CHAPTER FOUR: Pact with the Beast

Nira's POV

My tongue felt dusty, and when I spat, it came up black with soot. When I looked down, I realized two things.

One, I was completely and utterly naked.

Two, My stomach, once split open, was no longer gaping. The flesh had sealed, the wound stitched perfectly and a scar carved its way across my belly.

It was proof that my baby was really gone, taken away in the cruelest of ways. But I lived.

Somehow, I lived.

The burns along my skin pulsed and then receded.

My heart….oh goddess, my heart. I pressed my palm to my chest. It had stopped. I knew it had stopped, I felt it stop. But somehow here I was again, alive and in the middle of nowhere.

I should have wept for this revival-chance. But instead, I felt only rage. Bren had done this. He had stolen my child, and set me up in flames.

He would pay. He would beg. He would choke on his own cruelty before I was done with him.

I did not cover myself. I did not care who saw me. I moved further until the lands started becoming more familiar, until I knew the borders had been crossed. I was no longer on Bren’s land.

I had walked into the dark, the territory of Nightbourne. The devil Alpha. The beast of the borders. The one they whispered about in fireside tales, whose claws had shredded entire packs, whose hunger was never sated.

And yet, I went willingly.

__________

I crossed the border.

They used to call it No Man’s Land in jest. But up close, this didn't look like a joke. This was the territory of Hozrik Nightbourne, the reaper alpha and the ghost in every fireside tale told to frighten pups.

The air was colder here, much colder than back home. I stood where the old border fence had once been. A cloak hung loosely on one of the tree branches close to where I stood, it was weather-worn and forgotten. I grabbed it without hesitation, flinging it over my shoulders to cover my nakedness.

A few guards stood off to the side, stiffening the moment they spotted me.

"Hey! That’s my cloak!" one barked.

"I'm not wearing anything underneath," I replied flatly, pulling the fabric tighter around me. “You want it back now?”

He frowned. “You’re not from here.”

“I’m not,” I admitted. “I came from Emberlight.”

Their expressions changed immediately. Hands hovered near their weapons. One of them bared his teeth at me. “Emberlight wolves are forbidden anywhere near this land.”

“I’m not here to fight,” I said quickly. “I need to speak with Hozrik Nightbourne. I bring a proposal to him.”

“No one from Emberlight meets the Alpha without prior notice,” one snapped. “Whatever you’ve got to say, put it in writing.”

“I don’t have paper,” I said, “and I don’t have time to go back and get some. This is urgent. The kind of urgent that, if ignored, your Alpha might rip your heads off for turning me away.”

That made them pause.

“How do we know you don’t have ulterior motives?”

“You can escort me,” I said. “I’m unarmed, and I am not a fighter, neither am I dumb enough to engage in violence with rouges.”

They exchanged looks and whispered into each other's ears for a while.

“Fine,” one growled after a beat. “But any funny move, and we’ll skin you alive and hang your corpse on the Emberlight border.”

“Fair.”

They opened the gates and I stepped through.

I was brought before what looked like the Alpha’s house, not a mansion and not quite a palace, but it emanated power and dominance.

"Wait here."

One of them pushed open the door and slid inside, I held the coat tighter around my shoulders, hoping for a positive response.

A few minutes later, he came out, running his hand through with auburn coloured hair.

"You may come in now."

________

The air inside was colder than outside. At the far end of the room sat a man behind a darkwood table. I recognized him instantly. Hozrik Nightbourne. The same terrifying figure who had once stood in Bran’s territory, cloaked in rage, promising death to him if provoked.

He hadn’t changed, broad shoulders, molten-gold orbs, unruly black curls, and a chiseled jaw. He towered the oak table he sat behind.

"Hozrik....." I murmured, bowing my head. Ashamed that I had been caught gawking.

“Well, well,” he arched his brow. “What do we have here?”

He leaned back slowly, appraising me.

"What is my nephew's fiancee doing in my office? All the way into no man's land?.”

Hozrik watched me closely as I spoke. My voice trembled, cracked as I explained everything that had happened to me, detail for detail.

When I finished, silence stretched between us.

Then he chuckled.

“Well, damn,” he muttered, leaning back against the edge of the table. “I heard Bran returned with someone, but I didn’t expect… this. All of this….in just two days?”

He glanced to the side, thoughtful. “Taking over Bran’s pack, Emberlight, is a strong move. It's what I want. But how do you know this document exists? The one that says my late father, Elrond, wanted me to take over instead of Bran? Why wouldn’t Bran destroy it by now?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But Bran is careful with power and obsessed with legacy. That document would be the kind of thing he would hide, protect, even if it threatens him. If I can get close to the vault, I’ll find it for sure.”

Hozrik tilted his head, studying me as though he could peel my skin back and read the truth underneath. “Hmm. Sounds feasible. Risky, but I like it. We get the document you prove Elrond named me Alpha, and Bran has nothing left to stand on.”

He pushed off the table, coming closer. “I don’t trust you. But I trust ambition. And I trust revenge even more.”

I held his gaze, steady. “So we have a deal?”

His lips curved into the faintest smirk. “We have an understanding. That’s more than most people get from me.”

My throat felt tight, but I asked anyway. “What about my marriage proposal?”

He chuckled. “Another shocker. Anyways, if that will seal our alliance politically, it would be worth it. I don’t give two fucks about marriage.”

He stood, straightening to his full, towering height. “Being my bride won’t be easy.”

I swallowed hard. “I figured.”

His eyes narrowed, golden and merciless. “No, Nira. You’re getting yourself into something you might never walk out of.”