Chapter 3

I walked toward the dungeon with the little bottle hidden in my hand. When I reached the entrance, I stopped. Darius wasn’t in the cell where I had been visiting him for the past month.

I looked at the guards. “Where is Darius?”

One guard looked over at me. “The king told us to take him somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“A guest room.”

I stared at him. “Why?”

He lifted one shoulder. “No idea. That’s all we know.”

I looked down the passage. “Which room?”

The guard pointed ahead. “The third room on the left.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

I hurried down the passage, wondering why the Alpha King had suddenly decided to move Darius out of the dungeon. He had been kept there for weeks, so I couldn’t understand why things had changed now. I reached the third room and heard movement inside, followed by a low growl.

I frowned and pushed the door open. The sight inside shocked me.

A female wolf called Sera was on top of Darius, pinning him against the bed. His hands were around her throat, and they were struggling against each other. Darius’s face was twisted with anger, while the female wolf was trying to pull his hands away.

Then I saw the wounds on Darius’s body had opened again, and blood was running down his side, staining the sheets beneath him.

“What the fuck?” I shouted.

Sera’s head snapped toward me. I rushed into the room and grabbed her arm, pulling her away from Darius. “Get off him!”

She shoved me hard. “Stay out of this, Ayla.”

I stumbled back, but I quickly regained my balance. My eyes went to Darius, and the sight of blood running from his reopened wounds made my anger rise.

“You’re hurting him,” I said.

Sera gave a mocking laugh. “And what exactly are you going to do about it?”

I stepped toward her. “I said get out.”

She folded her arms. “You don’t give me orders.”

“The Alpha King sent me here,” she said. “And he sent me for a reason.”

My hands curled into fists. “Whatever reason the king gave you, it doesn’t include tearing open the Prince's wounds.”

Sera glanced at Darius and then looked back at me with a smirk. “You seem very concerned about him.”

I didn’t answer her, and then she stepped closer. “Or maybe you want the prince for yourself?”

Anger flashed through me, but I stayed where I stood. “Leave,” I commanded.

Sera laughed again. “You think because you’re Magnar’s little sister, you can order me?”

“I don’t have to be Magnar’s sister to make you leave.”

Her smile disappeared.

I took another step toward her. “You have one chance to walk out of this room yourself, or I’ll make you.”

Sera stared at me for a few seconds, then her eyes dropped to my hands. My claws had begun to push through my fingertips.

She took a step back.

“Fine,” she muttered. “But don’t blame me when the Alpha King hears about this.”

“I’ll tell him myself.”

Sera glared at me before turning toward the door.

“And don’t come back,” I said.

She stopped for a moment, then walked out and slammed the door behind her. I turned back to Darius. He was still sitting on the bed, his breathing heavy. Blood continued to run from the wounds on his side.

I frowned. “Are you trying to die?”

His eyes lifted to mine.

“You’re already badly injured, yet you were fighting her like you wanted to make it worse.” I pointed at his wounds. “Look at yourself.”

Darius gave a bitter laugh.

“You Northern wolves never cease to disgust me.”

My eyebrows pulled together. “What do you mean?”

“Torture didn’t make me surrender, so you decided to try something else.” His eyes moved toward the door. “When the whips didn’t work, you started sending women to my room.”

I stared at him, my fingers slowly curling at my sides.

“You chain me, beat me until I bleed, and then send a woman to my bed when I refuse to submit.” His voice was full of contempt. “What kind of people do that?”

My lips parted, but no words came out.

He looked directly at me. “Tell me, Ayla. What’s the difference between the women you send to men’s beds and cheap prostitutes?”

His words hit harder than I expected. I looked away, remembering all the times I had seen Northern women standing behind male wolves, waiting for them to call. I couldn’t deny what he was saying, even if hearing it from him made something inside me hurt.

Darius watched me for a moment before his eyes narrowed.

“So, why are you here?” he asked. “Did you come here tonight because the king sent you too?”

My fingers tightened around the little bottle hidden in my clothes.

“Are you here to sleep with me?” He asked again.

I swallowed and looked at his wounds instead. Blood was still running down his side, and he was standing there as if he wasn’t already close to collapsing.

Darius gave a cold laugh. “You’ve spent the last month bringing me food and taking care of my wounds. For that alone, I have no desire to kill you so you can leave.”

I sighed. “Even if you wanted to, you shouldn’t.”

His eyebrow lifted.

“You’re badly injured, Darius. Northern wolves surround you, and you’re still trying to fight everyone you see.” I shook my head. “If you kill me, my brother will tear you apart before you take another breath.”

He said nothing.

“And even if I don’t come here,” I continued, “the Alpha King will keep sending someone else. He won’t stop because I refused. He’ll send another woman.”

“She won’t be like me either,” I added quietly. “She’ll probably be much fiercer.”

Darius didn’t answer. He stood there quietly, his eyes fixed somewhere past me. I watched him for a moment. His expression had changed, and he seemed lost in thought.

My hand slowly moved toward the little bottle hidden inside my clothes. If I was going to do this, I had to do it now.

I stepped closer to the bed and reached for the silver chain attached to an iron ring on the side of the bed frame. My fingers closed around the cold metal. I pulled the chain from the iron ring and moved behind him. Before Darius could turn around, I caught his wrist and wrapped the chain around it.

He reacted immediately.

“Ayla!”

He jerked his arm hard, nearly pulling me forward with him. I held on, quickly stepping closer so he couldn’t get enough space to swing his arm at me.

“Stop moving!” I snapped.

He refused to listen. He jerked around and pulled hard on the chain. I almost fell, but my hands stayed locked around it. Darius kept pulling, and I knew I couldn’t match his strength. Then something Magnar taught me came back.

When a deer fought against a rope or chain, pulling harder only made it harder to control. I had to keep close and work around its movements. I waited for Darius to pull again. The moment he did, I stepped behind him and caught his other wrist. He tried to wrench it away, but I brought both wrists together and quickly wrapped the chain around them.

“Damn you!”

He fought harder, twisting his body and trying to pull his hands apart. The movement made him wince, and I saw fresh blood spread across his side.

“Darius, stop!” I said, tightening the chain. “You’re going to open your wounds again.”

“I don’t care!”

He pulled again. I planted my feet and held on with both hands. My arms shook from the effort, but I remembered how Magnar had shown me to secure the chain so an animal couldn’t use its strength against me. I wrapped the chain around his wrists one more time, pulled it through the iron ring, and secured it.

Darius tried to move his hands, but nothing happened. He turned his head slowly toward me, breathing heavily.

I took a step back, and he stared at the chain, then at me.

“You little—”

I quickly reached for the bottle hidden in my clothes and uncorked it.

Darius noticed immediately. “What is that?”

I didn’t answer. I stepped closer and held the bottle behind my back.

His eyes narrowed. “Ayla.”

I moved to his side and caught his chin before he could turn away. With his hands tied behind him, he couldn’t push me back. Still, he jerked his head away, forcing me to tighten my grip.

“Stop moving,” I said.

“What are you doing?”

I pressed my thumb against the corner of his mouth and forced his lips apart. He tried to turn his head again, but I held his chin firmly and poured half of the deer blood into his mouth.

He swallowed, then coughed and glared at me.

“What the hell did you just give me?”

I stepped back and looked down at the bottle. My hand was shaking. I lifted it to my lips and drank the rest. The bitter, metallic taste made me grimace, but I swallowed every drop.

Darius stared at me.

“It isn’t poison,” I said, lowering the empty bottle.

I took a breath and tried to steady myself.

“I promise I’ll be gentle with you.”