The Snow Wolf's Mate

The Chosen Curse:

[POV: Dayana]

She’s doing better without you. She won the tournament. She earned her rank. She has friends. A life.

A life. Aria.

My lip curled in disgust, nails digging into my palms until little crescents of blood welled up beneath my nails. The pain was grounding—but not enough.

The rage was still there. Hot. Boiling.

It pulsed through my veins like fire, searing every rational thought I tried to cling to. My fists trembled at my sides as I stared at the floor of my chamber, eyes burning with fury. My wolf, Gale, prowled inside me, equally incensed, teeth bared in a silent snarl.

My pathetic sister had thrived.

She was supposed to fall. She was supposed to crawl through the mud and die quietly under my hand, buried under her own uselessness like she always had.

She wasn’t supposed to rise. Not ahead of me. Not instead of me.

She is the curse. A mistake. A stain on our bloodline. The frail, whimpering shell of a child who should’ve been the afterthought—not the firstborn.

That was my birthright. My destiny.

But Aria had taken everything. Her quiet, cowardly existence had always mocked me just by surviving. And now she had power. A place. Friends. Respect.

While I, the chosen one, the golden child, the rightful Luna, still stood here empty-handed. Waiting. Burning.

How could that be? How could she possibly be winning when I’m the one fate chose?

“Because she cheated,” I whispered quietly, voice trembling with rage. “She ran. She stole what should’ve been mine.”

Gale growled in agreement, her fury barely leashed inside me.

“She was never meant to live past the choosing,” I hissed, pacing my room. “We should’ve ended her then. She’s a threat to the prophecy. Always has been.”

She hadn’t just survived. She’d flourished.

That weakling—the disgrace with the crescent birthmark, the girl who never shifted, the girl who couldn’t even speak above a whisper without trembling—that girl had taken what was mine.

And now… she thought she was safe?

She thought she could build a new life, far from our pack, far from me, and escape the fate the Moon Goddess carved into our souls?

No.

I slammed my fist against the wall, the sharp crack echoing through the room.

No!

“I’ll tear it all down,” I growled through gritted teeth. “Every piece of her pathetic little life. Her rank, her friends, her wolf. I’ll strip it all away.”

Gale stirred, silent but savage. Yes. That was the path.

She didn’t deserve comfort. Or companionship. Or hope. She didn’t deserve freedom. She didn’t deserve to live. Not while I still didn’t have what I was owed.

She was born to die for me to rise in glory above her pathetic dead body.

I was the stronger one. The smarter one. The chosen one. Every elder had said so since we were pups. Every omen, every reading, every vision—they’d all pointed to me.

To me.

And none of it would be realized until she was gone. Until her blood fed the ground beneath my feet.

The prophecy spoke of the rise of a Luna born of dual blood, shadowed by a cursed sister.

The Luna who would lead the fractured packs into a new era. Who would cleanse and restore the bloodline. Who would reign through fire, ash and glory.

Aria’s death was the offering. The sacrifice. And I had delayed it far too long.

“Forgive me, Moon Goddess,” I whispered, voice low and reverent. “I was soft. I hesitated. I let her live. I let her escape.”

My hands tightened around the edge of the dresser until the wood creaked beneath my grip.

“But I won’t fail again.”

This time, I will finish it. I would find her—no matter how deep into the woods she hid, no matter how many warriors she surrounded herself with. And I would drag her back to our den.

To the altar. Where she belongs.

Gale’s growl turned to something like laughter in my mind—low, cold and wild. She would help me.

Together, we would end Aria’s life. We would spill her blood beneath the old stones, the way the prophecy demanded. We would become the Luna this land was owed.

The Luna who destined.

But first—we needed to track her. Learn about her new life. Her weaknesses. Her ties. We needed to know everything.

“I’ll tear out every secret she’s hiding,” I vowed, eyes gleaming with violent intent. “And when I’m done, there’ll be nothing left of her.”