Chapter 3

Thorne's POV

"Don't you dare!" I growled as I watched one of the guards raised up his hand to hit her. Before I could say anything more, I realized Ava's body slipping toward the floor. I shifted into my wolf form and darted to her before she collapsed on the stone on the floor and shifted back into human as her head fell on my laps. Her skin—gods, her skin was ice-cold. Her lips were dry and cracked, cheeks smudged with dirt and blood, and her once-bright eyes were closed.

My heart stopped, breath catching painfully in my throat. I clenched my jaw, holding back the roar rising in my throat. My fingers brushed the blood at her temple, sticky and fresh. Suffocating rage consumed me. I could hear it—my heartbeat thundering in my ears, faster than it ever had before.

Who did this to her?

Who the fuck let this happen?

I wanted to tear them apart. Every last one of them who’d hurt her. Every single person who’d touched her, who’d laughed while she bled, who let her suffer—I wanted their bones crushed into dust.

Her face was swollen, bruised, lashes trembling even in unconsciousness. She looked so small. So damn fragile. My Ava.

My mate!

I remembered the exact moment—the first time I knew. She had come out of Alpha Darien’s room, clutching her torn clothes around her trembling body, eyes swollen from crying. I’d seen the bruises. The blood. The humiliation.

I’d felt something snap inside me then. My chest had tightened so badly I thought I was having a heart attack.

At first, I’d dismissed it. I told myself it was sympathy, pity. But it never went away. I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t bear the thought of her in pain. My wolf kept disturbing me, he wanted to hold her.

The gods have got to be cruel! A human!

I kept my distance after that. I had to. If Darien ever found out she was mine, he would ruin her even more—just to destroy me.

So I watched from the shadows. I left healing balm on her shelf, hoping it would help her body recover faster, like ours did. But those scars—gods, those scars—they never disappeared. And every time I saw them, I wanted to rip Darien apart with my bare hands.

But I couldn’t. Not yet.

“Who authorized this?” I snapped, my voice low.

“The Luna…” one guard answered reluctantly, his voice faltering.

“She ordered us to make an example of her,” the second added.

My jaw clenched. “You are warriors, not fucking thugs. You think strength is beating a girl who can’t fight back?”

The motherfuckers said nothing and I looked down on Ava on my lap, shrugged off my cloak and wrapped it carefully around her body.

The moment the fabric touched her skin, she whimpered softly. The sound was so small, so pained, I nearly lost control again.

“You’re going to be okay,” I whispered, more to myself than to her. My hand cradled the back of her head gently.

I raised my head slowly. “If she so much as flinches in her sleep because of what you’ve done, I’ll have your body pinned to the wall of the training grounds and let the recruits practice on you. Do you understand me?”

They nodded hastily, backing away like the cowards they were.

“Get out of my sight.” They fled, and I turned my attention back to her.

I brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek. Her skin was so pale that my throat tightened. She had always been strong—stronger than anyone ever gave her credit for. But strength shouldn't come from surviving this kind of hell.

“Thorne!”

I turned sharply as Karen rushed toward me, her apron stained with flour and sweat, eyes wide with horror.

“What did they do to her?” she gasped, falling to her knees beside me. Her hands hovered over Ava, afraid to touch her bruised body.

“Where was anyone?” I asked harshly.

“I—I tried to stop them. Alina said she was seducing the Alpha.” Her face contorted with disgust. “As if Ava would ever do something like that. Poor her.”

“She needs a doctor. Go get one. I'll take her back to the castle."

Karen nodded and scrambled to her feet. “Okay. Yes. Right away.”

I lifted Ava gently. Her face scrunched in pain, and a soft cry escaped her lips. She burrowed into my chest, and I nearly lost it.

You don’t deserve this. You never did.

****

“She’ll be fine. But she needs a lot of rest. A really lot,” the doctor said, packing up his things. “She’s human, so her body can’t recover like ours. I’ll prescribe what I can.”

“Poor thing…” Karen whispered beside the bed, wiping her eyes with the edge of her sleeve.

A knock came to the door and a guard stepped in, bowed and approached me. "Beta, Alpha requests for your presence."

I turned to Karen. “Stay with her. Please.”

“I will,” she said firmly, clutching Ava’s hand gently.

I bowed the moment I stepped in. Darien lounged on his chair. Luna stood beside him, arms folded.

“Thorne,” Darien said smoothly. “I heard you interrupted my Luna’s punishment. You saved the girl.”

“Yes,” I said carefully. “Because what she suffered was… excessive. She was stoned in public over baseless rumors that...”

Luna cut me off with venom in her voice. “I asked her to complete a simple task and she refused. Told me—rudely—that we were ‘sharing the same cock.’”

I inhaled sharply. My claws itched to pierce her throat.

“She said that?” Darien growled, face darkening. “She deserves more punishment.”

He turned. “Ashlen, go retrieve her—”

“Wait!” I snapped and Ashlen froze mid-step. “She fainted. Her body is broken, and she’s human. She can’t take what we can.”

Darien’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you defending her, Thorne?”

“I’d do the same for anyone,” I lied.

"No, you are not allowed to defend anybody and why would you even defend a slave in the first place. A filth that shouldn't exist in this world." Darien sneered.

“I’m not defending her,” I said, jaw tight. “But she’s been punished. She’s unconscious. At least wait until she’s awake. Even the doctor said she needs rest.”

“Rest, my foot,” Luna snapped. “Slaves don’t rest. Especially not humans.”

I bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood. The only thing stopping me from ripping her apart was Ava.

Darien leaned forward slowly. “You’re growing soft, Thorne.”

I met his eyes without blinking. “I’m not soft. I’m rational. You don’t need to break her. That doesn’t show power. It shows fear. People will think you are afraid of humans.

Luna let out a sharp bark of laughter. “Afraid? Of her? She’s a worm in the dirt, Beta. She's nothing.”

“She’s still a living being,” I said, jaw tight. “And the last time I checked, we don’t torture our own in this pack unless we’ve turned feral.”

Darien stood now, shoulders broad and imposing. “Are you questioning my authority, Thorne?”

“No,” I lied smoothly. “But I’m reminding you of your own strength. If Ava is as insignificant as you claim, then why waste so much energy breaking her? Let her rot in the background. Let her be invisible.”

“She has a mouth on her,” Luna snapped. “She called me out in front of others. she disrespected me.”

Darien stared at me for a long moment, grinding his teeth. “She disrespected my Luna,” he finally said. “When she wakes, she’ll be whipped again. One mark for every lie. Every look I don’t like.”

I clenched my fists at my sides so tightly my claws pierced my palms. I barely felt it through the fury.

“Understood?” he asked.

I looked him dead in the eye. “Understood.”

But I didn’t mean it.

Not this time.

Ava, just you wait. I will save you from these monsters. I swear it.