Chapter 3

Dominic:

Her scent wouldn’t leave me.

It clung to my skin, my throat, my sanity.

No matter how many times I tried to ignore it, it was there, soft, defiant, dangerous. And fucking hell did I find myself  wanting nothing more than to claim her.

Aria Wren.

The girl who refused to kneel. The slave who should’ve been invisible. The one person who dared to openly challenge me, and lived to tell the tale.

And yet, since the moment she walked into my hall, I hadn’t gone a single hour without feeling the burn of her scent in my lungs.

Katherine noticed.

Of course she did.

“Your little debt payment is causing quite the stir,” Katherine murmured beside me, her hand looping through my arm as we stood at the edge of the training grounds. “The pack is starting to wonder why you’re keeping her alive. I, for one, find myself being curious.”

Her tone was sweet, but her grip wasn’t. I could feel her nails pressing lightly against my sleeve. And the tension of her posture was not one that I could miss.

“She’s here to serve,” I said flatly. “Just like every other slave.”

“Then perhaps she should perform for us,” Katherine replied with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “A test. To show her obedience. She should show us what it is to be a slave.”

I didn’t like where this was going, but saying no would make it worse. For me. And for her… Aria.

“You can make the arrangement, I’ll be watching.” I said, knowing that this was a challenge that was going to press on my own wolf.

Minutes later, Aria stood in the middle of the ring, surrounded by half a dozen trained wolves. Her wrists were bare, her expression calm. Too calm.

I folded my arms. “Don’t kill her,” I said to the captain.

Katherine’s laugh was soft and poisonous. “That depends on how well she behaves. You know, more slaves have died on these grounds than others.”

The whistle blew.

The first warrior lunged. Aria moved like lightning, ducked under his arm, twisted his wrist, and drove her elbow into his ribs hard enough to make him stagger. Another charged. She spun, kicked low, caught him in the knee.

The crowd went silent. She was trained for this.

When the last one tried to grab her hair, she slammed her knee into his face and dropped him flat on the ground. Dust rose around her, and she stood in the center of it, chest heaving, eyes locked on me.

And I… couldn’t look away.

She wasn’t trembling. She wasn’t broken. She was alive.

“Impressive,” Katherine said tightly beside me. “Seems your slave has teeth. Trained well.”

“She’s not…” I stopped myself before I said mine. “…obedient.”

Katherine’s gaze cut to me, sharp and knowing. “You should remind her who commands her, then. I believe since she can fight off our warriors, thinking she is stronger… she can fight you.”

I didn’t respond. I was already walking.

The crowd parted as I crossed the ring, the scent of dust and blood mixing with her heat. When I reached her, I didn’t speak. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer, hard enough to make her stumble into me.

“Was that your idea of submission?” I asked, voice low.

“You told them not to kill me,” she shot back, eyes burning. “I made sure they didn’t. But I don’t think that you expected to sit around and get beaten, no?”

My jaw tightened. “You think this is a game?”

“You think it isn’t?” She asked, giving me a cold smile. “So, are you here to lunge at me? Or…?

The defiance in her voice made my wolf snarl inside me. I stepped closer, close enough that she had to tilt her head back to meet my eyes. Her pulse raced under her skin, fast and wild.

“You’re playing with fire,” I murmured.

She didn’t back down. “Then burn. I’m waiting.”

Something inside me snapped.

My hand slid up her throat, not to hurt, just to own. Her pulse thudded against my palm, her breath caught. She didn’t fight me this time. She looked right at me, unflinching, waiting.

“Aria,” I warned, my voice more growl than words.

“Alpha,” she breathed.

The sound of it undid me.

I leaned in before I could stop myself. My lips brushed the curve of her neck, and my fangs grazed her skin, just enough to make her gasp.

The bond hit like lightning.

“Dominic!”

Katherine’s voice cut through the moment like a whip.

I froze. The entire pack was watching.

Aria’s lips curved in a faint, dangerous smile. She’d felt it too, my loss of control. I

I let go of her instantly, stepping back like she was poison. But not before I heard her whisper… “Checkmate.”

“End it,” I ordered my Beta, my voice low. “And I want it done now…”