Beauty and the Sleeping Beast

"Are you betraying us?!" August’s voice ripped through the wind, sharp as a blade.

I couldn’t answer. The storm in my chest stole my words as Aidan collapsed to the ground. His wolf form dissolved into human flesh—naked, bleeding, broken. I flinched as he writhed at my feet, his pain mirrored in the tears pouring down my face.

"We trusted you! We loved you!" Aidan growled, trembling with fury as he rose. "But because of your selfishness, Janna could die!"

"No—"

"Don’t speak!" His snarl cut through me like a lash.

He lunged forward, eyes wild, fists clenched. The Aidan who once would’ve fought the world to keep me safe was gone. Now he looked ready to tear me apart.

And August… August, my protector, my steady rock, stood beside him, silent and cold.

“If you leave without repentance," August said, his words slow and deliberate, "without facing the pain you’ve caused—"

"August, please—"

“—I will punish you myself.”

Terror crashed into me. My heart raced, my pulse pounding against the walls of my ribs.

“Punish me… how? You'll torture me like those rogue? You're willing to kill me?” I seether in anger because how could they?!

This is Rain they're talking about! I am Rain and before all of this shit, I am their most treasured person.

But now…

“Yes,” they both answered, their voices a grim chorus.

My knees buckled. A sob ripped free from my chest as my heart shattered into shards.

“If I have to be this pack’s alpha to protect Janna,” Aidan said coldly, “then I will. Even if it means ending you.”

But I was your childhood friend, childhood sweetheart! Your precious one. Your baby girl. The woman you promised to love forever.

Now your claws were out. Your fangs were sharp.

All for her.

All for Janna—the rogue I saved, the woman I pulled from death’s edge, the wolf who now owned every piece of what used to be mine.

“You’re not the men I once knew,” I whispered.

“And you,” August hissed, “are no longer the Rain we loved. The Rain we trusted would never plot to kill Janna. Would never push her off a cliff. Would never poison her for your own good.”

I staggered, breathless. My throat closed around a scream.

“I didn’t!” I shrieked. “I’m not a murderer!”

"You attacked her!" Aidan roared.

No. I tried to stop her. She was destroying them from the inside. She was using them, poisoning their minds and tearing the pack apart. Why am I now the villain here?

“I was trying to save you,” I whispered, my heart breaking under the weight of their hatred.

But they didn’t believe me.

I saw it in their eyes.

August turned away first. "Take her to the cell."

Aidan sneered. "Your jealousy made you a liar. It made you pathetic. And almost made you a killer. You’re poison, Rain."

Rough hands grabbed me. I cried out as I was dragged across the sharp, jagged branches. Pain tore through my skin, but the guards didn’t care.

I had fallen.

Once, I was their queen.

Now I was nothing.

The prison cell swallowed me whole. Its cold stone walls closed in, suffocating. Niveria, my sanctuary, had become my tomb.

I sat in the shadows, curling into myself. I shivered, not from the cold, but from the dread creeping into my soul.

My twenty-first birthday loomed—a heartbeat away.

If I stayed here, I would die.

The curse would break my heart in two, and I would fall into eternal darkness. Unmated. Unloved.

Alone.

"Rain Stabler."

The voice made my blood run cold.

The delta stood at the edge of the cell, his eyes heavy with judgment. His was the hand that delivered death.

I pressed myself into the corner.

"Don’t be afraid." He stepped closer. "I know what haunts you. The curse. I know the way to break it."

I stopped breathing.

He tossed a photograph onto the floor.

My eyes fell to the image, and horror tightened around my heart.

“That,” he said, his voice like gravel, “is the cursed beast of the Tribean City pack. The youngest son of their alpha.”

The cursed beast.

A lycan prince who had been trapped in sleep for decades.

Women who dared to approach him never lived to tell their stories. His wolf—feral, monstrous—would tear them apart before sinking back into its eternal slumber.

He was death itself.

"He can save you." The delta’s eyes gleamed with something dark. "His family will pay the blood price for yours. His curse for your curse."

I picked up the photo, my fingers trembling.

The man in the image wasn’t terrifying—his beauty was cold, regal, untouchable. But behind those eyes lay a monster that devoured anyone who came too close.

"Marry him?" My voice broke. "He’ll kill me."

"He might."

I swallowed hard, my heartbeat thundering. "Why would I agree to this?"

"There’s only one rule, Rain Stabler."

My pulse stilled.

"One rule?"

"Never touch him."

My breath hitched.

"Never let your skin touch his," he warned, his voice low and dangerous. "If you do… you’ll regret it."

My throat tightened. "Why? What happens if I touch him?"

The delta stared at me, silent.

The weight of his words hung between us, suffocating.

And I knew.

I was already damned.

Would I survive the monster I was about to marry?

“Then I'd watch you meet your demise in his hands.”