Chapter 5

NARA'S POV

I try to move, but pain shoots through my head. Everything spins. I groan and squeeze my eyes shut.

"She's awake."

The voice is soft. Female. Close by.

I force my eyes open. Darkness. Thick, heavy darkness that presses down on me like a weight. Slowly, my eyes adjust. Torchlight flickers somewhere far away, casting shadows on damp stone walls.

A cell. I'm in a cell.

"Are you okay?" the voice asks again.

I turn my head—slowly, because it hurts—and see a girl sitting against the wall. She's young, maybe younger than me. Her clothes are torn. Her face is dirty. Her eyes are tired.

"I... I think so," I whisper. My throat is dry. My voice cracks.

She nods. "That's good. Some girls don't wake up."

My stomach twists. "What?"

"When they bring us here," she says quietly. "Some don't wake up."

I try to sit up. My wrists pull against something. I look down. Chains. Heavy iron chains attached to the wall. Panic floods my chest.

"Don't fight them," the girl says quickly. "It only makes it worse. The cuts... they get infected."

I stare at the chains. At my wrists. Red marks already circle my skin.

"Where are we?" I ask, though I already know the answer.

"Blackwoods," she whispers. "The dungeons."

My heart drops. The dungeons. Underground. Trapped.

"How long?" I ask. "How long have you been here?"

She looks away. "I don't know. Days? Weeks? Time doesn't work here."

A cold shiver runs through me. I pull my knees to my chest and try to think. Try to remember. The mate bond. Rhegan. His cold eyes. His harsh words.

*"You'll curse the day you became my mate."*

"Why are we here?" I ask. "What does he want?"

The girl shakes her head. "I don't know. They don't tell us anything. They just... keep us."

"For what?"

She doesn't answer. She just looks at her hands.

Movement catches my eye. Other shapes in the darkness. Other bodies. Other prisoners. Some sitting. Some lying down. All silent.

"How many?" I whisper.

"Maybe twenty," the girl says. "Most are omegas like us. Some are rogues. Wolves who broke their pack laws."

I swallow hard. "Do they... hurt you?"

She meets my eyes. In the dim light, I see the answer there. Yes.

"Not all the time," she says softly. "Just when we disobey. Or when they're bored."

My hands start shaking. I clench them into fists, but I can't stop the trembling.

"What's your name?" I ask, needing to think about something else. Anything else.

"Tessa," she says.

"I'm Nara."

She nods. "I know. Everyone knows."

I blink. "What?"

"You're his mate," she whispers. "The Alpha's mate. Word spreads fast here."

Heat rushes to my face. "I'm not—I don't want—"

"It doesn't matter what you want," another voice says from the darkness. Older. Rougher. "The bond doesn't care."

I turn toward the voice. A woman sits in the corner, her back against the wall. Her hair is gray, her face lined with scars.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"Mira," she says. "And I've been here longer than anyone."

"How long?"

"Five years."

Five years. The words hit me like a punch. Five years in this dark, cold place.

"Why?" I breathe. "Why hasn't he let you go?"

Mira laughs, but it's bitter. Empty. "Because wolves don't deserve freedom. Not in his eyes."

"But why?" I press. "What did we do?"

"You're asking the wrong question," Mira says. "It's not what we did. It's what they did to him."

I lean forward. "Who?"

"The wolves," she says. "Your kind. My kind. We destroyed him."

Tessa shifts beside me. "She means the betrayal," she whispers. "The one that started the war."

"What betrayal?" I ask.

Mira's eyes fix on me. Even in the darkness, they're sharp. Hard. "Alpha Rhegan had brothers once. Four of them. Strong. Loyal. They trusted a wolf pack to help them during a battle against rogues. The wolves promised aid."

She pauses. Takes a breath.

"But it was a trap," she continues. "The wolves turned on them. Killed two of his brothers. Left Rhegan for dead."

My chest tightens. "Why?"

"Territory," Mira says simply. "Power. The same reasons wolves and lycans have always fought."

I shake my head. "But... that wasn't me. I didn't—"

"It doesn't matter," Mira cuts in. "To him, all wolves are guilty. We all carry the sin."

Silence falls over the cell. Heavy. Suffocating.

"That's why he hates us," Tessa whispers. "That's why he'll never let us go."

My wolf stirs inside me. She's been quiet since I woke up, but now she pushes forward. Restless. Agitated.

*Mate,* she whispers. *Find mate.*

"No," I whisper back. "He doesn't want us."

*Bond is strong,* she insists. *He feels it too.*

"He rejected us," I say, louder than I mean to.

Tessa looks at me. "Your wolf?"

I nod, pressing my hand to my chest. "She won't stop. She keeps... calling for him."

"That's the bond," Mira says. "It doesn't break just because he says so. It pulls. It aches. It drives you mad."

"How do I make it stop?" I ask desperately.

Mira's face softens just a little. "You don't."

Tears burn my eyes. "I can't do this. I can't be here. I can't—"

"You will," Mira says firmly. "Because you have no choice."

"I want to go home," I whisper. But even as I say it, I realize the truth. I have no home. Moon-Waters doesn't want me. Xander rejected me. Elle hates me.

I have nothing.

No one.

Tessa reaches out and touches my arm gently. "I'm sorry," she says.

I don't answer. I just close my eyes and try not to cry.

Time passes. I don't know how much. Minutes? Hours? In the darkness, everything blurs together.

Then, footsteps.

Everyone in the cell goes still. Tessa sucks in a breath. Mira sits up straighter.

The footsteps are heavy. Purposeful. They echo down the stone corridor.

"He's coming," someone whispers.

My heart starts pounding. I don't know who "he" is, but the fear in the room is thick. Suffocating.

The footsteps stop. Keys jangle. A door creaks open.

Light floods the corridor—bright, blinding after so much darkness. I squint against it.

Then he steps into view.

Alpha Rhegan.

My breath catches. My wolf surges forward, excited and desperate.

Mate! Mate!

"Quiet," I hiss at her.

He walks slowly, his boots heavy on the stone. His presence fills the space, commanding and dark. Every prisoner shrinks back. Even Mira lowers her eyes.

But I can't look away.

He moves down the corridor, his gaze sweeping over each cell. Cold. Detached. Like we're nothing.

When his eyes land on me, everything stops.

The air crackles. Electric. Hot. The bond pulses between us, stronger than before. My skin tingles. My heart races.

He stops in front of my cell.

For a long moment, neither of us speaks. We just stare at each other.

His jaw is tight. His eyes burn with something I can't name. Anger? Hatred? Or something else?

"Alpha," one of the guards says nervously. "Do you need—"

"Leave," Rhegan says. His voice is low. Commanding.

The guard hesitates, then bows and walks away quickly.

Now it's just us. And the silence is deafening.

"You," he finally says. His voice is rough. "You're trouble."

I don't know what to say. My throat is tight. My hands are shaking.

"I didn't ask for this," I whisper.

"Neither did I," he snaps.

The bond pulls at me. My wolf whines, begging me to reach for him. To touch him. To close the distance.

But I stay still.

"What do you want from me?" I ask quietly.

His eyes narrow. "Nothing."

"Then let me go."

"No."

"Why?" My voice breaks. "Why keep me here if you don't want me?"

His jaw clenches. For a moment—just one moment—something flickers in his eyes. Pain? Regret?

But it's gone as fast as it came.

"You're a liability," he says coldly.

"A liability?" I repeat. "I'm your mate."

"You're a wolf," he spits. "And wolves can't be trusted."

The words cut deep. I feel them slice through me, sharp and cruel.

"I didn't betray you," I say, my voice shaking. "I didn't kill your brothers. I didn't do anything to you."

"Your kind did," he says. "That's enough."

Tears fill my eyes. I hate that I'm crying. Hate that he sees me like this. Weak. Broken.

"Then kill me," I whisper. "If you hate me so much, just end it."

His eyes flash. Something dark and dangerous crosses his face.

"No," he says through gritted teeth.

"Why not?"

He steps closer to the bars. So close I can feel the heat radiating off him. So close I can see the tension in his shoulders, the strain in his jaw.

"Because I can't," he growls.

The bond flares between us, hot and overwhelming. I feel it in my chest, in my bones. I see it in his eyes—the struggle. The war raging inside him.

He wants to hate me.

But he can't.

He turns away sharply, his fists clenched.

"Keep her alive," he barks at a guard I didn't notice standing nearby. "But don't make her comfortable."

Then he walks away. His footsteps echo down the corridor until they fade into nothing.

I sink to the floor, my legs too weak to hold me.

Tessa touches my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"No," I whisper.

Because I'm not okay. I'm trapped in a dungeon. Hated by my mate. Rejected by everyone.

The worst part is that even after everything—after his cruelty, his coldness, his rejection—my wolf still wants him.