CURSED FOR LOVE

Adrian had been trained to feel nothing.

  Every word from his father, Alpha Luca, had hammered the same lesson into him: pain was weakness, love was destruction, attachment was failure.

  From the moment he could walk, every mistake, every lapse in control, was met with harsh correction-brutal training meant to forge him into a leader capable of surviving-and dominating-anything.

  "You must endure everything, Adrian," his father had said one morning in the office, pacing in the cold light streaming through the windows. "The pack survives because its Alpha feels no pain. You will feel nothing. You will let nothing distract you. You will lead, or the pack dies."

  Adrian had obeyed. He had learned to endure, to dominate, to shut down any trace of weakness. By seventeen, his mind and body obeyed him like soldiers in line. Feelings were irrelevant. Attachments were fatal. Distractions were punishable.

  It was around that time his father summoned him while Adrian managed the pack's daily affairs. The Alpha's gaze was sharp, his words sharper.

  "You've handled the Night Fang well," his father said, voice low and cutting. "But you are not finished. You are not ready to be Alpha alone. You will go... among the humans."

  Adrian froze. "Humans?" His disbelief was thick in his voice. "Are you sending me away? Away from my people after everything I've done?"

  Alpha Luca eyes did not waver. "Yes. You will enroll at Ravencrest University. There, you will learn to move among them. To manage their fragile lives, their weaknesses, their businesses. You will understand them so that you may control them. You will not be distracted, and you will not fail. This is the only way you will survive."

  Adrian had hated the idea. Humans were weak. Fragile bodies, fragile minds, fragile morals. They were creatures to be observed, tolerated at best, dominated at worst. The thought of spending years immersed in their frailty made his skin crawl.

  But he obeyed, as he always did.

  When the day finally came, he arrived at Ravencrest not alone, but with Kel, his closest friend and beta; Darius, his cousin-reckless and irritating, a constant test of patience; and a few other pack members.

  The junior courses were grueling, but his focus never wavered. Two years of study, strategy, observation passed in silence. He ignored the chatter of students, their petty social games, their meaningless crushes. Relationships were useless. Women were distractions, tools to satisfy hunger and nothing more.

  Now, in his senior year, Adrian's reputation at Ravencrest was unassailable. Calm. Controlled. Cold. Every decision, every movement, every glance served a purpose.

  That morning, he prowled among the trees in the school courtyard-a dense forest surrounding the university, off-limits to humans, where wolves held their freedom. Here he could run, release tension, and let Ragnar his wolf stretch his senses.

  A flicker of gold caught his attention. A human girl. Her presence should have meant nothing. Yet Ragnar stiffened beneath him, sensing what Adrian could not name.

  There is something... the wolf murmured. Different. Not like the others.

  Adrian shook it off. "She's human," he said aloud, dismissing it. "Weak. Irrelevant. Don't waste attention."

  But Ragnar nudged again, insistent, frustrated.

  Adrian exhaled, shut his wolf down, and turned toward the field for practice.

  Hours later, in the cafeteria, he confronted Darius-who had used his wolf-enhanced speed during a football drill, forbidden and dangerous if humans noticed.

  Adrian's grey eyes, sharp and burning with controlled anger, found his cousin immediately.

  "I'm not going to repeat myself," he said, voice low, dangerous. "Next time, I won't be this polite."

  Darius muttered under his breath, but Adrian didn't respond. His gaze flicked past him, scanning the room-then locked on her. Blue-green eyes, quiet, almost hidden under her hoodie, yet sharp enough to pull at something deep inside him.

  He frowned slightly and tore his gaze away, though the memory of those eyes lingered at the edge of his mind. He straightened, shoulders back, and walked toward the cafeteria doors, each step deliberate, radiating authority.

  Ragnar stirred beneath his skin

  But Adrian ignored it. Though deep beneath the surface, something had awakened. Something ancient. Something insistent. Ragnar growled softly, sensing it too.