something, even in her sleep.

Her scent hit me like a hammer—wild, warm, tinged with fear and something new. Something... burning.

I crossed the room and dropped to my knees beside her bed.

"I shouldn’t be here," I whispered, brushing a damp curl from her forehead. "But the moon’s rising and I can’t—stay—away."

The mark on her shoulder pulsed softly, as if it sensed me.

Her lips moved. A breath escaped.

"Zain..."

My heart slammed against my ribs.

I didn’t mean to touch her. Not really. But my fingers brushed her hand.

Her body arched.

The air split open with raw magic. Her eyes flew open—glowing with the same violent gold I’d seen in my vision. The same damn glow from the battlefield.

"Kaerith," she gasped, eyes locking with mine. "He said you were bound."

I froze.

My blood ran cold.

Because I knew that name.

A legend. A curse. A warning.

And it had just come from her lips.

Before I could speak, her body trembled and went still again—eyes fluttering shut, breath evening out.

The mark stopped pulsing.

But I couldn’t move.

What the hell are you, Violet?

And what the hell am I going to do with you?

ZAIN

I should leave.

I meant to.

But I couldn’t.

Being near her, is burning me to death yet it also calms me knowing she’s safe.

Instead, I peeled off the blood-streaked shirt I hadn’t even realized I was still wearing and slipped under the covers beside her, every nerve on edge. Not to touch. Not to claim. Just to be near her.

She was cold.

I hesitated—then pulled her gently into my arms, cradling her against my chest, careful not to wake whatever darkness stirred beneath her skin. Her cheek pressed against my heart, her fingers curled unconsciously at my side.

Allowing my body heat to warm her up.

It was the full moon and if she wasn’t here I would have been in the woods behind her house breathing in her scent like a lost puppy.

All this years, I had watched her grow, knowing fully well that one way or the other I was going to get her to be mine, but instead he came to me.

She choose me over her fathers stupid choice of a suitor.

The thought made me smile, she is here, here with me in my arms.

For a moment, I let myself breathe.

Her scent calming the raging war in me.

But only for a moment.

The bond hadn’t dulled. It had deepened—grown tighter, heavier, as if the moon above was pulling us closer with invisible strings.

She made a soft sound in her sleep. My jaw clenched. Even unconscious, she was in me.

And I didn’t know how to live without her anymore.

I ran a hand down her back. "I’ve got you," I murmured. "Whatever’s waking up in you... I’ll protect you. Even from yourself."

I didn’t know if I believed it.

But she needed to hear it.

And maybe—maybe—so did I.

—

I must’ve dozed off.

The fire in the hearth had dimmed, casting long shadows across the room, when—

She screamed.

I shot upright.

Violet thrashed in the bed, caught in something—no, drowning in it.

Her back arched violently, hands clawing at the sheets, her throat raw with a scream that didn’t sound human.

"Violet—!" I caught her wrists before she could hurt herself.

Her eyes were open—but they didn’t see me. They glowed like molten gold, wild and unseeing. Her mouth moved, but the words were garbled, ancient.

"Violet, wake up!"

She growled—a real, guttural growl—and shoved at me with terrifying strength. I slammed into the headboard.

She curled in on herself, trembling, muttering that name again. Kaerith. Kaerith. Kaerith.

I grabbed her shoulders, firm but not rough. "It’s me," I said low, slipping into Alpha command—not enough to force, just enough to anchor. "Violet. You’re safe. You’re with me."

Her chest heaved.

Her eyes snapped to mine.

And for one terrifying second—I wasn’t sure she recognized me.

"Zain?" she whispered.

"I’m here." I cupped her face, thumbs brushing her damp cheeks. "You’re alright. It was just a dream."

"No," she croaked, shaking her head. "It wasn’t. He was real. I saw his face. I saw—blood. Yours. Mine."

Her whole body shook as I wrapped my arms around her again.

She clung to me like I was the only solid thing left in a world gone mad.

And maybe... I was.

"I don’t know what’s happening to me," she whispered against my skin.

I pressed a kiss to her temple, fierce and full of things I couldn’t say yet. "Whatever it is, you won’t face it alone."

But in the pit of my stomach, something twisted.

Because I wasn’t sure if I was holding her...

Or something else entirely.

ZAIN

She was still trembling in my arms, but not from fear anymore.

Not entirely.

Her breath fanned across my neck—uneven, shallow. Her fingers clutched at my chest like she didn’t know whether to hold me closer or push me away. And her mark... it glowed faintly beneath her skin, pulsing in time with mine.

"Violet..." I whispered, voice hoarse.

Her name tasted like sin in my mouth.

And when she looked up at me—eyes wide, wild, still glossy with tears but burning with something deeper—I knew I was about to cross a line I could never uncross.

She was close. So damn close.

"I don’t know what’s happening to me," she whispered again, softer this time. "But when you are near me... it stops hurting."

My jaw clenched. "You have no idea what you’re doing to me."

She hesitated, like she was fighting an inward battle, then Her fingers curled against my bare chest. "I want you to show me."

That broke the last of my restraint.

I crushed my mouth to hers, swallowing her gasp as she arched into me like she’d been waiting for this, needing it, burning for it just as badly as I was. Her lips were soft but demanding, parting for me without hesitation.

There was no gentleness left. No hesitation. No thinking.

Only fire.

My hands slid under her shirt, finding bare skin and the heat that burned beneath it. She moaned into my mouth when I cupped the curve of her waist, her hips tilting instinctively toward mine. Every point of contact lit a fuse I didn’t know how to control.

She wasn’t just responding to me.

She was matching me—flame for flame.

"Tell me to stop," I growled, breaking the kiss just long enough to breathe.

"Don’t you dare," she whispered, voice shaking. "Don’t stop."

My wolf howled inside me.

I laid her back against the pillows, taking my time as I hovered over her, gaze locked with hers. Her hair was a mess, her cheeks flushed, her chest rising and falling in uneven rhythm—and I had never seen anything more perfect in my life.

"You’re mine," I breathed, pressing my forehead to hers. "Even if the whole damn world says we shouldn’t be."

"Then let it burn," she whispered, pulling me back down to her.

And I did.

I kissed her like I’d waited a thousand years. Touched her like I’d never get another chance. Every inch of her skin I discovered was a new kind of torment, every sound she made a reward I didn’t deserve. She responded to every movement, every wordless promise I pressed into her skin with lips and hands and body.

When I finally paused, both of us breathless, her pupils were blown wide, and her mark—our mark—glowed brighter than before.

But I hadn’t claimed her yet.

Not fully.

My lips hovered at the place where her neck met her shoulder. My fangs threatened to drop. My instincts screamed now.

But she was still trembling.

Not from pleasure.

From uncertainty.

I forced myself to stop, burying my face in her neck, letting the scent of her ground me.

"This," I whispered against her skin, "isn’t about the bond. It’s us. And I won’t take that from you. Not unless you know what it means I don’t want you to regret this,"

Her fingers tangled in my hair. "I want you. Even if I don’t understand all of it yet."

I kissed her again—slower this time. A promise.

One I intended to keep.

Even if it killed me.

"You have me Violet, always had, always will."