Taming The Alpha’s Curse

Astrid’s PovPlease, please, please stop. Please, I don’t want to die. Please, I beg of you, don’t do this.The voice was mine, but I didn’t recognize it. It came out strangled and broken, trembling with a kind of fear I had never felt before. My own scream echoed back at me, swallowed up by the thick darkness that coiled like smoke in the corners.“Wake up,” I whimpered. “Wake up, Astrid. You’re dreaming. Wake up… wake up…”I clenched my eyes shut, my heart galloping in my chest.“Wake up!”I shot upright in bed, lungs burning as if I hadn’t breathed in hours. My sheets were tangled around me like a net, soaked with sweat. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. My eyes darted wildly around the room.That’s when I knew.It wasn’t a dream.Something was wrong.There were sounds, real ones. Not in my head and not from the nightmare. They came from outside, from everywhere. Crashes, screams, the sickening crack of splintering wood, and the unmistakable roar of fire.I slipped off the bed, every

Astrid’s PovIt’s been four days.Four long, brutal days since they dragged me into this nightmare. Every hour feels like another twist of the knife, carving deeper into my soul. The walls of this castle seem to breathe violence and blood. And me? I’m just a human girl caught in the middle of it all, trying not to drown.No one here sees me as a person. I’m nothing more than a stain. A mistake that should have been wiped away the moment I arrived. Even the other servants, who know what it’s like to suffer, treat me like a stray dog that wandered into a palace full of wolves wearing crowns. They shove me, mock me, and laugh when I flinch. I never fight back. I can’t. Not if I want to stay alive.Some days I wonder if dying would be the only way to finally speak with my own voice again.Every morning they send me to clean Luna Aliyah’s chambers, her private sanctuary of fragile, expensive things. She collects delicate ceramic ornaments, glass swans, crystal vases, and gilded mirrors. I

Astrid's PovMy back was pressed so hard against the cold stone wall that I could feel every rough edge digging into my skin. Alpha Xavier stood barely an inch away from me, towering over my trembling frame. His presence was suffocating, like the air itself had grown heavier just because he was near. I couldn’t stop shaking. My knees felt weak, and my heart was hammering so loudly I was sure he could hear it.He leaned in even closer. Then his fingers began to change right before my eyes. They elongated into sharp, dangerous claws. A small, broken sound escaped my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, waiting for the inevitable. This was the moment he would snap my neck and end everything.But the pain never came.Instead, I felt the sharp tip of one claw gently trace along my jawline. My breath hitched. Slowly, almost tenderly, he lifted my chin, forcing my face upward.“Open your eyes, Astrid,” he commanded, his voice low and rough.I obeyed, my lashes fluttering open. His hazel

Astrid’s PovAliyah released my hair and threw me to the floor like I was nothing.I hit the cold stone hard, my palms scraping against the ground. Before I could even think about getting up, her foot came down on my hand. Not a kick. A slow, deliberate stomp. I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted blood. I would not scream. I refused to give her that, even though it hurt real bad.She stood there for a moment longer than necessary, then lifted her foot and walked out without a single word. The door swung shut behind her.For a few seconds, nobody moved.Then the whispers started.“She has not even been here a full week and she is already on Aliyah’s bad side.”“Did you see how she was crying? So weak.”Someone laughed. A few others joined in, low and muffled but loud enough for me to hear every word.I stayed on the floor. I could not get up. My hand throbbed where she had stood on it, red and swollen, and my whole body felt like it had simply given up on me. The laughter floated arou

Astrid’s PovI sat in my corner of the servants’ quarters with a torn dress across my lap and a needle in my hand, trying to focus on the stitching.It was not working.My mind kept jumping ahead to morning, to what it would mean to follow Xavier around all day, to stand beside him, to be seen, to be noticed. The more I tried to push the thoughts down the more they came back up, and before I realized what had happened the needle went straight into my finger.“Ow.”“Take it easy.” Mara looked over from her own mat. “You do not have to spiral like this tonight.”“I know,” I said, pressing my finger to my lips. “But how do I not? Starting tomorrow I am his personal maid, Mara. His personal maid. What does that even mean for me?”She was quiet for a moment. Then she said, “I will not lie to you and tell you it is nothing. Others who held that position before you, some of them did not last. Small mistakes, a spilled cup, a wrong word at the wrong time. He has a short patience and a shorter