All Chapters of The Cursed Alpha’s Fake Bride: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

*** Ariana’s POVDinner was a lost cause.Despite the ache in my muscles and the hunger gnawing at my stomach after training, I could barely eat. Every time I lifted my fork, I felt his gaze on me, subtle yet heavy. Draven didn’t say a word, but his presence in the dining hall was enough to leave me unsettled. Or maybe it wasn’t him at all, but my own foolish heart.It had been just over a day since the near-kiss, yet the memory of it lingered like a fire too stubborn to extinguish.I finally gave up, abandoning my plate with barely a dent in its contents, and slipped quietly from the dining hall. If Draven’s eyes followed me on the way out, I didn’t dare look back to confirm it.The

*** Ariana POVThe cool forest air bit at my cheeks as I adjusted the straps of my training gear, my boots crunching softly on the carpet of leaves beneath me. Three days had passed since the fire, and though my lungs no longer ached with every breath, the faint scent of smoke still clung to my memory, as if it had seeped into my very bones.Everything had felt off since that night. The packhouse had been cleared, and most had returned to their quarters, but the alpha floor remained sealed off for repairs. I’d spent the past few nights at Draven’s personal residence—a luxurious and unnervingly quiet space—but I wasn’t even sure where Draven himself had been staying.Not that it mattered. Distance was exactly what I needed.I avoided him at meals, preferring the relative calm of the hospital where I busied myself tinkering with herb-based protocols for Dr. Alexander to experiment with. It was safer this way—for both of us. My feelings were a tangled mess of confusion and something dan

*** Draven’s POVI couldn’t take it anymore.Three days had passed since the fire, and every one of those days felt like an eternity. I’d told myself to give her space as it seemed obvious she wanted some.This morning, I gave in.Crossing the threshold of my home, I let her scent wash over me like a balm. The smell of Miria in my home was enough for me to drop fang.Feeling my mating fangs slide against my tongue, I almost turned right back around, suddenly fearful that Kronos might pounce the instant we saw her.Kronos purred in satisfaction, she’s ours.“Down boy, or we’re leaving,” I warned Kronos who reluctantly retracted our fangs after a lengthy internal struggle.The guest room was the only bedroom on the first floor and had been appointed as Maria’s room so the medical team could have easier access to her for treatments. Heading that way, I could see her door slightly ajar. The bed was made, the room neat and tidy, but it was empty.I closed my eyes, reaching out through the

*** Ariana’s POV“This is just the beginning, Ariana,” Jake said, his voice low and menacing. “By the time we’re done, you’ll wish you’d stayed dead.”“Now, now, Jake,” Oren cooed… “He does want her alive-ish and she’s not a great healer”.“What he wants with a piece of beta bait, is beyond me”, Jake spewed hatefully, mocking me as a worthless female unable to attract a ranked mate.Oren’s warning seemed to register in some way with Jake as he at least lowered me enough for my feet to catch the ground. “We need to get out of here now,” Jake said, turning to Oren. Jake's grip on my throat forced me to face him and I couldn’t see what oren was doing behind me… but I could hear it and feel it.“Aethel, Aethel, late pateat, nunc resideat porta,” holy hell, Oren’s a halfbreed! I could feel the air around us getting colder as Oren repeated the chant a second and third time.The cold was gradually replaced by a tingling, electric feel… something like static electricity building.I’m not su

*** Ariana’s POVI prayed silently as I worked, my hands slick with Draven’s blood. The world around me faded away, my entire existence reduced to the desperate effort to save him.“Hold on, Draven,” I murmured, my voice breaking. “You don’t get to leave me like this. Not now.”Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to stop.One bullet down. Two to go.And as I worked, a single thought echoed in my mind.Please don’t let me be too late.I’m tired. Tired of lying… to everyone and to myself.Lying had done it