Chapter 4

Lois had no idea what awaited her when Alpha Karl ordered that she be brought before him.

The attendants bathed her in silence, lowering her trembling body into a tub of steaming water perfumed with rich essential oils. The scents clung to her skin—lavender, sandalwood, myrrh—too luxurious for someone he despised. Lois shivered, uncertain why she was being treated this way. He hated her, loathed her… why make her clean, perfumed, dressed like a consort?

Minutes later, she was led into his chamber.

The room was vast, suffocating with darkness. Heavy velvet drapes swallowed the light, shadows clung to gilded furnishings, and at the center, a towering four-poster bed loomed, draped in silk and black velvet. The wealth was undeniable, yet the atmosphere was oppressive, like a lair that devoured all hope.

A voice, cold as steel, sliced through the silence.

“Strip.”

Lois froze. The command rattled through her bones, making her skin crawl. From the shadows, Alpha Karl emerged—his eyes glowing like a predator’s, sharp and merciless. There was no space for protest, no escape.

Her hands shook as she untied the thin straps on her shoulders. The velvet dress slid soundlessly to the floor, pooling at her feet. Only then did she understand why the attendants had denied her underclothes.

Karl’s gaze traveled over her bare body, lingering on every curve, every soft line of pale skin. His jaw clenched. For the first time in his life, a woman’s body unsettled him. Even in his loathing, Lois’s beauty struck him like lightning.

“Forget what you once were,” his voice rumbled, low and cruel. “You are nothing now. Mine. My chattel. My slave. My possession.”

His words crushed her like chains.

“Move to the table. Bend.”

Each syllable dripped authority, stripping her of will. Lois obeyed slowly, her back stiff, her breath shallow. She turned, her waist swaying without intention, a natural grace she could not hide. His eyes followed, dark with a hatred that bordered on hunger.

To him, she was not a woman. She was prey. A curse. A punishment he intended to mold into submission.

The sound of his steps closing in behind her sent panic spiraling through her chest. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be… I am a mate, not a slave…

Her thought broke into a gasp as his hand seized her, forcing her still. His finger invaded her without warning, brutally prying past her innocence. She tried to close her legs, but his strength caged her completely.

“This will be a long punishment,” he growled against her ear. “Do nothing for your own favor… even if the pain kills you.”

Tears pooled in her eyes as his fingers thrust mercilessly inside her, stretching, burning, violating. His other hand seized her breast, pinching her nipple until a cry escaped her lips.

Lois trembled violently, shame and agony battling within her. Yet beneath the pain, a dangerous heat licked at her skin, foreign and unwanted, leaving her shuddering against the table as cruel sounds slipped past her lips.

He did not stop. His hands roamed, pinching, gripping, choking her throat as his fingers drove into her relentlessly. The room filled with the obscene sounds of her body betraying her.

Then, without warning, she felt the hard length of him press against her. Her eyes widened in horror, and before she could beg, he thrust inside her.

The searing pain ripped through her as his body invaded hers, every forceful thrust a punishment meant to tear her apart. Lois screamed, her nails clawing at the wood beneath her, but his grip crushed her in place.

Every shudder, every cry, only fed his fury. Pain built and broke inside her like waves until her body convulsed, betraying her with an unwanted release that left her trembling violently. Her vision blurred, and the last thing she remembered was his voice growling her damnation as darkness pulled her under.

Three weeks passed.

Three weeks of relentless torment. Nights bound in his chamber, days rotting in the cell. His hatred carved deeper into her each time he touched her, leaving her pale, weak, and broken. She hated herself. She hated him. And still, he did not let her die.

“Her punishment is eternal,” Alpha Karl had said. “She will live long enough to wither grey under my wrath.”

When Lois finally collapsed, vomiting and feverish, Karl ordered her dragged to the infirmary. Not out of mercy—only because he would not allow her to escape damnation through death.

At the infirmary gates, guards were halted. No armed men could enter the royal medical wing. For the first time in weeks, Lois was truly alone.

The physician examined her, his face growing tight with unease.

“Do you suffer morning sickness?” he asked carefully.

Lois blinked, confused, before nodding.

Moments later, her blood was drawn, and the physician excused himself to run tests.

She sat in silence, trembling, until a whisper deep inside her urged: Run.

Her pulse raced. For the first time, no guards shadowed her steps. She veiled herself in torn velvet, crept past busy nurses, and slipped out the back gate. The palace wall towered impossibly high, crushing hope—until she saw it.

A tunnel. Loose bricks. A passage used by servants.

When the maids had gone, Lois pressed her shaking fingers to the stones and slipped through. The tunnel was narrow, scraping her skin, but on the other side was freedom. She ran, stumbling through brush and thorns, blood streaking her legs, lungs burning—yet she never looked back.

“Escape?” Alpha Karl’s roar shook the prison hall. The guard before him dropped to his knees, shaking.

“A-about thirty guards are already searching, Your Majesty. She was sick… she can’t have gone far.”

Before Karl could answer, the physician rushed in, his face pale.

“Your Majesty… the slave… she is three weeks pregnant.”

Karl froze. His jaw tightened, his veins pulsed.

“…Pregnant?” His voice broke with disbelief.

It was his child. His heir. From him—the cursed Alpha who was never meant to sire one.

And now… she was running.

His fury erupted like thunder.

“Wolfe!” he roared, his voice shaking the walls. “Send a thousand soldiers into every corner of this kingdom. Bring Lois back to me!”

The command reverberated through the palace like a storm, sealing Lois’s fate.