Chapter 5:

~Jane~

"We're so close, Jane. Keep going. Don't give up now. The borderline is just past those trees." The voice came again, steady and sure like a thread pulling me through the darkness.

I pushed my legs harder even though they screamed at me to stop. My lungs burned. My chest felt so tight I could barely pull another breath into my lungs.

Branches tore at my skin as I sprinted through like it was the last breath of air I'd ever get.

Then, just as I passed through a gap between two ancient pines, it happened.

A wave of energy rippled through me. It wasn't physical, but it was as real as the blood pounding in my ears. Familiar. Like deja vu wrapped in something holy. A memory I never lived- but always carried. That feeling.

The same one I had two years ago under the full moon when I shot awake in the dead of night, heart racing, certain that someone out there was calling to me. I had felt it again, now stronger. Real. But how? I was only sixteen. My wolf hadn't awakened. My mate shouldn't be able to feel me yet.

Was I imagining it?

I stumbled to a stop and turned in a slow circle, scanning the treeline, praying someone- anyone- was there. But the forest stood still. Empty. The wind carried no scent but pine and damp earth.

No one came.

I'd made it across the border, but I wasn't safe. Not really. Not from him.

Not from Zander.

My heart dropped as I heard it- the sharp, rhythmic pound of boots behind me. Closer. Closer.

He was coming. And he wasn't going to stop at the border.

"There you are, Jane."

Zander's voice cut through the trees like a serrated blade. Cold. Mocking. Confident.

"That's cute. You thought crossing into Moonlight territory would save you? Did you really think a line in the dirt could stop me from claiming what's mine?"

He stepped into the clearing, eyes locked on mine. His dark hair was tousled, his black shirt stained with sweat and fury. His gaze roamed over me with the same hunger I'd seen before- back in my room, before I jumped. That look made my stomach twist.

"Please, Zander..." My voice broke before I could even finish the plea to him. "You don't have to do this."

He laughed- actually laughed. "You think begging will work on me? Jane, Jane, Jane... You belong to me. You always have. Your body, your soul- your future. It's mine. And mine alone. It's just how it is in this pack. All you females belong to me; there's no running from that."

My pulse thundered in my ears as I took a step back.

"I don't belong to you, Zander." I cried, desperation making my voice crack. "My mate is out there- he's real, and I'll find him."

Zander's eyes flashed with something dark- darker than anything I'd seen in him before. "You really believe in that fairy tale? You think some perfect little wolf is going to come save you?" He smirked, stepping closer. "He'll never find you, or have you, Jane."

I turned to run, but I wasn't fast enough.

His hands closed around my arm like a vice. I screamed, twisting in his grip.

"Don't!" I gasped, fighting to break free.

He leaned in close, his breath hot against my ear.

Pine needles crushed beneath us, filling the air with their sharp scent.

Somehow that made everything feel even more real.

“You know what I like most?”

“The moment they stop fighting.”

“The moment they realize resistance doesn’t matter.”

No.

This couldn’t be happening.

It couldn’t end like this.

I’d escaped.

I’d crossed the border.

I was supposed to be safe.

I tried to knee him, but he anticipated it. He grabbed me by the waist and threw me to the ground like I weighed nothing to him.

My hands hit the earth hard, pain shooting up in my arms. Before I could crawl away, he was above me.

The ground disappeared beneath his weight.

The air vanished from my lungs.

Every instinct screamed at me to run.

But my body wouldn’t move.

I hated that my own body had become something I couldn’t control.

“Keep fighting.”

He smiled.

“Every time you struggle…”

“You’re proving how badly I want to tame you.”

My vision blurred as I pushed against him, trying to wriggle free. Every muscle in my body strained, but he was stronger. So much stronger. My strength was running out. My hope was flickering like a dying flame.

"This is where it ends," I whispered to myself, barely able to hear my own voice. "This is it."

Zander grabbed my wrists and forced them above my head, holding them there with one hand. The other ran down my side, over my waist, toward the hem of my shirt.

"No!" I cried, thrashing beneath him. "Don't do this!"

He didn't stop.

Terror clawed at my chest. I looked up at the trees, at the sky, at anything but him- anything to avoid the hunger in his eyes.

Somebody…

Anyone…

Please.

I don’t want this.

Voice, where are you?

I waited, still as stone beneath him, holding on to that last shred of hoping - pleading- that voice would return and tell me what to do.

But the silence stretched. Nothing came.

The voice that had saved me…

The one that told me to jump…

Was gone.

I waited anyway.

But still nothing.

It wasn’t coming back.

Something inside me cracked.

I hadn’t lost a voice.

I’d lost the only thing that made me believe I could survive.

Panic flooded my chest.

Had I imagined it?

Or had hope simply carried me this far…

only to abandon me when I needed it most?

What's going to happen to me now?

Why isn't it speaking to me anymore?

I thought I was meant to be protected...

And just like that, fear devoured me.

My breathing became shallow and uneven. I didn’t know what to do anymore.

Every breath burned in my chest. My body ached from the chase, and my heart felt like it was being torn apart.

And yet... There was still this tiny ember buried deep within me, flickering through the storm.

A part of me- small, almost drowned out by desire- that still wanted to fight.

To fight him.

To fight fate.

To fight whatever cursed destiny said I had to belong to Zander King.

But I just... couldn't.

I was so tired.

Every inch of my body hurt.

My arms burned.

My legs still ached from running.

I didn’t know how much longer I could keep fighting.

There was nothing left in me. No strength. No voice. No escape.

Just fear.

Just exhaustion.

Just him- hovering over me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, praying the tears would somehow drown the nightmare. That I would wake up in my bed, and none of this would be real. That my mother would knock on my door and tell me breakfast was ready. That my sister was still alive. That Zander hadn't destroyed everything we loved.

But when I opened them again, he was still there, straddling me as I continued to lie here in the grass.

Still smiling down at me, with his hand touching the skin of my waist.

He had that look- the one predators give right before they strike. A glint of cruel hunger in his eyes, like he enjoyed watching me fall apart.

I bit down hard on my lip, tasting blood. I didn't want him to hear me cry anymore. Didn't want to give him the satisfaction. But the sob that broke free wasn't something I could control; it tore from my throat like a dying scream.

And still... the voice stayed silent. Gone. Abandoning me here alone with Zander.

I’d never felt so helpless.

Running had failed.

Fighting had failed.

Even hope was slipping through my fingers.

There was nowhere left to run.

And for the first time…

I wondered if there ever had been.

He continued to hover above me, his weight pressing into the earth on either side of my body. His breath fanned against my face, thick with pride and power. I could feel his gaze, devouring, dark, and hungry, and it made every muscle in my body tense with fear.

"That's it," Zander murmured in a low, threatening tone, his voice slithering in my ears. "Give in to me, Jane Foster. I am your Alpha. You were born to obey me in every way."

He leaned closer, his face just inches from mine, the pressure of his presence unbearable.

“Keep fighting me.”

“Scream”

He smiled.

“It won’t change anything.”

His eyes never left mine.

He looked at me like he already knew how this would end.

Like my choices no longer mattered.

Like I wasn’t a person anymore.

Just something he’d decided to own.

I couldn't move. My arms were pinned above my head, my back pressed into the cold grass beneath me.

My heartbeat was so loud it drowned out everything else.

My fingers had gone numb.

Even breathing felt impossible.

"You will obey," he whispered, his voice like poison in the night. "And if you try anything... it will be worse for you. Much worse."

I closed my eyes, wishing I could disappear. My voice wouldn't come, my lips barely able to form words. The weight of him- of his dominance, his entitlement- pressed into my chest like a boulder, suffocating me. I wanted to scream, but even that had been taken from me.

With his left hand, he continued to hold my arms above my head, and with his right hand, it moved from my waist. Possessive, claiming, and I felt dread, poor deeper in my stomach. My body trembled with helplessness. I tried to twist away, but his grip only held me down more.

No matter how hard I fought, nothing changed.

Every struggle only reminded me how much stronger he was.

That realization terrified me more than his grip.

"Look at me," he demanded. His voice suddenly sharp.

I turned my face away.

His fingers clamped around my jaw and forced me back toward him.

My neck protested.

I hated that he could move me so easily.

He pulled back slightly, shifting his weight to his knees while keeping me pinned with his stare. "You think you're strong? You think you can resist me?" His voice turned mocking. "Your sister thought the same. You remember what happened to her, don't you?"

The mention of Sara twisted a blade in my chest.

"She fought me, too," Zander said with a smirk. "She begged. She cried. And eventually… she broke. They all break.” “

“They all give in to me.”

“Eventually…”

“They stop believing anyone is coming.”

Sara hadn’t belonged to him.

None of them had.

He forced them all to be his.

I squeezed my eyes shut until they hurt.

I refused to let him see me break.

Not for him.

Never for him.

Where are you? I pleaded with the voice that spoke to me earlier. Please don't leave me now. You said I wouldn't be alone. You said I'd be safe. Where are you?

I waited.

Nothing.

No whisper.

No guidance.

Only silence.

My heart broke a little more.

What if Zander was right?

What if my mate wasn’t real?

What if I’d spent the last two years hoping for someone I’d never meet?

The thought hollowed me out.

Maybe hope had never been a promise.

Zander leaned in again, his hand starting to move upwards on my body.

“No one’s coming for you,” he said quietly, almost gently, like a predator claiming its prey.

“It’s just you and me now, Jane.

The way it was always meant to be.”

Moving his hand from inside my shirt, he brushed my cheek. I flinched.

My chin trembled despite every effort to keep it still.

“There it is,” he murmured.

“That hope in your eyes…”

“It’s fading.”

“I can see it.”

“Soon you’ll stop waiting for someone who doesn’t exist.”

The words slithered over my skin like cold water, chilling me to the bone. Opening my eyes, his eyes bore into mine, and the look in them wasn't human- it was hunger twisted into power. A predator savoring the helplessness of his prey.

"This is where you belong, beneath me Jane Foster." he said, his voice low and sickeningly tender.

“I’ve waited a long time for this.”

His smile widened.

“Watching how much you have grown these past few years.

My stomach dropped.

“Every time I’ve seen you around, my hunger for you has only grown even more.”

“And every time I’ve told myself.”

“Soon.”

Years.

He’d been watching me…

My entire body locked as if terror itself had turned me to stone.

Then I felt it- his hands moving down my legs, slow and possessive. I stiffened, heart hammering against my ribs as panic flooded my senses. His fingers brushed the outside of my knees, lifting them gently, deliberately, as though savoring my terror.

"No," I breathed, the word barely escaping my lips.

He paid no mind.

With calculated calm, he positioned my knees upward and apart, caging me in the cold grass, his movements confident and unhurried. I tried to resist, tried to lock my legs, but he was stronger. His grip was unrelenting.

"I love this," he murmured, almost to himself. "I love seeing you open like this. Just as it should be.”

The trees above me blurred together until they became nothing more than dark shapes against the night sky.

My body trembled with fear, my mind racing with desperate thoughts. Is it really happening? Is this how it ends- for me, like it did for Sara? Is this truly to become my fate?

I felt so helpless. I wasn’t even fighting him anymore.

I was fighting the part of myself that wanted to give up.

And yet even in my desperation for help from the voice, there was still only silence from it. I haven't heard a word come from it, and that scared me.

Zander’s face hovering close to mine again.

“A few minutes ago you believed someone was coming.”

“Now you’re praying they exist.”

“That’s the difference between hope…”

“and reality.”

I squeezed my eyes shut again.

Mom and Dad had risked everything so I could escape.

Sara never got another chance.

Was I about to lose mine too?

And I’d still ended up here.

I’d dreamed about the mate the Moon Goddess has chosen for me.

About the evening when we would find one another.

Now all I could see was darkness, no future.

Is this really how my story ends?

Before my life had ever truly begun?