Chosen By The Cursed Alpha King Chapter 84

EMILIA'S POV

The world around me was quiet. I didn't know when sleep had finally claimed me. One moment I'd been staring at the lilies Damien brought, tracing their soft white petals with my fingers. The next, darkness had wrapped around me like a blanket.

But this didn't feel like sleep.

It felt... wrong.

When I opened my eyes, I wasn't in the hospital anymore.

The bed, the machines, the faint smell of disinfectant—all of it was gone.

Instead, I was standing outside, barefoot, the cold biting into my skin. The air was thick, heavy, and strangely still. Snowflakes drifted from the sky, soft and silent, landing on my bare arms like tiny sparks of ice.

I looked around.

There was a building up ahead—large and made of stone. It looked like a pack house. Its tall windows were dark, and the surrounding forest loomed over it like shadows waiting to swallow the world whole.

My breath came out in soft, visible clouds. The silence pressed against me so hard it made my chest ache.

Something about this place felt... familiar.

But I didn't know why.

The wind whispered through the trees, low and strange, and I shivered.

Then—

A sound broke through the stillness.

A growl.

Low, deep, and dangerous.

It rolled across the snow like thunder, shaking something inside me. My blood turned cold.

I froze. My heart stuttered in my chest.

That sound. I knew it.

I knew it.

But from where?

The growl came again, louder this time, closer. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight.

"Hello?" My voice came out small, uncertain. "Is... anyone there?"

No answer.

Just the whisper of the wind... and then—

A scream.

It tore through the air, sharp and raw. Then another. And another.

Before I could move, before I could even think, the front doors of the pack house burst open.

And chaos exploded.

People ran out, their faces pale with terror, their voices breaking as they screamed for help. Blood splattered across the snow, bright red against the white. The smell hit me next—iron, sharp and thick, filling my lungs until I wanted to choke.

"What—what's happening?" I whispered, backing away.

Then I saw it.

The beast.

Huge, black as night, its fur slick with blood. Its eyes—those eyes—were dark and endless, a void that seemed to swallow everything it looked at.

It moved like a nightmare, fast and brutal.

Teeth flashed. Flesh tore.

The air was filled with screams and the sound of bones breaking.

It was a massacre.

Bodies hit the ground one after another. Blood sprayed, painting the snow in deep crimson. The flakes kept falling, soft and innocent, mixing with the red until it looked like the world itself was bleeding.

I wanted to run, but my legs wouldn't move. My body refused to listen.

The beast's growl filled the air again, low and rumbling, vibrating through the earth. Then it lifted its head—and its gaze found me.

For a heartbeat, everything stopped.

My breath caught.

My pulse roared in my ears.

Those eyes. I knew those eyes.

No... it couldn't be. It couldn't.

The snow fell around us, and the beast began to move toward me.

The way he moved, the way his presence filled the air.

My lips parted, but no sound came out.

He growled again, louder this time, like the sound of a storm tearing through a forest. His claws dug into the snow as he took one step closer.

I stumbled back, shaking my head. "No," I whispered. "No, this isn't real—"

That small step back must have set him off.

Because suddenly, he charged.

The ground shook beneath his weight as he rushed toward me, a dark blur of rage and power. His roar split the air, so loud it made my bones vibrate.

"No!" I screamed, though I didn't know why.

But he didn't stop.

He was coming straight for me.

I turned, desperate to run—but before I could, something slammed into me from the side. A body—warm, solid, strong. I fell, the world spinning, and then—

I screamed.

Someone caught my shoulders. "Hey—hey, it's okay! You're okay!"

Damien's voice.

He was right in front of me, his hands firm but gentle as he tried to steady me. His eyes were wide, full of concern.

"Emilia! It's just a dream, alright? You're safe."

But I couldn't breathe. My chest was tight, my vision blurry. The room spun around me.

"It's okay," he said again, his tone softening. "You're here. You're safe with me."

I tried to speak, but no words came. My throat felt dry, my voice lost. I could still see it—the blood, the snow, the beast. The way those black eyes had looked straight through me.

I was shaking. I didn't even realize it until Damien's hand moved to the side of my neck, grounding me, steadying me.

"Hey," he whispered, and then, without warning, he pinched my arm.

"Ouch!" I gasped, startled.

He smiled just a little. "Good. You're real. I just wanted you to remember that."

My breathing was still ragged, but the panic began to fade, slowly, painfully.

The sound of the heart monitor filled the room again—steady, rhythmic, alive.

Damien reached for the small glass of water on the table and handed it to me. "Here. Drink."

My fingers trembled as I took it. The cool water slid down my throat, washing away the dryness. "Thank you," I whispered, my voice still shaky.

He nodded, taking the glass when I handed it back. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I hesitated. The dream—the blood, the screams, the beast—it had all felt too real. Too vivid to just be a dream.

"I..." I started, then stopped. My voice cracked. "There was so much blood," I finally said. "It was everywhere. It was... horrible."

Damien's expression softened. He pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat down, careful, like he was afraid that even the slightest movement might scare me.

He reached out slowly, giving me time to pull away—but I didn't.

Instead, I let him guide me gently until my head rested against his chest.

His heartbeat was steady beneath my ear.

Strong. Calm. Real.

For a moment, I just sat there, listening to it. Letting it anchor me to the present, to this moment.

"It wasn't real," he murmured after a while, his hand moving up to stroke my hair. "It was just a dream, Emilia."

I wanted to believe him. I really did.

But something deep inside me whispered otherwise.

That dream hadn't felt like a dream. It felt like a memory—one buried so deep.

It wasn't just the images. It was the feeling.

The weight in the air. The smell of the snow. The sound of that growl that had torn through my bones.

It all felt too real. Too alive.

And those eyes...Those black, empty eyes that had looked at me like I was both everything and nothing at once.

They haunted me still.

"Damien..." I said quietly, my fingers curling into his shirt. "It felt real."

He pulled back a little to look at me. "What do you mean?"

"The dream," I whispered. "It didn't feel like a dream. It was like I was there. Like I was watching something that... already happened."

He frowned slightly, his eyes searching mine. "Maybe it's just stress," he said gently. "You've been through a lot lately."

"Maybe," I said, though my voice didn't sound convinced.

But in my chest, that whisper grew louder.

What if it wasn't stress? What if it wasn't just my mind playing tricks on me?

What if it was real?

Damien brushed a strand of hair from my face and smiled faintly. "You don't have to figure it out right now. Just rest, okay? You're safe here."

He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead, lingering for a second longer than he needed to. His warmth seeped into me, steady and comforting.

But even as I sat there, wrapped in that warmth, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

Because I knew that growl. I knew those eyes.

And no matter how hard I tried to tell myself it was just a dream... I could still feel the way the ground shook when he charged at me.

It wasn't just a nightmare.

It was something else. Something I didn't understand.