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Chapter 10. Beaten and hurt

Author: jengreyy
last update Last Updated: 2025-05-15 18:25:27

* Zeina *

The dungeon was a place of despair, its stone walls thick with the cold sweat of forgotten souls. The air was damp, each breath tinged with the metallic bite of rust and the faint, decaying scent of old blood. My wrists ached where the iron shackles bit into my flesh, and the weight of my chains which I overlooked before is now a constant, cruel reminder of my fall from power. I leaned back against the slick, icy wall, my long, tangled hair clinging to the moisture-soaked stone.

I had sent Markel with a note for Donna, a desperate attempt to reach my brother, the only one left who might still stand by my side. But as the night stretched on, the small sliver of moonlight that cut through the high, grated window above me slowly receded, surrendering to the pale, indifferent light of dawn. Yet still, there was no sign of Markel.

I had clung to the hope that he would return, that my message would reach my brother the Alpha King and that somehow, I might find a way out of this da
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  • Against All Odds   Chapter 139. She wanted to shift

    * Zeina *Every day my body got a little stronger, but not in the way I needed. The bruises faded quicker now. My legs didn't shake as much after drills. My arms could take the weight of the blade without that deep, bone-deep ache setting in too soon. On paper, I was improving. But the truth was colder, my wolf was still gone.The hollow place inside me where she should have been remained silent, as if my bones had been emptied of something vital and filled instead with nothing. I tried not to think about it. Tried to convince myself that strength in this form was enough, that maybe I could fight like this forever. But the lie was fraying.Cerberus didn't see it, or maybe he did, and that's why he kept stopping me before I burned myself out. He thought I was impatient. I was terrified. Because if this was all I could be now... then I was no longer what I was born to be.The sparring left me breathless, but not in the satisfying way it used to. There was no shift to push me past the li

  • Against All Odds   Chapter 138. Training match

    * Cerberus *I didn't move until her footsteps faded into the Alpha house. The pit felt bigger without her in it, colder somehow, the churned mud already drying into ridges and cracks under the noon sun.She thought she could wear herself down and still hold the line when it mattered. She thought that fire would carry her through everything. But fire burns out faster than it knows. I'd seen too many warriors push past that point, and the end was always the same, not glory, not victory. Just silence.The scent of iron lingered in the air, faint but sharp enough to find if you knew where to look. She'd pushed herself so hard the skin at her knuckles had split under the gloves. And she called that strength.I turned toward the rack of training weapons, running a hand over the cold steel of a short blade. Tempering wasn't about breaking something down, it was about pulling it back from the edge just before it snapped.That's what she didn't understand yet. Footsteps sounded on the porch a

  • Against All Odds   Chapter 137. Cerberus lectures

    * Cerberus *By the time I reached the Alpha house, the last of the frost was gone, and steam rose from the warriors' backs like smoke from dying embers. Zeina stood in the center, shoulders squared, blade still in hand, chest rising too fast for my liking.Too long. Too hard. The warriors drifted toward the mess hall, talking low, throwing her glances that were half respect, half something else. Archer was in Donna's arms, silver hair bright in the sun, little fingers clutching that wolf carving like it was a crown.I stepped down into the pit, boots sinking into the churned mud. "Enough," I said, voice carrying in the quiet.Zeina turned, defiance already sharpening in her eyes. "Training's over.""No," I corrected, closing the distance between us, "you're over. You're pushing past the point where your body's helping you. You think pain is proof you're getting stronger, it's not. It's proof you're tearing yourself apart before you've healed."Her jaw worked, but she said nothing. Th

  • Against All Odds   Chapter 136. Mother and son

    * Zeina *The pit stank of blood and damp earth, the air sharp with the chill of morning. My arms ached from yesterday's battle, but there was no time to let the ache settle. Pain was part of the shaping, part of turning flesh into steel.Today, Donna stood off to the side, a thick blanket wrapped around her shoulders against the frost. Archer was in her arms, silver hair catching the dim light, eyes brighter than the sun dared to be this early. His carved wolf toy rested in one tiny hand, the other clutching the edge of Donna's cloak."Again," Beta Kael ordered, tossing me a weighted blade.I caught it, breath even, stance low. The warriors formed a loose circle, their attention fixed on every move I made. The black wolf from yesterday was caged now, chained and snarling in the holding pen near the ridge, but his shadow lingered over us.I lunged, pivoted, and blocked Beta Aldin's strike, the weight of the blade pulling at my shoulders. My ribs still protested each twist, but I didn'

  • Against All Odds   Chapter 135. Alpha without wolf

    * Zeina *Morning training came harder after a night like that. My body protested with every stretch, each bruise singing its own sharp song, but I forced myself to rise before the den fully stirred. The air smelled of pine and frost, my breath clouding as I jogged to the pit.Beta Kael and Beta Aldin were already there, standing with a circle of warriors. Their eyes followed me, no mockery this time, no pity, just something sharper. Respect, maybe."You're faster," Beta Kael said as I joined them, tossing me a weighted blade. His voice carried no embellishment, just fact."Still too slow for some enemies, Alpha." Beta Aldin added, his gaze narrowing. "But... you're different now."Different. I liked the sound of that better than weaker.We sparred until the ground was churned mud beneath our boots, until my arms felt like lead and the taste of iron lingered in my mouth. My reflexes were sharper; my strikes landed more often than they missed. Kael grunted his approval once, which for

  • Against All Odds   Chapter 134. Strength training

    * Zeina *The den was quiet when I found Archer, curled in his furs, his tiny breaths deep and even. His silver hair caught the low firelight, glinting like moonlit snow. I knelt beside him, brushing my fingers over the softness of his cheek, my heart clenching with that sharp, unbearable kind of love that makes you want to guard something with teeth and blood.My son. My heir. The one I'd given up my wolf for.They thought my silence at the war council meant weakness. They thought my absence from the battlefield meant fear. What they didn't know was that every choice I'd made, every sacrifice, was for this boy.But that didn't mean I would remain still. If I couldn't fight as the wolf anymore, then I would fight as the woman. My body could be forged into a weapon, just as deadly without claws. Strength wasn't only in fangs and fur, it was in discipline, precision, and the will to keep getting up after every blow.I rose quietly, leaving Archer under the guard of two sentinels who str

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