SIX

Three days passed.

Sera counted them by the meals left outside her door; breakfast, lunch, dinner, delivered by silent enforcers who never met her eyes. She ate little, her appetite was completely down the drain. Slept less, spent most of her time at the window, watching the dying forest and waiting for her cat to arrive.

Wreckage came on the second day.

Finn carried the carrier inside, set it on the floor, and left without a word. The orange tabby emerged slowly, sniffed the air, and immediately jumped onto the bed. He did not seem to care that they were prisoners, or at least he didn't seem to notice. He simply curled into a ball and began to purr.

At least someone is comfortable.

On the third night, Sera heard footsteps in the hallway, not Finn's. She'd learned to recognize his tread, they were efficient and unhurried. However, these footsteps were heavier and more authoritative.

Caelan....

She moved away from the door, positioning herself behind the armchair to put as much distace between them as she could. Wreckage flicked an ear but didn't bother to open his eyes open his eyes.

The knock came then, it sounded almost impatient.

"Sera."

She didn't answer.

"I know you're awake. Open the door."

"Say what you need to say from there." She replied coldly, she needed him to say his peace and leave.

"The contract is ready." He told her.

A damn contract.....

"What contract?" she called through the door. She wants interested in any contracts at all. She just wanted to get the fuck out of here and return to her quiet and stable life.

"The breeding agreement. Standard terms for a primal omega of your designation." He replied.

Standard terms, as if this happened every day, as if she were a business transaction.

"I'm not signing anything." She told him. "Leave me alone."

"You haven't read it."

"I don't need to read it to know what it says." She crossed her arms, glaring at the door though he couldn't see her. "My body, my children, my compliance, all in exchange for my life."

"That's one way to frame it." He said.

"Frame it however you want. It's still a cage. I'm a prisoner here, not just any prisoner, one you want to force to bear you an heir."

He didn't respond, and for a moment she thought he wasn't going to, but then the door opened.

Fin had brought some guys to work on the door yesterday, leaving it with only a lock from outside. It'd upset her even more but what could she do? She had no privacy and anyone could barge in at anytime.

He stepped inside, and the room seemed to shrink around him. He was dressed in all blacks, his dark hair was still damp from what she assumed was a shower, he carried a leather folder under one arm.

Her heart hammered but she forced her expression to remain neutral.

"You're not supposed to come in without warning." she said.

"I'm warning you now." He set the folder on the small table by the window. "Read it. Take your time, i'll wait."

"I told you...."

"I heard what you told me." He turned to face her. "And I agreed to one week. That was three days ago. You've had time to think. Now it's time to act."

Act.

Like she was a soldier following some fucking orders.

She looked at the folder on the table, then at him. Then back at the folder.

"If I refuse to sign?"

"Then we have a problem." He stepped toward her. Not close enough to touch, but close enough that she could smell him. She realized at once that the armchair between them was useless. "Because I can't help you if you won't help yourself. And I need you alive, Sera. That hasn't changed."

"Help me." She laughed, the sound was hollow. "You want to help me?"

"I want to save Ironwood. Saving you is part of that equation." His jaw tightened. "I'm not the enemy you've decided I am."

"Then what are you? You make it sound like I asked for any of this."

He didn't answer. Instead, he reached for the folder, opened it, and pulled out the first page. He held it out to her.

"Read, out loud. Start with the preamble."

She stared at the page in disbelief, then at his face. His expression was unreadable, he stared back at her with eyes that gave nothing away.

She took the page sharply, and her eyes narrowed on the words as she began reading our loud.

"The undersigned omega, hereinafter referred to as the Designate, agrees to submit to the physical bond with the undersigned alpha, hereinafter referred to as the Sire, for the purpose of conception and pack restoration." She looked up. "Is this supposed to make me feel special?"

"Keep reading."

She dropped her eyes back to the page.

"Frequency of coupling shall be determined by the Sire based on the Designate's fertile windows, not to exceed once per day during non-fertile periods." Her voice went flat. This was unbelievable. "The Designate acknowledges that her primary value to the pack lies in her primal gene and her ability to produce heirs of sufficient magical potency."

She stopped reading.

Her hands were shaking, she pressed the page against her thigh to still them.

"That's enough." she said. This was absurd, she couldn't keep reading.

"You haven't reached the termination clause." He pointed out. "Keep reading."

"I don't care about the termination clause." She looked at him. "You wrote this. You or your lawyers or whoever puts words on paper to make owning people sound civilized. You want me to sign away my body and my children. For what? A promise that I won't die?"

"For your life, your freedom," he said quietly. "Yes."

"And if I say no?"

He was silent for a long moment, his eyes remained fixed on hers as she glared at him, he remained unaffected. Then he took the page from her hand, their fingers brushed and what felt like a bold of electricity short through them. She pulled back like she'd been burned, and he pretended not to have felt anything.

"Then we do this the hard way." he replied to her question.

A memory of how his fangs had sunk into her neck suddenly flashed through her mind and her heart fell heavily. She stepped back. Was he about to unleash his brutish self on her?

"The hard way?"

"No contract, no signatures, just instinct." He stepped closer. "The surge you felt just now.... it confines you're in heat, Sera. Not full heat, not yet, but it's coming. I can smell it. Your body knows what it needs. And I'm the only one who can give it to you."

Shestepped back again. His presence and proximity were doing something to her body, it was stirring up something she didn't want to name.

"Don't." She said breathlessly.

"You said one week." He kept coming, he made his way around the chair. "I've given you three days. I've stayed outside that door. I haven't touched you. I haven't pushed." He stopped when there was barely a foot between them. "But I can't wait forever. My pack can't wait forever. And neither can your wolf."

Your wolf....

The words hit something deep in her chest. Her wolf was stirring. She'd felt it the night of the attack, flicker of her presence.

She hated that he was right.

"I'm not going to knot you tonight." he said. "I'm not going to touch you at all. Not until you say the word. But I need you to understand something." He leaned in, his breath warm against her ear. "You're already mine, Sera. You've been mine since the moment the bond snapped into place. The rejection didn't break it. It just made it hurt."

Her breath caught.

She wanted to knee him in the groin and shove him away, she wanted to scream that he was wrong, that she belonged to no one, that she would rather die than let him claim her.

But her body didn't move.

Her thighs pressed together as heat pooled low in her belly. Her nipples tightened beneath the thin shirt she'd worn to sleep. She could hardly breathe, her throat was so tight.

"You feel it." he murmured. "I know you do. Your scent changed the second I walked in. You're wet, Sera. I can smell that too."

God ....

She wanted to disappear, she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole.

"Get out." she whispered.

"I will." He pulled back, just enough to look at her face. "One week, that's what you asked for. You have four days left. At the end of them, you either let me save your life, or you walk away and die."

"I'll choose death."

"Maybe." He turned toward the door. "But I don't think I will. Also, your wolf isn't dead, Sera. And she wants to live. She wants to fight. And she wants me."

Jth that being said, he turned around and walked out. The door clicked shut behind him.

Sera stood frozen, her chest was heaving, her thighs were pressed together, her entire body was burning with a need she hadn't felt in three years.

She touched her underwear, the middle had a large Wet blotch. She was soaked.

She hated herself. She hated him more. But yet, somewhere deep in her chest, her wolf purred.