LOGINI spend the next four days locked in this room, refusing to eat anything. I don’t know how much longer I can hold out. My body is weak now. My vision blurs at the edges. Sometimes the room tilts without warning. I can barely walk in a straight line. In my weaker moments, I wonder whether starving myself is worth the point I’m trying to prove. I wonder if fainting from hunger would be more humiliating than simply giving in and eating. The trays keep coming. And I keep sending them back. Somehow, I find enough spite in me to endure it. There is nothing to do but think. And thinking is dangerous. Does he plan to keep me here until I surrender? Until I accept the bond as if it’s some inevitable law of nature? He should know it’s a fruitless venture. I’d rather break than bend. I’d rather be reduced to bone than become his possession. Ever since that dinner, I haven’t seen Damon. He hasn’t called for me. Rhoda hasn’t returned, despite saying she would. For a moment, I had almost
I stare at my hand for a long moment.Why does it keep reaching for my neck?Like something there is calling to it.Somehow I found the strength, despite my food-deprived body, to take a bath.I put on the clothes I’d taken off yesterday. Emory must have had them washed.They lie neatly folded in the armoire, the only item of clothing I’ve allowed myself to touch.When I’m done, I move to the window to study how far the room is from the ground.Four floors.Nothing to climb down with.I checked yesterday. I just needed to confirm it in daylight.Below the window, a garden stretches like something painted for royalty.Curved stone paths wind through manicured hedges trimmed with obsessive precision. White roses spill over trellises in controlled abundance, their petals too perfect to be accidental.A fountain sits at the center, water cascading in soft tiers, catching sunlight like liquid glass.Tall cypress trees stand sentry along the perimeter wall, their shadows long and deliberate
The door shuts behind me.The sound is soft.I don’t know how I stop myself from slamming it.I also don’t know how my feet found the strength to manage to carry me from the dining room to this glorified prison cell without collapsing.A few minutes after Damon left the dinning room, the red-haired lackey guard escorted me back here. As usual, he took position outside my door.I was far too distracted to comment on what is becoming a disturbing tradition.I tip my head back against the wood and close my eyes.For a long moment, I don’t move.My hand is still half-curled. My breathing uneven. My skin still burning where his mouth had been.It takes effort to remember how to breathe properly.In.Out.Slow.The silence thickens.And then my memory decides it is the perfect time to punish me.Not with the memory of heat.Not with the memory of his proximity.With precision.“You misunderstand what position you’re in,” he had said.My jaw tightens.I push away from the door so abruptly I
After drawing all these conclusions, I had already rehearsed his next words in my head. Prepared what I'd say even.That is why I never expected him to say what he said next.“You can’t be serious,” I say, incredulous. “You can’t possibly mean that.”“I do.”I laugh, dry and sharp. “Is this a joke? It has to be a joke.”“You know you can just reject me, right?” My voice rises, edging toward something unsteady. “No one would fault you for it. I’m weak. I’m human. You don’t gain anything from me.”A faint crease forms between his brows.“My decision is final,” he says simply.Something in my chest tightens.“What if I don’t want to be your mate?” I press on, faster now. “What if I reject you instead? I will reject you. In fact, I’ll do it now.”My breathing turns uneven. My head feels too loud, too full.He can't do this to me. I won't let him.“I… I Michaela Caldara—” I start, forcing the words out. “Of the Eastern Pack—”I break off with a sharp sound.A yelp.Damon has my left hand p
He doesn’t speak for so long that I begin to fear he will deny me this information altogether and I will have no idea how to get answers.But at the last second, he surprises me.He answers.“The Gamma is in one of the holding cells underneath this building.”For a second, I do not understand the words.They hang in the air between us, fragile. Impossible.Underneath this building.Not dead.Not gone.Underneath.My lungs forget how to function.I stare at him, searching for the trap hidden inside the sentence.There has to be one.He would not hand me something this valuable without threading a hook through it.“He’s alive?” I hear myself ask, my voice almost breaking.Damon’s gaze does not waver.“Yes.”The single word lands heavier than the feast between us ever did.Relief crashes through me, stealing the strength from my spine. I grip the edge of the table to steady myself, nails pressing into polished wood.He is okay.Cole is okay.The image of him as I last saw him flickers in
I smile. Saccharine. “I’ll stand, thank you.” He watches me for a second. Then another. He nods. “The seat will be there whenever you’re done standing.” His gaze flicks to the side. He gestures to the servants, and they begin bringing in trays. And more trays. And then even more. The smell arrives first. It slides into the room before the food fully does. Warm. Layered. Roasted meat glazed in something sweet and smoky, the scent curling through the air like a deliberate temptation. Fresh bread, still breathing heat, buttery and soft. Fruits carved with precision, their brightness slicing cleanly through the heavier aromas. Sauces I cannot even begin to name, rich and fragrant, drifting in slow waves that make the room feel less like stone and more like surrender. My mouth reacts before I can stop it. My throat tightens. I swallow. Once. Then again. I cannot remember the last time I ate something that wasn’t stale. Cold. Swallowed too fast. Eaten wi
The trial chamber is a massive room carved into the lower level of the pack house.Not a dungeon. Not a prison.Something worse.I have been here once before. Years ago. When a man was tried for sneaking his human slave to one of the distant human settlements without permission. He claimed he was s
I scrub my hands longer than necessary.The sink squeaks when I turn it off.I count to ten before I reach for his door.He hates when I knock before entering his room.I do it anyway.I wait a second before turning the knob and stepping inside.There’s a bottle of sanitizer on the table by his cot
Damon has never let a slight go unpunished. Which means I’m either already dead… or something is very, very wrong. By noon, Damon should have humiliated me. At least twice. He hadn’t even looked at me. I keep glancing over my shoulder, half convinced I woke up in some parallel universe w
What are you doing?Somewhere in the back of my mind, a small, rational voice tries to break through.My fingers grow bolder.They trace a slow path across his shoulder, up the side of his throat, along the sharp line of his jaw.His breathing changes.I hear it.Feel it.The low growl building in h







