Chapter 4

Serelis

“He... he killed her... just like that.”

The words won’t leave my mouth. My hand shakes against my lips and I bite it until it hurts. Did he recognize me? I keep telling myself no. He was drunk that night — too drunk to remember faces. Still, I can’t make the thought stop.

I’ve been in the maid quarters for hours. The room is small: a thin mattress pushed up against the wall, an old chair, a high window that barely lets in light. The other women pass by with trays, their voices low. Every sound makes my heart jump.

My child. I haven’t seen him since they took us in. He’s too small to be away from me for this long. I can’t stop thinking about whether he’s fed, whether he’s been comforted, whether someone is taking him away. The worry sits like a stone in my chest.

I pace until my legs ache. Two maids walk by the door and their words slide through. “Amanda Rufford, daughter of Frostveil’s Alpha, she’s already here.”

“And the wedding between her and Alpha Riven begins in just a few hours.”

I press my back against the wall and try to breathe. He’s getting married today, yet he accepted the bond. It doesn’t make sense. Why would he accept me when he’s supposed to be marrying someone else? I feel sick and angry. I wrap the blanket tighter around myself as if that could hold the pieces together.

People pass the corridor and leave little noises — a laugh, a clink, a joke. It all sounds wrong now. It’s like the world is pretending nothing happened. I keep imagining my son alone somewhere, a tray pushed at him, a woman who doesn’t know him trying to soothe him with things that are not his mother. I punch the wall twice, not hard enough to break skin, just enough to feel like I’m doing something.

 I pound on the door. “Let me out! Do you hear me? You can’t keep me here!” My voice breaks, but I keep hitting until my knuckles sting.

A guard yells from the other side. “Quiet down in there before I come in and shut you up myself.”

My throat is raw. “You think I’ll stay silent while he plays his games? Open this door!”

The shouting dies down, and I press my forehead to the wood, tasting metal where I bit my lip. My mind runs through names, people who might care, people who might help. There’s no one. The pack’s structure is tight. You don’t pry at a man like Riven without getting cut. I know that. Still, it’s automatic to hope.

Footsteps stop at the end of the hall and then start again. The lock clicks. The door opens and there the bastard walks in.

He doesn’t rush. He just sits down like he owns even the air we breathe. I didn't bother to wait.

“Why? Why would you accept our bond when you’re getting married the same day? What kind of game are you playing with me?” I say before I can stop myself.

He laughs. Low and rough.

“You?” he says. “Did you really think you were worth being Luna? You’re nothing but a distraction. Entertainment. I enjoy your feisty little rants, so... yeah.”

I swallow the shame and anger and fire back. “Then why not reject me? Why not throw me out like garbage if that’s all I am to you?”

He leans forward and answers calmly. “Because I don’t throw away what’s mine.”

“I’m not yours,” I say.

“You think so? I decide what is mine. You don’t get a vote in it.”

“I will never belong to you, never to a man as ruthless as you.” I ran from home to escape such a fate, yet it caught up with me.

“Don’t test me, Serelis.” His voice gets darker. “The bond tied you to me, whether you like it or not. That string doesn’t break just because you stomp your feet.”

“If you think I’ll bow to you, you don’t know me at all. I would rather fight every day than crawl at your feet.”

He stands up and comes closer until I have to look up. “You’ll fight, and I’ll enjoy every second of it. But don’t mistake your stubbornness for power. You can scream, curse, claw at

 me all you want. At the end of the day, you’ll still be in my pack, under my roof, under my rules.”

“You can cage me, but you’ll never break me.”

His stare is close and cold and for a moment I taste panic. Not just for me now, but for the small person I left behind. I think how tightly they bound me, how many hands handled us when we arrived, how people become names with a price. The thought makes my stomach turn.

Then a knock rattles at the door.

Then a baby's familiar voice rings out.

My whole body moves before I think. The door opens and I snatch my son from the guard. He’s small and wet, crying with everything he has. I pull him close and press my face to his neck.

Riven turns fast. “You have a child?” he asks, quiet and hard.

I clutch Luc like I can make him invisible. He buries his face in my shoulder and grips me with tiny hands.

Riven grabs my arm hard and pulls me back. His eyes go to the boy and he studies him. I hold my breath. If he sees anything, if he connects the dots, everything will fall apart.

“Please, don’t hurt him,” I blurt. “He’s just a child. He’s innocent. Don’t touch him.” The baby cries louder, reaching for me. Sobs hit my chest like blows.

Riven’s face doesn’t move much. He looks from me to the boy and back. He studies the line of his jaw, the set of Luc’s cheek, the shape of his mouth, like someone measuring a coin. The pause stretches. I try to shrink inside my own skin.

“You will behave yourself in my pack. Until I decide what use you have here,” he says finally. Use. That word lands hard. I am a thing to be used.

He lets go then and takes a step back. It’s a small motion but it feels like a sentence. I hold Luc tighter and whisper nonsense at him until he hiccups, trying to calm both of us.

While I’m catching my breath, I notice other things I hadn’t before. The way a maid glances down then away, the way a guard shifts his stance like he’s finishing a checklist, the faint smell of perfume coming from the corridor that doesn’t belong to this room. People are already slipping into their roles for the day — some will serve drinks, some will carry flowers, some will carry trays past the rooms where people like me are locked.

 Riven turns as if he’s finished. He moves toward the door, but the scrape of heels on concrete stops him. The door opens wider and she steps in.

She’s put together perfectly. Dress, hair, makeup. She looks at me like I’m something on her shoe.

“We’re getting married in a few minutes,” she says, clipped. “And you’re here playing around with your new little plaything?”

Amanda Rufford, this is her.

Riven gives her a smooth smile. “Forgive me. I was just finishing. I’ll be right there.”

She looks at me once more, sharp and cold, glaring deadly at me. Then she and Riven walk out together.

The door shuts, I hold my son and try to quiet him. His breaths slow a little and my hands stop shaking enough to feel him. I count things in my head instead of letting my thoughts spin...

But...but Luc’s temperature is high. He has a fever.