Chapter 5

♠SYLVARA ♠

Since the night of our so-called bet, he had vanished. Not a glimpse of him, not even the shadow of his presence. I should have been grateful—how could I kill a wolf who refused to show his face?

But the moon was a cruel tattletale. Even when he hid, his presence lingered. His scent of pine, blood, and smoke haunted every corner of the villa. My wolf stirred restlessly every time the wind carried it, a reminder that Darius Ashfang was never truly gone.

The maid escorted me down the corridor, my first time outside the locked chamber. The villa was a labyrinth, larger than my uncle’s estate, its walls carved from black stone that seemed to absorb light. Chandeliers hung like cages of fire. My uncle’s estate had been a home of power. This was a den of monsters.

But it wasn’t the grandeur that froze me. It was the sound. Sharp, guttural, desperate. Pleas. I followed the noise into the garden and saw him—Darius Ashfang. My captor. My enemy. My executioner.

He stood in his true form, halfway shifted—fangs bared, claws dripping with blood. His grey eyes glowed like molten silver, feral and untamed. Around him, a group of men knelt, their bodies broken, faces smashed into masks of terror.

“Alpha, we swear—we’ll never betray you again!” one of them cried, his voice raw, his scent thick with fear.

For one wild, treacherous heartbeat, I thought I saw mercy flicker across Darius’s face. He crouched low, lifting one man by the collar, claws grazing his throat with almost gentle care.

Maybe… maybe he wasn’t—

The crack of bone shattered the thought. One swift movement, and the man’s neck snapped. The others followed, Darius’s claws carving through them like paper. A howl ripped from his chest, primal and merciless, shaking the trees, rattling my bones.

The garden stones glistened with blood. The smell hit me, thick and metallic, making bile rise in my throat.

“You… you killed them,” I choked, horrified. “They were begging for their lives!”

Darius’s smirk was a blade across my fury. He shifted back into his human form, blood streaking his bare chest, muscles taut and glistening beneath the moonlight. He wiped his claws against a silk cloth and tossed it aside, casual as if he’d just finished dinner.

“What are you doing out here, little wolf? You’ll catch a cold.” His voice was velvet laced with venom, his presence suffocating.

I staggered back, rage burning hotter than fear. “You’re a monster!”

He tilted his head, amused. “Strange words from someone who once swore she’d kill me herself. Shouldn’t you enjoy a scene like this? Death. Power. Blood. Isn’t that the only language wolves like us understand?”

The men around him didn’t flinch. To them, this massacre was routine. To me, it was a prophecy. If I didn’t kill him soon, this house, this wolf would devour me whole.

~~~~

That night, I paced the small guest room he had thrown me into after dinner, the air thick with the scent of him still lingering on my skin. My uncle’s enemy. My family’s destroyer. The man who smiled like sin and violence were his birthrights.

And yet… he had let me live.

That mercy..if it could be called mercy, burned worse than any chains. Darius Ashfang didn’t spare lives. He owned them. And I refused to belong to him.

My plan was simple: lure him close, lure him low, and drive the fork into his heart before he could react. I had studied him these past days, the way his arrogance made him slow to underestimate me, the way his grey eyes darkened when he was close enough to breathe the same air. He wanted control. I would give it to him—just enough to bury steel beneath his ribs.

When I heard his footsteps outside my room, I braced myself. I loosened my blouse, undoing three buttons, letting the silk gape just enough to show skin. My hands trembled, not from fear but fury..

I fumbled with my blouse, feigning struggle.

The door opened. He didn’t knock. Of course he didn’t. He entered like the devil into a church unchallenged, inevitable.

His presence filled the chamber like smoke thick, suffocating, inescapable.

“Trouble with that?” His voice was silk and steel, mocking. “Let me help you.”

I feigned resistance, then yielded, exactly as I had planned. My body was my only weapon left. Seduction would be the blade. But Darius Ashfang was never a man to follow scripts.

His hands moved with terrifying patience, slipping the blouse from my shoulders. His heat pressed against me, his breath scorching my ear. My wolf snarled within me, torn between submission and the urge to rip him apart.

“You…” My voice cracked, my body betraying me with shivers. “What are you—”

He silenced me with his touch, dragging his claws lightly down my spine, just enough to sting. I gasped, my knees weakening.

“Perfect,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the curve of my neck, just above my mark.

My heart stopped. A mark. A claim.

Panic roared in me. If he marked me, I would never escape him. Our souls would bind. My plan would die.

“You’re insane!” I shoved at him, but he only tightened his hold, forcing me to face him. His glowing eyes pinned me.

“Soft,” he whispered with a wolfish grin, grinding his chest against my breasts. “Weak. But you’ll learn.” His hand slid lower, gripping my hip possessively.

I wanted to scream. To claw his face off. But part of me was traitorous, shameful and I shivered under his dominance.

“You can bring out the blade now,” he said suddenly, his voice mocking, eyes glittering.

My blood froze. He knew.

I tried to laugh. “What are you talking about?”

He tilted his head, predator playing with prey. “Then perhaps you wanted me this badly?”

My nostrils flared. “Never!”

“Never say never,” he growled, his lips brushing mine, voice so deep it rattled my bones.

That was it. My last chance. Then I struck.

The fork flashed between us, the metal glinting before I drove it forward with all the strength my fury could muster. His eyes widened not with fear, but with surprise as the tines sank into his chest, just beneath his collarbone.

The sound was obscene, a wet crunch of metal piercing flesh.

Darius staggered back, a curse tearing from his lips. Blood spread across his white shirt, crimson blooming like a dark flower.

For a breathless second, victory surged through me. My chest heaved. My hand trembled around the bloodied fork.

“I told you,” I whispered, my voice shaking with both triumph and rage. “I will kill you.”

“Fuck the bet!” I whispered, twisting the blade. “Adiós, Darius Ashfang. I won!”