Chapter 4

VLADIMIR

She turned to her side and it was then she noticed the unconscious, bleeding women.

She shrank back, visibly horrified.

At that moment, I sent a mindlink to my Beta, Tom, instructing him precisely. I wanted everyone else out. I needed her alone with me. No distractions, no support. Just my presence, heavy and suffocating.

I turned to Craig and said coldly, "Dispose of the bodies."

"Sure," Craig replied.

He and the other guards filed out of the room.

She turned back to me, her voice trembling. "They did nothing wrong. They shouldn’t have been killed. Is this how you go around murdering innocent people?"

"Yes," I replied flatly.

I could almost hear the air escape her lungs as she gasped.

"Now, unless you want to end up like them, you better seal your mouth shut."

She fell silent.

The air thickened, tension swelling in the room until the very walls seemed to press inward. It was too quiet, so quiet I could feel the bond between us crackling, its pull unbearable.

The Elders of the Mancini pack were suffocating me with their prophecy; unmated, unmarried, heirless. And now, they claimed the Moon Goddess's last descendant must bear my heir. For years, the Risemoon Pack had been rumored to protect her. I couldn’t reach her without war. So I waged it and won, only to realize she was the very silver-eyed woman sitting before me.

Mate bond or not, I had to bind myself to her.

Jax surfaced in my mind, his tail wagging in wild, ridiculous excitement. "We’re just so destined to be."

"Shut the fuck up and stay far from my thoughts." I snapped back.

The mate bond sparked again, throwing me into erratic emotion while Jax yapped uselessly in the background. Yet, despite everything I felt, her face remained neutral. Didn't she feel it too? Or was it because, as the woman claimed, she had no wolf?

More thoughts of the woman seated across from me filled my mind. Damn the Goddess. I was being manipulated.

I turned away to collect myself, pulling distance between us.

Then I said, "After you were brought here, your mother was taken to our pack hospital."

Her entire body jerked. "What? Why? Is she alright?"

I walked to the table, picked up a file of documents, and flipped it open.

"She was unconscious throughout the journey," I explained. "A check-up was necessary."

I glanced up at her. Her face had gone pale.

My chest tightened at the sight. I looked back down, focusing on the file.

"She’s alright. My pack doctors cared for her under my instruction. She’s improving."

She let out a shaky breath. But after a moment, she tensed again. Her brows furrowed in suspicion.

"Why would you help my mother?" she asked. "You hate my pack. You hate us."

"Good question," I said, skimming the file. Everything was in order, just as I’d arranged.

I looked back at her. "You’re right. I detest everything about your pack, including you. And you likely hate me. That’s not surprising. Years ago, Risemoon invaded Mancini territory. Our enmity is soaked in blood. I don’t expect you to obey me willingly."

I paused, voice low and lethal. "So while your unconscious mother lies in comfort, I have a gun pointed to her head. Disobey me once, just once and she dies."

Her rage flared. "You—! How dare you threaten me under the pretense of helping her?!"

I clicked my tongue. "This is my pack. I do what I want, how I want."

I placed the documents on the table between us.

"To ensure your mother doesn’t get a bullet to the head," I said, "you’ll sign this. Then she’ll be released."

She narrowed her eyes, fists clenched. "I don’t trust you. You’ll still use her against me."

I shrugged, smiling coldly. "I don’t trust myself either. I could send the mindlink now and have her executed."

She visibly trembled.

"Choose wisely."

She stared down at the file, then picked it up and scanned it.

"That’s a contractual marriage," I explained. "You and I, for one year. We pretend to be in love. In return, your mother walks free."

"This is insane!" she spat. "I want nothing to do with the man who destroyed my pack!"

"And I want nothing to do with the daughter of a monster," I replied, voice trembling with buried rage. "But some things are more important than what we want. Your mother’s life is one of them."

She clenched her jaw so tightly I thought she might shatter her teeth.

"Did you even look at the part that details your rewards?" I asked. "You’ll receive a large sum of money. You and your mother walk free. No longer captives."

"I don’t want any of it," she hissed. "My mother would never accept this."

"Then say your loving goodbyes," I said calmly, already preparing the mindlink to Tom.

Her trembling fists gave her away.

"I hate you," she whispered.

"I hate you too," I replied without hesitation.

Suddenly, she snatched a pen from the table.

Her fingers were shaking, but her handwriting was sharp and deliberate. She signed the required pages in bold strokes: Ivy Hunt.

The name Ivy sent a warm rush through my mind. Jax wagged his tail excitedly.

But the name Hunt ignited the firestorm in my chest.

When she had signed the last line, she looked up with cold fury. "It’s done. Now can I see my mother?"

"Yes, Ivy," I said with a cruel smile.

Her glare was fire.

Then she stood and stormed out of the meeting room, rage flaring in every step.

IVY

Once I stepped out of the bloodstained room, the first person I met was the man who had earlier pointed a gun at one of the Risemoon Elders' daughters.

"I'm Craig. I’ll take you to the pack hospital," he said flatly.

I didn’t need a vision to know what that meant. Alpha Vladimir had mindlinked him about my mother.

Craig turned and started walking. I had no choice but to follow.

As we passed through the stone corridors, my eyes swept over the cells that lined the walls. Inside them were members of the Risemoon Pack; men, women, and warriors. They looked broken, some bruised, some just hollow-eyed. Seeing them like that twisted something in my chest.

Despite the hatred and cruelty I endured, this wasn’t how I wanted it to end.

The pack was in ruins. And even if they'd never treated me as one of their own, it still crushed my soul. It had once been my home. Now, it was little more than rubble and blood.

Craig didn’t speak as we walked. Eventually, he gestured toward a sleek black car parked outside the building. Without a word, I stepped in. The leather seat was smooth beneath me, the kind that screamed wealth and power—but all I could feel was discomfort.

Craig slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

The car moved, but I couldn’t relax. I couldn’t even lean my back fully against the seat. It looked luxurious, polished, probably imported. But in my eyes, it was soaked in blood, just like everything else in this cursed place. Every stitch in the leather seats felt tainted by death.

So many lives must’ve been lost in that war. Too many. That thought sank deep into my chest like a sharp blade. The bitterness in my mouth spread. The fury burned hotter.

Alpha Vladimir.

The name alone stirred my rage.

He had single-handedly crushed Risemoon. He murdered two innocent daughters of the Elders like they were nothing. He threatened to kill my mother, and to make matters worse, he forced me into a contractual marriage.

A damn contract.

My fists clenched in my lap, nails digging into my skin.

If that monster really thinks I’m going to marry him, he’s delusional.

Hallucinating.

He might have all the power, but I’m not some pawn he can toy with.

As soon as I see my mother, once I confirm she’s alive and safe, I’ll run. I don’t care how far I have to go, or what it takes. I’ll escape with her.

I refuse to stay in this place as a captive.

I won’t be a puppet for Alpha Vladimir.