Semua Bab The Beast's Bride: surrendering to the beast within : Bab 71 - Bab 78

(Sofia’s POV – Dreamworld / Past Memory)The snow came early that year.It blanketed the mountaintop estate in a white hush that made the world feel quiet—too quiet. The gardens where Mira once played were still. The air held a cold that slipped into your bones and made you forget what warmth ever felt like.I stood beneath the veranda wrapped in a fur-lined cloak, watching smoke curl from the eastern tower.It was the beginning of the end.I could feel it.The sickness had started to spread beyond whispers. It came with the cold, they said. It moved through the blood, through touch. And no one knew what it truly was—only that it took fast and left slower.But that wasn’t the worst part.The worst part was that my mother had changed.Her once-smooth brow was creased with something deeper than worry. Her silver hair had dulled, her presence felt brittle. Like a candle burning at both ends.She used to walk the halls with silent command, her word absolute. Now she paced. Fussed. Watched

(Damien’s POV – Present Day)She didn’t wake up.I waited. Hours.Held her hand, pressed kisses to her knuckles, whispered every memory we ever made into her ear like they were spells that might pull her back.She didn’t even twitch.Not even when I said the words she always leaned into:“Mine. You’re mine, Sofia. Come back to me.”But her chest only rose and fell in that same shallow rhythm, her pulse barely flickering beneath my fingers.She was here. Her body, warm. Alive.But her spirit—buried somewhere deep, unreachable.I refused to accept it.I stood up slowly, brushing her hair back from her face. “You made me promise not to leave you,” I whispered. “I didn’t. I came back. I’m here now. And I’m not losing you. Not again.”I pressed my forehead to hers. My voice cracked.“You hear me? I’m going to fix this. Even if I have to burn through time itself.”---The room darkened as I stepped into the hallway, my pack silent outside the door. They looked up, their eyes lined with the

(Damien’s POV – Present Day)The room was too quiet.Not the peaceful kind. Not the kind that lulls you into sleep.This silence was cruel. Heavy. Mocking.Sofia’s body lay motionless in my arms, her head tucked beneath my chin, skin growing colder by the minute. The foam at her lips had stopped, but so had the color in her cheeks.She was slipping.And I was out of time.I cradled her closer, burying my face in her hair.“You said you’d never leave me,” I whispered, my voice cracking at the edges. “So don’t do this. Don’t make me live in a world where I can’t hear you laugh again. Don’t make me…”I broke.The words dissolved into silence.Because no vow. No bite. No rage could undo what fate had done.Unless I did the one thing I swore I’d never do.Unless I gave in.---The wind shifted again.And just like before, the shadows in the room stretched, curled, and thickened.A soft hum began to vibrate in the air, low and ancient.Then, she appeared.Saria.Sofia’s mother. The spirit w

(Damien’s POV – Past Mates, Unforgiven Memories)The curse didn’t begin with Sofia.She was just the first I refused to let go.But before her—There were others.And sometimes, when the world is too still, when my soul is too loud, their names crawl out from the cracks in my mind.Three names.Three scars.Each one carved into the walls of my heart.Each one a grave I never buried deep enough.---Liora.The first.I was eighteen. Still barely learning what it meant to lead, still finding my wolf, still believing the Blackwood curse was a lie whispered by cowards who didn’t know how to love hard enough.She was a scholar’s daughter.Quick-witted. Sharp-tongued.She challenged me at every turn. She was the first to look me in the eye and say:"You're going to be dangerous someday. I want to see it."We were bound by a youthful rush. Not fated. Not chosen by the moon. But something felt real. Enough that I trusted it.We danced between duties and stolen glances. I kissed her beneath th