06 The Cabin

Sera

"Sera?"

Lyra's voice cracked over the line. Then she was sobbing, full-body sobs that made the phone shake.

"Lyra, what—" I gripped the burner phone tighter. Third one this week. Nadia had told me to switch them every two days. Make it harder to track. "Lyra, calm down. Where are you?"

"In my—" She gulped air. "In my cupboard."

I froze.

The cupboard. We'd hidden there as kids when Father got loud, when his voice carried through the palace like thunder. Lyra only went there when something was very, very wrong.

"Talk to me," I said. My hands were shaking. "What happened?"

More crying. I waited, listening to her try to breathe.

"It's Nadia," she finally managed.

My stomach dropped. "What about Nadia?"

I'd been trying to reach her for two days. No answer. I told myself she was being careful, staying off communication. But the silence had been eating at me.

"Father threw her in the dungeon."

"What?" The word came out too loud. "He can't do that. She's from a noble house. Lord Garrett wouldn't—"

"He locked up her whole family."

I stopped breathing.

"Sera, he said if they don't give you back, he's going to execute them all."

No. No no no.

My father was a man of his word. If he said he'd do something, it wasn't a bluff.

I was already moving, shoving clothes into the bag. "I'm coming back."

"Don't you dare!" Lyra's voice went high and sharp. "Sera, don't even think about it—"

"I'm not sitting here while an entire family dies for me." I grabbed the map, the supplies. "Tell Father I'm coming. Tell him to let them go."

"No! Sera, you can't—" Lyra was crying harder now. "Don't come back. Please don't come back."

"Lyra—"

"Nadia knew what she was signing up for!" Her voice cracked. "She knew what she was doing when she decided to help you. Don't ruin what we worked hard for!"

We?

I stopped moving.

"Lyra." My voice came out flat. "How do you know about the plan?"

Silence.

"Lyra. I asked you a question!"

"I..." Her voice was so small. "I couldn't just watch him sell you like that. So when Nadia came to me before you even got home, when she told me what she was planning... I helped her."

The phone nearly slipped from my hand.

"You knew? The whole time?"

"I'm sorry, I just—I couldn't let you go through with it. Not when I knew—" She stopped.

"Knew what?"

"I knew about Dimitri being dead. I've known for two years, Sera. Father told me right after it happened." The words came out in a rush now. "He told me because if you didn't come back after your three years were up, the contract would transfer to me. I was supposed to marry Fenris instead."

My legs went weak. I sat down hard on the cot.

"What?"

"Father had it all planned out. If you honored the bet, you'd marry into House Volkov. If you didn't come back, I would. Either way, he'd get his alliance." Lyra was crying again. "So when Nadia told me she had a plan to get you out, I helped. I gave her money, I helped her bribe the guards, I made sure Mother was distracted that night. Because I couldn't—I couldn't just let you walk into that without even trying to save you."

"You were going to have to marry him," I said slowly. "If I didn't come back."

"Yes."

"And you didn't think to tell me any of this? You just sat there at breakfast and let Father ambush me with the news that Dimitri was dead?"

"He told me not to say anything! He said it would only make things worse, that you'd find out when you needed to—"

"When I needed to?" My voice rose. "Lyra, I thought I was coming home to marry someone reasonable! I thought it was still Dimitri! And the whole time you knew it was Fenris and you said nothing!"

"I was scared!" she shouted back. "I was terrified that if I told you, you wouldn't come home at all, and then Father would force me to marry him instead! I know that makes me selfish, I know it makes me a terrible sister, but I was so scared, Sera. You have no idea what it's been like these past two years knowing what was waiting."

I pressed my hand to my mouth. My baby sister. She'd been living with this for two years. Knowing that if I didn't show up, she'd be the one handed over to the Barbarian Alpha.

"And Nadia knew too?" I asked. "About all of it?"

"She figured it out. I don't know how, but she came to me about a week before you got home and said she knew Father was planning to marry one of us off to Fenris Volkov. She said she had a plan to get you out, but she needed my help." Lyra took a shaky breath. "So I helped. Because even though I was scared, I couldn't just let it happen. Not to you."

I closed my eyes. "I'm coming home."

"No! Sera, please!" She was crying again, begging. "Please don't do this. I don't know what I'll do if I lose you. Please just stay away, please—"

I stopped moving.

There was a smell in the air—cocoa, rich and sweet. The smell of cocoa brewing.

But I hadn't made any.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and listened. The cabin was silent except for the wood creaking and chirping outside. Then I caught another scent underneath the cocoa.

Someone was in the house.

I dropped the phone.

My claws shot out—I didn't even think about it, just felt the sharp burn as they extended. I crept toward the doorway, barely breathing.

The main room came into view.

He was sitting at my tiny dining table.

Fenris Volkov.

He filled the entire chair, made it look like a child's toy. His shoulders were so broad they blocked the window behind him. He held a cup in one massive hand, steam rising from it, and he was just... sitting there. Drinking my cocoa like he owned the place.

He looked up when I entered. Didn't seem surprised. Didn't even move.

Just stared at me over the rim of the cup.

Then smiled.

"Leaving a call on while you're on the run," he said, voice rough and calm. "That's a stupid mistake."

Lyra. Fuck. She was still on the line.

I snarled, claws extending further. My heart slammed against my ribs. I was scared. Fucking terrified. But I wasn't going to let him see that.

He was still in his furs. Heavy pelts draped over shoulders that looked carved from stone. His cold grey eyes tracked every movement I made.

He stood.

The chair creaked with relief. He unfolded to his full height and I had to tilt my head back to keep eye contact. Six and a half feet of muscle and scars.

"My brother lost you once," he said. His eyes didn't leave mine. "The same thing isn't happening to me."

I shifted into a fighting stance. Claws ready. Not that I could somehow escape this, talk less of fighting him. I was scared.

He looked me over. Head to toe. Slowly.

Then laughed.

"Your form is shit," he said. "Any child from my pack would wreck you in five seconds."

I swallowed. Sweat beaded on my forehead.

"How did you find me?" My voice came out rougher than I wanted.

He started walking forward.

I stepped back.

"You did a good job," he said, still advancing. "The plan was tight. This close—" He held up two fingers barely separated. "—we would have missed you."

My back hit the wall.

"But finding someone isn't difficult when they're your mate."

Everything stopped.

Boom! Boom!!

My heart slammed against my ribs so hard I thought it would break through. The air left my lungs in a rush. It felt like someone had driven a fist into my stomach.

No. No no no.

Not again.

The scar on my collarbone ignited. Burning. Like someone was pressing a hot iron against my skin. I gritted my teeth against the scream building in my throat.

Boom! Boom!!

My heart slammed again, like it was forcefully asking for an out.

My legs turned to jelly. I slid down the wall, catching myself with my back firm against the wall.

Fenris was right there now. Towering over me. So close I could smell him. That smell of the woods and snow and something wild that went straight to my brain and made everything tilt.

This was nothing like last time. The pain. The bond snapping into place. This was overriding me.

A second mate bond.

What kind of cruel fucking joke was this?

"Finally," Fenris said, smiling down at me. "You're officially my mate."

Then he started taking off his clothes.

The heavy armor first. Unbuckling straps, letting pieces fall to the floor with heavy thuds. Then the furs. He pulled them over his head and dropped them.

I stared.

Couldn't help it.

His neck was thick, strong, twice the width of my thighs together. His chest was bare—two massive slabs of muscle with veins running between them like rivers. His abs were stacked, hard, looked like they could crack walnuts. The V-cut of his lower abdomen led down—

I looked away.

Fast.

"What the fuckkk," I breathed. My chest was heaving like I'd just run a marathon.

Don't look don't look don't look.

I kept my eyes fixed on the wall beside his hip, using every ounce of willpower I had.

Then his huge calloused hand caught my jaw.

He turned my face toward him.

My eyes landed on it.

Oh god.

It was huge.

That's one big slab of meat just dangling there.

Focus, Sera. FOCUS.

I dragged my eyes up. Met his. Swallowed hard.

He was going to rape me.

Right here. In this cabin. He was going to fuck me until I died.

With his size, he'd split me in half.

I looked up at him, stuttering. "P-please—"

My vision tilted.

The world spun and suddenly I was upside down, hoisted over his shoulder like a sack of grain. His arm locked across the back of my thighs, holding me in place.

I found my voice.

"PUT ME DOWN!" I screamed, pounding my fists against his back. It was like hitting stone. He didn't even flinch. "Put me down right now!"

He started walking toward the door.

"Where are you taking me?" I was still hitting him, kicking, trying to get free. "Let me go! LET ME GO!"

"Home," he said.

***