CHAPTER ELEVEN

~Riya~

The chains around my wrists were heavier than they looked. I had stopped trying to move hours ago, or maybe days. Since the wedding, time didn’t exist in this prison, only silence and darkness.

I was given one meal a day: sometimes overly baked bread, dried steak, or even overripe fruit. But a prisoner could not object.

When the door creaked open, the light nearly blinded me. My eyes flinched, adjusting slowly until I saw a guard step in. “Get up,” he said curtly.

“Why?” I questioned.

“The King needs you at once.”

For a moment, I thought I’d misheard him. The King? After everything he’d done to my family, to my pack, why would he need me?

The guard didn’t wait for an answer. He bent down, unlocked my cuffs, and pulled me to my feet. My body ached from sitting on the cold floor too long, but I followed him anyway, dragging my feet as the metal door slammed behind us.

When we reached the grand door of the Alpha King’s meeting room, two more guards pushed it open, and my breath caught in my throat.

The council of elders was seated in a semi-circle, the Beta stood tall beside them. But what truly made my stomach twist was the woman sitting gracefully at the King’s right hand, my mother.

My mother looked more beautiful than I had ever seen. The Luna of the man who destroyed us.

“Bring her forward,” Darius commanded.

The guards shoved me toward the center of the room. I felt every pair of eyes watching, judging, and dissecting.

Darius rose slightly in his chair. “Riya,” he began smoothly, “do you know the man sitting among us?”

My eyes followed his. A tall man with broad shoulders and fierce gray eyes sat near the edge of the circle. I shook my head slowly. “No… no, I don’t.”

He hummed. “What about Mr. Steele? Does that name sound familiar?”

I frowned. The name tugged at something distant in my memory. “It sounds familiar, but I can’t remember who he might be.”

My mother’s voice sliced through the tension. “Dorian, Riya. Don’t you remember him?”

My eyes flickered to her. “He was Father’s friend, wasn’t he? The one who moved to the human realm to start his business?”

Darius's grin widened. “Yes. Exactly him. And your dear father owed that man a rather impressive fortune.”

My chest tightened. “What?”

He stood up now, his long coat swaying with each deliberate step. “Since your father is dead and your precious Nightfang no longer exists, someone must pay his debt.”

“But you enslaved us!” I shouted. “You stripped us of everything we had! If we were bankrupt, that’s now your problem! You should be the one paying him!”

His expression darkened. “Watch your tongue, girl.”

He moved closer, lifting his hand, but I braced myself for the slap, closing my eyes. When I opened them, the Beta and my mother stepped between us.

“Darius, please,” my mother said softly. “She’s just a child.”

He glared down at her, then turned away with a huff. “A very ungrateful child.”

My mother turned to me. “Riya, listen to me. All he’s trying to say is that Nightfang was in debt.”

I laughed bitterly. “Of course I know that, Mother. So what? What does he expect me to do, sell my soul?”

The tall man finally spoke, calmly. “You’ll come with me.”

I turned toward him. “Excuse me?”

Darius folded his hands behind his back. “Your father took a massive loan from Dorian Steele to stabilize Nightfang’s economy. A foolish decision, clearly.”

“Excuse you?” I shot back. “My father invested that money to strengthen our pack! To give us a future! Something you could never stand because you were jealous of his success!”

“Riya!” my mother shouted.

“Jealous or not,” Darius said coldly, “the fact remains. You’ll go with this man. The council has agreed.”

The elders nodded, their faces expressionless. My fate was sealed without even asking me.

“You’ll work under him until your father’s debt is cleared,” Darius continued. “He’s one of Dorian Steele’s most trusted men. He’ll take you to him personally.”

I shook my head. “No. Absolutely not. You captured us, you destroyed our home. You deal with the debt.”

My mother walked toward me, reaching for my hand. “Riya, we don’t have a choice. As the only surviving heir of Nightfang, it’s your responsibility. Your father would be proud if you did this.”

I stared at her as tears stung my eyes. “Proud? How can you even say that? Mother, what happened to you? To us? How did you change so fast?”

“Riya…” she whispered. “It’s for the best.”

“The best?” I repeated. “For who? You? The King? Because it’s not the best for me.”

“For Nightfang,” she bent her head low.

“Enough!” Darius roared. “Guards, take her away before I lose my patience!”

The guards grabbed me by the arms, dragging me backward. The tall man, the one they said worked for Dorian, turned and started walking toward the door. The guards followed.

I stumbled once but didn’t fight. My body was tired, but my mind… my mind was chaos.

I wanted to scream, to fight, to tear down the walls of this cursed castle. To speak sense back into my mother's head.

But my voice caught in my throat as the hall grew smaller behind me.

How had my life changed so fast? From Alpha’s heir to nothing but a pawn in their games?

My father’s words echoed faintly in my memory; he used to tell me, “You are stronger than you think,” each time I felt incapable of a task.

But I was breaking. Tears blurred my vision as the guards led me outside. The man opened the door of a sleek black car parked at the edge of the courtyard. It looked more expensive than anything of Darius's.

He turned slightly toward me. “Get in.”

I didn’t move. “You really aren't going to do this, are you?”

“Shut up and get in,” he said simply as the guards pushed me in.

As the engine started, the car began to move, gliding down the long road away from the castle.

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass, watching the sun move behind the trees. My reflection stared back at me, broken, tired, and empty.

Mother didn't even walk me out. What was going on with her? Why did she change so quickly? I closed my eyes and remembered times when she hugged me and gave me kisses on my forehead, and times when we talked like mother and daughter as she tucked me in bed. But now, she was

a totally different person.

In a matter of days, I’d lost my father, my mother, my home, and now even myself.