Chapter 2

Ryan paced around his room, his heart pounding in his chest as he was constantly reminded of his horrifying reality that had suddenly dawned upon him.

He was losing everything. He was going to lose everything and in no time, everything he considered dear to him was going to become a thing of the past.

A bitter chuckle escaped his lips as he looked at his room. The biggest room in the pack house was always reserved for the Alpha and he currently occupied it. Was he going to lose that too?

The room was probably the least of his worries. After storming out of the meeting room, he had no idea what plans they had for him next. Was he going to be demoted to Beta? Or was he going to be completely denied of every important position simply because of the supposed cursed place on him?

"No," he muttered to himself, shaking his head. "it can't be happening."

Something had to be done. There should be a solution. Anything.

He would have gone straight to meet his younger brother but he wasn't back from wherever he headed to, leaving Ryan to deal with his thousands of thoughts by himself.

He racked his brain, trying to think of anyone he could talk to. Anyone in power who could probably make things better and unfortunately, the only person he could think about was his cousin, Adam.

He couldn't be that bad, right? They were still family after all and since he was doing everything simply for the betterment of the pack, he was going to understand where he was coming from. Right?

Without giving his decision a second thought, he rushed out of his room to immediately head to the Beta's room. It had to be his first time in being Alpha for seven years he'd run that fast to Adam's room. He never had anything that important to talk to him and more often than not, Adam was always the one doing the running to his room.

Funny how the tides had suddenly changed.

As he approached his cousin's room, his steps finally slowed down. What if he was simply about to waste his time? He definitely didn't seem like his mind was ever going to change at the meeting so what if he remained the same?

What if he didn't want him to ever remain the Alpha? What if he didn't even want him holding any position at the pack? What if he believed he was cursed and wanted him completely out of his sight?

His questions were endless and he knew he was never going to get the answers unless he swallowed his fear and approached him.

Nodding to himself, he normalized his steps as he approached Adam's room. After a couple of steps, he finally got to his room and just as he was about to place a knock on the door, was stopped by the sounds coming from the room.

They were voices coming from Adam's room. Adam's alongside a couple of unfamiliar voices.

Clicking his tongue, he contemplated turning to leave. He seemed busy and he wanted a private discussion with him. One he wouldn't be able to achieve as long as he had company.

With a sigh he turned and just as he was about to leave the door, was stopped by a sudden yell from Adam.

"Just do exactly as I said!"

His curiosity immediately got the best of him as he turned, moving closer to the door. Whatever conversation they were having in there wasn't going peacefully as he could immediately hear the recipients also raise their voices at Adam.

"But Beta Adam-"

"Alpha Adam," Adam hissed out to him. "You need to get used to that title. I would be the new Alpha and as long as you do exactly what I ask you to, there would be absolutely nothing in my way."

"You would be the Alpha," the man replied Adam. "But don't you think completely getting rid of Ryan is unnecessary? Isn't killing him too harsh?"

"What?!"

Rvan's hands immediately flew to his mouth as his eyes widened in horror. Was he hearing right? No, he definitely had to be hearing things wrongly. There was no way his cousin was discussing getting rid of him with anyone.

"It isn't harsh," he heard Adam say. "You do not know Ryan. He would not give up easily. He would try to hold on to the position and the same way he managed to convince the elders seven years ago, he would do it again. And I cannot afford for him to get even a second more as the Alpha."

"Which is why this is the perfect moment to kill him," Adam continued, Ryan's heart dropping to the ground. "Disguise it as suicide and they would think he just cowardly killed himself. Or not, I do not really care. Just make sure he is dead."

Ryan felt fear and anger grip him all of a sudden. He felt betrayed, stupid and alone. His cousin. The only person he considered his family other than his brother wanted him dead.

With every single moment he spent by the door, he could feel his heart shattering into more tiny pieces. Was it also as a result of the curse? Was that why so many terrible things were happening to him at once?

"Make sure the deed is done tonight. He should be in his room by now so go. I'll distract the rest of the people present to make sure no one notices and everything goes smoothly.

He was immediately pulled out of his heartbreaking thoughts by the declaration of his death. Adam wanted him dead. With immediate effect.

"Consider it done, Alpha Adam."

He didn't need to think twice to know what to do. Storming into the room to confront Adam and his men would be a foolish thing to do. He was definitely going to be outnumbered so that would be just him walking right into the lion's den.

Without hesitation, he turned and quickened his steps to return to his room, stopping halfway.

Adam had done his planning and calculations perfectly well. It was late already and there was barely anyone present in the pack house at the moment. Just him and a couple of men that wanted him dead.

Declan.

His heart raced as he immediately thought about his younger brother. He couldn't allow anything happen to him. If not for anything but for Declan's sake. He definitely wouldn't be able to bear losing the last family he had.

Immediately, he set for his brother's house. He had moved out of the pack house years ago and suddenly, Ryan was glad for that. At least, he wasn't living under the same roof with an enemy.

His steps towards his brother's house were quick. He needed to see him as fast as possible. To inform him about the danger they were in before the men hired to kill him decide to attack.

But apparently, he was late. A bit too late.

All of a sudden, Ryan's steps slowed down as he could suddenly hear footsteps behind him. They were faint but with all of his senses at alert, he could hear it very clearly.

They were finally behind him. Ready to attack him. Ready to kill him.

And he just had to be on his way to his brother's home.

No, no. he couldn't have them follow him all the way to Declan's place. That was only going to put Declan in danger. Danger he couldn't afford.

Pretending he had no idea he was being followed, he took a stylish turn and began to head in the direction of the woods instead. That way, no matter what eventually happened, he could be sure no harm would come towards his brother.

"Alpha Ryan. Or should we say, Ryan?"

Realizing his attackers finally had the courage to summon him, Ryan stopped in his tracks. He took a deep breath and slowly turned to face them, realize he had not one or two but five men keeping his

company.

"Wow," he muttered to himself. "I really am outnumbered."

"We believe vou already know what this is about, Ryan," one of them spoke up. "So let's not make this any harder for ourselves, okay?"

He might be cursed alongside a lot of things but one thing he wasn't was a coward. "Attack me, if vou dare."

"Remember you asked for it."

In a flash, the six of them transformed into their wolf forms, snarling and growling at each other.

Without any form of warning, they all immediately lunged at him and he definitely didn't hesitate to attack them back.

For the first few minutes, he was at an advantage, taking the lead in their fight that was lacking an audience. But he quickly ran out of luck as he was reminded of how unreasonable it was to fight against five anger driven wolves at once.

"Arrrggghhhhh!"

At once, Ryan was slammed against a tree, his spine hitting its bark with full forces. He immediately felt a strain, his muscles burning with exertion while his breath came out in ragged gasps. They was no point trying to fight it. He was no match for them.

But he wasn't ready to give up. At least not that easily.

He lunged towards them again and for a while, he managed to fend three of them away. But that was barely enough as they all immediately attacked him again with full force.

He needed to come up with a plan. Fast.

He immediately gathered his strength and took to his heels. As he ran, he spotted a dense thicket of trees in a short distance from him and immediately knew what he had to do.

He veered off course and all of a sudden, made a beeline for the trees. Not giving up, the men chased behind him but his sudden manoeuvre had managed to catch them off guard, immediately creating a tangible distance between them.

Pushing himself harder, Ryan continued to run. He was now able to be several meters away from them and for a short while, he concluded he could outrun only for him to be hit by sharp pain in his side of all of a sudden.

"Argghhhh!"

He yelled out in pain as an arrow pierced him by the side, blood immediately gushing out. Whatever the arrow was laced in must have been strong as he immediately transformed back into his human form, falling to the ground with a loud thud.

Watching blood gush out from his stomach, he grabbed the arrow by the head and pulled it out of him, more blood immediately trickling out. His breathing was now heavy as he managed to get back on his feet again, ignoring his bleeding guts to keep on running for his safety.

After running for what seemed like an eternity, he finally stumbled into a clearing and collapsed to the ground. He was completely exhausted, his entire body battered and bruise. He remained on the floor for a moment, too tired to even move a limb.

With a grunt, he turned to look behind him and it finally seemed like they were no longer chasing him. They probably concluded he was dead already from the arrow wound and honestly, even he was beginning to wonder how he managed to stay alive.

He tried to get back to his feet again, immediately falling to the ground as he attempted it. His breaths were now slow, his vision getting blurrier and blurrier before he got enveloped in a world of nothing but darkness, immediately passing out.