Chapter Seventy Five - Everything - Maya's POV
The way he walks is slow, deliberate, as if each step is measured as he draws closer. His bare feet barely make a sound against the thick rugs, almost soundless yet somehow heavy with purpose. He stops where Evelyn had just been, lowering himself into the chair with an ease that betrays the depth of the moment. Then he looks up at me, grinning, and just like that, my defenses crumble to nothing.
'Key? What do you mean it's time for me to know?" I ask, my voice barely steady over the hammering of my heart.
What is the meaning of all this?
'The prophecy."
Two words. That's all it takes for a cold dread to coil into my stomach.
I turn to walk to the other chair on the other side of the small table, but he reaches up unexpectedly and grabs me by the waist. A startled gasp leaves my lips as he pulls me down onto his lap.
I stiffen as he wraps both arms around my waist, keeping me close to him. His nose presses into my back as he inhales deeply, inhaling my scent.
'The one bound by blood shall seek the one bound by fate. Through their union, the curse may be broken, or the darkness shall rise," he mutters.
I freeze. 'What?"
'You are the one bound by fate and I'm the one bound by blood," he continues, his voice steady. 'That is the prophecy that you are a part of and why I'm trying to protect you. Everyone is just waiting to see us fail."
'I don't understand," I whisper, my gaze falling on the fireplace.
He exhales, the sound heavy with something that almost feels like sorrow. 'A long time ago, a seer foretold of a union between two souls that would find a balance between light and darkness. We are called the bound. My family has been known as the cursed lineage for years and we are destined to break the curse or succumb to it. If I succumb, then the werewolves are gone. The darkness is growing stronger every single day, but I'm trying to fight it off for as long as I can. You should be allowed time to decide, yet I know we're running out of time."
His voice becomes pained toward the end and it's as if this is a struggle for him to even tell me. I feel awful, yet I stay frozen on his lap, watching the fireplace. I don't know what to say to that.
'You have to be willing," he finally whispers. 'Or else it doesn't work. Whoever cast the blasted thing didn't want us ever getting out of it unless the one bound by fate was willing."
A lump forms in my throat. My head feels light. I'm still not sure what to say, or if I even should. This is all too much.
'Say something, Maya."
'What am I supposed to say?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. I turn in my seat to face him, yet I'm still unsure. 'Sure, I've wanted to know what it was about and now that I know, I'm overwhelmed with fear."
'That's to be expected considering I just told you the weight of our world rests on you being willing to be with me," he says with a laugh. 'But it's still your choice."
Choice. It's a cruel word, because this doesn't feel like a choice at all. It feels like a burden I never asked for. One that I don't know if I can carry or how.
'There's more I need to explain," he says, his voice low, almost hesitant. 'You might hate me after this."
'What is it?"
His golden eyes lock onto mine for a moment, but then he looks away, staring at the floor as if the truth is too heavy to meet my gaze. His throat bobs with a hard swallow.
'This pack isn't the one I was born into." His voice is barely above a whisper. 'The ones hunting me—the ones who think killing me will end the curse—are my own family. At least as far as the wolves. The vampires have their own motives."
I feel like I've been punched in the chest. 'What?" The word escapes before I can think of anything else to say. 'But this is your pack."
'It is. But only because I built it." His fists tighten against my waist. 'The ones here were outcasts—wolves my father exiled or those who chose to leave with me when I ran."
I don't know what to say. I don't even know how to process this. 'Ran from what?"
Damian finally looks at me, his expression shadowed with something close to pain. 'My twin brother and I both carry the curse. But my father and brother believe it's not about mates and that it's about twins." His jaw tightens. 'There hasn't been a set of twin Alphas since the original curse was cast. That's how we know the time is near."
A chill runs down my spine. 'You're saying—"
'My own brother tried to kill me." The words are sharp, hollow. 'He thought if I died, it would free the family and all wolf shifters from the curse."
A heavy silence settles between us. I struggle to find words as my mind races to catch up with what he said. I thought my family was bad, but to hear his own brother tried to kill him is so much worse.
'But why?" My voice is barely above a whisper. 'How does killing you change anything? What is this curse really? I don't understand this at all. You even said I had to be willing to mate with you. How does that equate killing?"
His lips press into a thin line before he speaks. 'It started centuries ago with the first twin alphas named Lorcan and Sylas. They were inseparable, but the balance between them wasn't stable. One was light while the other was dark. And when the time came for one to take over the pack, they refused to fight for dominance. They wanted to rule together."
To me, this seems to be the most reasonable, as far as I know. 'Why was it a problem?"
Damian's expression darkens. 'Balance doesn't last forever, and both ruling doesn't always work."
His fingers tighten around his knees, his knuckles turning white. 'They say a powerful seer warned them that the two alphas ruling as one would bring ruin. That is not how things are done in our world. They swore they would prove fate wrong and were even going to take mates, so there would be two lunas for the pack."
He pauses, exhaling slowly. 'But someone in the pack feared what they might become. Some say it was a jealous beta, while others say it was a witch who was once in love with Sylas. Either way, a curse was cast, which bound our bloodline to an endless cycle of destruction. The seer's warning became our prophecy and twin alphas haven't been born until my brother and I."
I swallow hard as his words settle over me. 'And what happened to Lorcan and Sylas?"
Damian's jaw ticks. 'The darkness took hold of both of them. They turned on each other and no one knows exactly how it ended, only that one killed the other. And the curse became sealed."
A chill creeps down my spine. 'And your brother is alive?"
He nods. 'We are the first twin alphas since them. My father believes history is repeating itself and has taken it upon himself to figure out the true meaning of the prophecy. He believes one of us has to die to save us, but that the way to break it is no longer the way."
I feel sick. 'That's why your brother tried to kill you."
He laughs. 'He wasn't just trying. The idiot almost succeeded."
The room feels colder despite being nestled against him. I don't know what to say and don't know how to process it. Damian's own family is part of the problem and is hunting him down like a rabid animal, all because of a curse from centuries ago. They even changed the meaning to suit them.
And now that curse involves me.
'Why did your father interpret the curse like this?"
Damian shrugs. 'I don't know. If you look at the old documents, it's a mate. A willing mate. I guess once he saw he had the first alpha twins, something just snapped and made him think that it wasn't true."