The Cursed Mate

Aiden heard the tumbling sound from outside his room, and his eyes immediately flew open in fear. He attempted to call out who was outside his room, but after hearing voices, he refrained. He moved closer to his bedroom door and listened in on the conversation that was going on behind the door.

“Move out of my way, Nadine,” a deep voice growled, and Aiden recognized the name as his mother's name.

“Stay away from my boy, you bastard!” his mother hissed back furiously.

Aiden immediately sensed that something was wrong and that he could be in danger.

“Your son is an abomination, Nadine; he should have been killed the very day he was born. Move out of my way and stop protecting him!” the voice snapped back harshly, and Aiden could not believe his ears, nor could he fathom what was going on.

'Abomination?' he asked himself.

His ears pressed further into the wooden frame of the door.

“I'm begging you with everything you hold dear to you, Bruce, don't do this. For our friendship, don't hurt my son. He's just a child. He can't hurt anyone,” Nadine pleaded desperately.

“If you really cared about our friendship, you would've dealt with him yourself. You know how dangerous he's going to turn out to be, and yet, Nadine, you chose to protect him instead of protecting the people—your people! That thing you call a boy now will become a man someday, and he'll be the end of all of us. So, you should let him be killed now, so you can forget about him,” Bruce replied, and Aiden was quick to place his hand over his mouth to avoid gasping too loudly.

“Over my dead body, will you take my child, Bruce? You'd have to slay me first!” Nadine yelled furiously, ready to defend and protect her child until her last breath.

“For the last time, Nadine, move out of the way!” Bruce's voice growled in a much scarier tone that made Aiden's heart almost skip a beat.

“It may seem as though you're forgetting your place, Bruce. I am Nadine, Alpha of the Silver Moon pack, and I'm ordering you to get out of this room if you don't wish to see the other side of me,” Nadine snapped, and Bruce scoffed.

“And it seems you've also forgotten that ever since you gave birth to your cursed child, you've become nothing but a measly human. Have you no shame? Calling yourself an Alpha when you can't even save the pack by doing away with that thing you call a son? Listen to me, Nadine; only with his death will peace be restored in the pack, and I will not hesitate to do my duty even if you don't approve of it, Alpha Nadine,” he replied, emphasizing his last words.

'Death?' Aiden wondered as fear seized him. He ran underneath his bed cover, closing his eyes and hoping everything he had just heard was all a terrible nightmare.

“Holy mother of the moon, holy mother of the moon...,” he muttered under his breath, just as his mother had taught him, hoping he'd soon wake up from this horrible nightmare.

Nadine stood outside with her arms wide open to stop Bruce from barging into her son's room.

Could her child really be dying today? Was there no other way to protect him from this unfortunate reality? Had she already failed as a mother? She wondered to herself, trying to think of anything she could do to protect her son from getting dragged out. She knew the second Bruce laid a finger on her child, he would be as good as dead, and she could not bear the thought of watching her innocent child get killed.

“I won't let you kill my child, Bruce,” she screamed, her eyes wandering around the hallway for anything she could use to stop him.

She spotted a vase and quickly thought of how to grab it and knock him out.

“If you insist on harming my child, Bruce, then one of us will have to die because I will never allow it,” Nadine defended, refusing to give up, and the second she noticed the deadly look in Bruce's eyes, she knew those eyes no longer belonged to her long-time friend.

She attempted to pick up the vase, but, already aware of her intention, Bruce blocked her, kicking the vase and smashing it in the process.

Nadine tried to run into Aiden's room to protect him, but Bruce pulled her back with her hair. She turned and delivered a kick to his abdomen, which had little to no effect on him, but he eventually let go of her hair.

She was about to swing the door to Aiden's room open when Bruce charged at her again, and, this time, even more aggressively.

A loud thud was heard outside the room, and soon after, a grave silence followed.

“I did it for the people,” Bruce muttered to himself as he watched Nadine struggle until her last breath.

Aiden could hear the tumbling sound again, and this time he knew the body belonged to his mother. He crawled behind the door and hugged his knees to his chest, pressing his mouth against his knees to avoid crying out.

Fear gripped him even more when he heard his mother whimpering and struggling to hold back the man who wanted to kill him. He could not see what was happening outside the door, but from the way things sounded, it was nothing good.

The door flew open all of a sudden, revealing a tall male figure who stared down at Aiden with pure hatred in his eyes.

Aiden looked outside to spot his mother, only to see her covered in a pool of blood with her eyes barely closed. He could tell she had cried until her last breath, and seeing her lifeless body desperately reaching out to him made him furious to his bones.

“Come with me quietly,” Bruce instructed Aiden coldly, but he didn't move an inch. He stares back at Bruce with furious eyes, and when Bruce attempts to pull him up forcefully, Aiden fights back and escapes from his strong grip.

“I said, come with me!” Bruce yelled in an outraged tone but was surprised when Aiden didn't even flinch. He knew the boy would be quite daring, but he didn't expect him to seem so fearless.

“What did you do to my mother?” Aiden asked, clenching his fists to contain his anger.

“Don't ask questions and do as you're told, you stupid child!” Bruce hissed, attempting to grab Aiden again, but this time, Aiden not only easily escaped from his grip but also pushed him back as hard as he could, almost causing Bruce to lose his footing.

“Leave me alone!” Aiden growled furiously as he slowly started to lose his mind in rage.

Bruce noticed the sudden glow in the little boy's eyes, and he let out a loud gasp as he realized what it meant. He was warned by the spiritual mother and the spirit to make sure the child was not provoked into extreme anger if he didn't want to awaken the evil spirit that resided in him.

Aiden slowly realized that his eyes were starting to burn, and so was every part of his body. He could no longer control his fury, and the only thing he could think of doing was tearing out the heart of the man who stood in front of him.

“You spawn of the devil!” Bruce spat furiously, slowly taking a few steps back to retreat.

As soon as the words hit Aiden, he could no longer control himself. He charged toward Bruce, and the next thing he felt was claws that came out of nowhere, piercing deep into the heart of the man in front of him and pulling out his heart brutally.

Bruce knew his end had come when he noticed the child's hands turning into giant claws. He watched as the child charged toward him, sticking his claws into his heart and pulling it out.

Bruce slowly bled to death as he could feel his heart getting pulled out of his body before he eventually lost consciousness.

Aiden's eyes grew ten times wider when he saw his hands covered with the blood of the man who had murdered his mother. He could not believe what he had done to him, and seeing a heart in his hands made Aiden want to kill himself.

He looked back at his mother's lifeless body and cried out for her to help him out of his confused state, and when no one came to his aid, he sat quietly in the pool of blood of the man he had murdered, placing his forehead between his knees and crying his eyes out until he eventually passed out.

Twenty-Three Years Later...

“What do you mean they're intruders? I thought we got rid of everyone. Haven't they all learned to stay away?” Aiden hissed angrily, wondering why anyone would even think of trespassing on his territory after everything they'd probably heard about him.

“I guess they all think the stories are just exaggerated rumors. It seems they intend to attack the people, but the men and I will be on standby tonight to avoid such an attack,” Corey, Aiden's beta and also his best friend, said.

“There's no need for that, Corey, I'll do it myself,” Aiden replied, and Corey frowned.

“You can't do that, Aiden. I'm pretty sure they're hiding out on the outskirts of town, which means it's dangerous for you to go there by yourself,” Corey argued, and Aiden scoffed.

“They're here because they don't believe the rumors, so I'll have to go ahead and let them see for themselves that the rumors are true. I honestly need to get out of here for a while and I can assure you that I'm not going to hurt anybody if that's what you're worried about,” Aiden assured, although deep down, he knew his assurance held little to no weight at all.

Corey knew Aiden's anger and temper weren't something anyone could control and even Aiden himself, and he knew letting him go all by himself to the outskirts of the pack was a dangerous and reckless decision, but he could not bring himself to argue any further.

“I'll come with you,” Corey offered, and Aiden immediately broke into a short laugh.

“No offense buddy, what, do you have a death wish? Why would you want to risk coming with me?” Aiden blurted and Corey rolled his eyes.

“I don't think you should go by yourself. What if something triggers you and, by some accident, you end up in town? The rumors about you are already terrible as it is, but imagine you showing people that horrible side of yourself. It won't end well, Aiden,” Corey said, trying to reason with Aiden.

“You can't change my mind, Corey. Just take care of things while I'm out,” Aiden replied with a small smile before walking out of the room.

***

Aiden's heavy breathing could be heard from miles away. He was trying very hard to control his temper, but as he had come to understand, his fury wasn't something he had any control over and that fact always made him even angrier.

His eyes scanned through the woods carefully, waiting patiently for the next wolf to attack. As soon as he had arrived at the outskirts, the rogues, who were lying and waiting in ambush, had immediately jumped at him. He managed to shake them off with his strength before shifting and now, he was carefully looking out for them and waiting for their next move.

He almost pitied the poor unsuspecting rogues that dared to attack because he knew once he started, there was no stopping him. Whenever anyone tickled his anger, he immediately became so furious to the point where he got bloodthirsty and didn't stop until he hurt somebody.

A rustling sound from Aiden's right caught his attention, and he quickly charged toward where the sound came from. In the process, he's jumped at by an awaiting rogue. Both Aiden and the rogue wrestle for dominance, attempting to tear each other apart, but unlike the usual rogues that Aiden had dealt with in the past, this one, in particular, was incredibly strong and wasn't exactly easy to kill as he had thought.

Aiden struggled to push the rogue off him but realized that something about his opponent's blood-red eyes had weakened him, and he couldn't bring himself to use all of his strength.

The rogue had successfully pushed his claws into Aiden's abdomen, and when Aiden tried using his claw to scratch back and get out of his grip, he couldn't.

When he thought that someone was finally going to grant him his wish and kill him, the situation turned upside down and something weird happened.

A feeling of déjà vu hit Aiden out of nowhere, and he felt himself getting trapped in his body, just like it happened whenever he was about to lose his mind completely.

The rogue wolf noticed the intense glow in Aiden's eyes, and he immediately sensed that was his cue to retreat. He noticed how Aiden slowly grew twice his size and just when he thought of running away for his dear life, a sharp claw was pushed into his throat, and the next thing he knew, his almost lifeless body was lying on the floor in his pool of blood.

Aiden watched as the rogue switched back into his human form. His heart dropped to his stomach when he saw just how deeply his claws had pierced into his opponent's throat, with the rogue's head almost detached from his body.

He knew the situation was either life or death for him, but it still shocked him just how strong he always got and how much damage he always caused.

Unknown to Aiden, he was being watched by two other rogues who had witnessed their friend's brutal murder. They decided to run back to their leader and inform him of how the situation turned out because they knew they couldn't fight back by themselves.

Aiden started to regain control of his body and mind, as what usually normally possessed him slowly went back to sleep. When he shifted back to his human form, he realized that the rogue had also injured him badly and now that he was normal again, he was starting to lose a lot of blood.

He fell to the ground, tired, and tried to reach out to his already torn clothes, so he could use them to stop the bleeding. He also threw a piece of torn clothing over his exposed area before dragging his tired body to a tree and resting his back on it for support.

He noticed that it was already dawn, and he hoped someone would pass by, although he was aware that not that many people came toward the outskirts of the pack.

He looked down at his wound and noticed the bleeding wasn't stopping anytime soon. He let out a frustrated sigh, mentally preparing himself for the worst-case scenario, which was his death.

At least with his death, his pack members could be free from dealing with a horrifying leader like him. He couldn't bring himself to fear death because he knew deep down that dying was his deserved punishment for all the innocent people he had hurt over the years.

In his drowsy state, he started to reminisce about how his life was before his mother's death. Although his memories weren't as clear anymore since he was only a child, he could still clearly remember how happy he was and how loved he was by his mother.

He still couldn't understand why everything had suddenly gone wrong.

His breathing started to get slower and slower, and just when he was about to give up and let himself go, he heard a scream that jolted him back to reality.

Kira and Nadia were busy with their herb searching when Kira spotted a bleeding man resting on a tree with his eyes closed halfway.

“There's a dying person here!” she screamed in both fear and shock as Nadia ran as quickly as she could toward the injured werewolf.

“Oh my goodness! Hey, can you hear me?” Nadia asked, rushing to Aiden's side to wake him up.

“Please open your eyes! I beg you, keep your eyes open!” she yelled desperately, tapping him on the face as hard as she could.

When Aiden finally managed to open his eyes, he looked up at the person in front of him, and when their eyes met, they both froze in utter shock.

“Mate!” They blurted out simultaneously, but before Nadia could say anything else, Aiden fell into her and passed out.