Chapter 4: The Chains of a Forced Oath

The servant’s last words, “he's got an announcement” drove me out the door, her panting gasp still echoing in my mind. 

My boots struck the stone firmly, every step sending a jolt through my swollen hand, while the dagger secured in my belt provided a chilling solace against my hip. 

The pack square emerges in front, an unsettled ocean of wolves beneath a darkened sky, their whispers humming like wasps disturbed from a hive. 

I navigate cautiously, my throat constricted, the wound from Gabriel's knife yesterday throbbing as sweat trickles down my neck. Five days until the trade, and now this, whatever “announcement” he has, it’s yet another blow directed at me. 

Gabriel walks out, a wolf in disguise, his silver-flecked hair shining in the torchlight. That mischievous smirk stretches across his face, teeth exposed as if he’s already achieved something I can't grasp. 

The audience quiets down, and he spreads his legs apart, his voice echoing across the square. “In three days, Evelyn will belong to me.” My stomach churns, a sudden, deep upheaval. 

Yours? Wedded? The crowd explodes, cheers, howls, fists hitting the air, but my gaze shifts to Evelyn, emerging from the darkness behind him. 

Her expression is vacant, a porcelain mask; her blue eyes momentarily widen, perhaps surprised, before settling into emptiness.

I nibble on my lip, tasting blood once again. Three days to bind her to him, four to send me away. This isn't only an announcement, it's a trap closing tight. 

He doesn’t allow it to settle. His hand reaches out, catching Evelyn’s wrist and pulling her to his side like a prize. She trips, silk swishing, yet doesn't withdraw. 

"No one challenges me," he growls, his eyes cutting through the crowd to focus on me, forceful, intentional, like a knife against my gullet once again. I gasp, reality hitting hard. 

This isn't solely about power, it's about eliminating Father. His mate, his child, his kin, Gabriel's taking her to obliterate us, to crush the Alpha I descended from beneath his foot. 

Evelyn remains rigid, her arm dangling in his hold, and my optimism unravels, stitch by stitch. She’s not struggling, not even a movement. My strong hand clenches at my side, fingers pressing in. She's allowing him to do this, to her, to me. 

The pack budges, a wave changing direction. Wolves surround Gabriel, patting his back, their voices a booming cheer of praise. “A powerful Alpha requires a formidable mate,” one grumbles, a stocky hunter with a mark on his jaw. 

Some look at me, some with a brief, fleeting pity, while others curl their lips in disdain. Kael's one of them, grinning like he did when he spat on my shoes. I remain stiff, head held high, yet the burden of their gazes makes me feel diminutive. 

An aged, weathered figure, bent over, shuffles by, quietly murmuring, “He’s pursued her for years.” My heartbeat falters, years? I clutch his sleeve, feeling frantic. "What are you trying to say?" He shakes me off and limps away, but the word reverberates like a stone dropped in my belly. 

How long has Gabriel been striving for this? Since Father has been living? Earlier? My skin crawls, the sounds of the square diminishing as queries scratch up my back. 

I locate Evelyn later, trapping her in the vacant hallway as the pack scatters. She’s by herself, neatly folding a shawl with those steady, tranquil hands, as if the announcement was trivial, a task completed. 

“Were you unaware?” I insist, my tone piercing, my strong hand striking the wall next to her. She doesn't react, merely shrugs, her voice too steady, too practiced. “He is the Alpha. I have no voice." The words glide out, sleek as her silk, and my skin tingles. 

No comment? She's not being truthful, I can sense it in how her gaze drifts away from mine, evading the confrontation I'm yearning for. 

"He's marrying you to erase Father," I retorted, moving nearer. "To erase me." Her fingers stop for a moment, then continue folding. "It's concluded, Marcy," she replies, gentle yet decisive. 

I gaze, looking for the mother who used to braid my hair, but she’s missing, masked by this unfamiliar person acting a role. For Gabriel? For another person? My chest hurts, empty and sore. 

Night descends weightily, the atmosphere dense with pine and the remote cry of a solitary wolf. I walk back and forth in my room, the floorboards groaning beneath my boots, just two days until this dreadful wedding, and four until I face Jason’s fury. 

My hand is a pulsing disaster, swollen and ineffective, yet it’s my thoughts that are racing, ensnared by Gabriel’s smile, Evelyn’s indifference, that elder’s whisper. 

Over the years he’s desired her, desired this, perhaps since Father chose her as his mate. Was it what she wanted? I strike the wall, agony shooting through my leg, and collapse to the ground, Father's dagger resting in my lap. 

Its notches shimmer in the candlelight, a tether I hold onto. Five days earlier, I believed the Sun Pack represented liberation, now it’s merely another connection in a chain whose end I cannot see. 

Sounds rise from beneath, soft yet cutting, slicing through the stillness. I sneak to the window, slowly opening it, and a slapping chilly air stings my face, yet Gabriel’s growl resonates distinctly. 

“She’ll be gone in no time,” he pronounces, as arrogant as always. A chuckle comes next, but not from him, it's deeper, harsher, a noise from a strange source. My breath halts, each muscle compressing firmly.

Who is accompanying him? Not Torin, his beta, too rough. Not Evelyn, too gentle. A different person, linked to this chaos, but the night conceals their identity, their part. 

My strong hand clutches the ledge, splinters piercing my flesh. "No time," he uttered, four days until the trade, or would it be earlier? The laughter echoes once more, a silver steel knife in the swart, and I bang the window closed, heart racing. 

Whoever they may be, they are part of it, part of this game. I walk back and forth, the space getting smaller with each stride, my thoughts a tempest of partially understood realities. 

Gabriel is wedding Evelyn to outshadow Father, but that laughter, it’s something I can't identify, a danger I can’t label. 

Four days. I must find out who and why, before they confine me in that marriage or send me away to Jason. My lip hurts as I chew it, the flavor of blood intense and known. 

I’m not merely a pawn, they fear me, both of them, and now another presence is looming. I seize the dagger, holding it like a vow, as a scream slices through the night, Evelyn’s voice, intense and enraged, erupting from below. 

It stopssuddenly, as if a thread has broken, and a heavier silence descends.