Chapter 7 - Captured

Eli

I run until my lungs feel like they're on fire, until my legs shake with exhaustion. Every few minutes I stop, listening, but there's nothing. No sign of him at all.

Maybe he really has given up. Or maybe this is just another mind game, another way to show me how powerless I am.

I find myself in a small clearing, moonlight streaming down through a gap in the canopy. For the first time since this nightmare began, I feel like I can breathe.

I lean against a tree, trying to catch my breath and get my bearings.

If I can figure out which direction the border is, I might be able to make it across and-

A branch creaks overhead.

I look up just in time to see a shadow drop from the trees.

Ronan lands in front of me with predatory grace. His eyes gleam like liquid gold in the moonlight, and his smile is all sharp edges.

"Did you really think you could escape me in my own territory?" he asks, voice deceptively soft.

I back into a tree, the bark rough against my spine. "How long have you been shadowing me?"

“Shadowing?” His lips curl. “I never stopped. I only let you think you were alone. I was just... letting you tire yourself out."

The casual cruelty of it hits me like a slap. This whole time, while I've been running scared, convinced I might actually get away, he's been watching. Playing with me.

"You bastard."

"Such language." He takes a step closer, and I can smell him. Cedar and smoke and something wild that makes my wolf whimper. "Is that any way to speak to your Alpha?"

"You're not my Alpha."

His smile widens, showing teeth. "Aren't I?"

I try to sidestep him, but he's faster. His hand catches my wrist, spinning me around and slamming me back against the tree. The impact drives the air from my lungs.

"Let me go," I gasp, but my voice comes out weak, breathless.

"No." He steps closer, pinning me with his body. "I don't think I will."

His free hand comes up to trace the line of my throat, fingers ghosting over the spot where he bit me before. The mate bond flares to life, sending heat racing through my veins.

"You feel it, don't you?" he murmurs, leaning in until his breath fans across my skin. "The pull. The need. Your body knows who it belongs to, even if your mind hasn't accepted it yet."

"I don't belong to anyone," I snarl, but my voice shakes.

"Liar." His thumb presses against my pulse point, and I can't hide how fast my heart is racing. "Your body tells a different story."

I try to shove him away, but he catches both my wrists, pinning them above my head against the rough bark.

"Please," I whisper, and I hate how desperate I sound.

"Please what?" His eyes search mine, and there's something almost gentle in his expression. "Please let you go? Please stop making you feel things you don't want to feel?"

I can't answer. Can't admit that part of me, a part that's growing stronger every second, doesn't want him to stop.

"Or," he continues, voice dropping to a whisper, "Please don't stop?"

The mate bond pulses between us, hot and insistent, and I arch against him without meaning to. The movement brings our bodies flush together, and his sharp intake of breath tells me he feels it too.

"You're a monster," I breathe.

"Yes." His eyes are wild now, pupils blown wide. "And you're mine."

His head dips toward my throat, and I know what's coming. I should fight. Should struggle. Should do anything but tilt my head to give him better access.

But I do.

His teeth sink into the same spot as before, and this time the pain is sharper, deeper. More permanent.

I cry out, the sound echoing through the clearing, but it's not entirely from pain. The mate bond explodes between us, sending waves of heat and need crashing through my system.

My wolf howls inside me, a sound of surrender and claiming all at once.

When Ronan pulls back, his lips are stained with my blood, and his eyes burn like molten gold.

"You belong to me," he says, voice rough with satisfaction. "Anyone who forgets that won't live to regret it."

"You're-" My voice catches. "You're criminally insane."

His thumb strokes over the fresh bite mark, making me shudder. "And you're a monster's mate."

I'm trembling under his touch, torn between wanting to tear him apart and wanting to pull him closer. The bond is stronger now, more insistent, singing in my blood like a drug.

"Despise me all you want," he murmurs, pressing a soft kiss to the wound that makes me gasp. "You'll still come when I call."

He steps back suddenly, leaving me slumped against the tree, legs shaking, the bite mark throbbing in time with my heartbeat.

The pack emerges from the shadows. They've been watching the whole time. Their eyes reflect the moonlight like stars, and they watch us with a mixture of awe and fear.

Ronan looks down at me like he's surveying conquered territory.

"Bring him," he commands, his voice carrying absolute authority. "He belongs to me now."

And as rough hands lift me from the ground, I realize with sick certainty that he's right.