Maddox POVHer voice cuts through the room like a blade. Every Omega at every table turns. Even the guards shift where they stand, eyes snapping toward her. And us? We just stare.Veyra isn’t quiet. She isn’t submissive. She doesn’t know how to keep her head down and play the game. She speaks like she’s not afraid of anyone here, and maybe she isn’t. That’s the problem.That kind of pride is going to get her killed.She’s edging closer to Heat, and I can already tell she’s trying to fight it. No suppressants anymore, no mate to claim her, no Alpha to ground her when it hits. If she keeps resisting, she’ll burn herself from the inside out. The question is whether she’ll beg before then, or if she’ll die choking on her own defiance.“She’s going to die,” Vane mutters, his fork scraping across the plate.“She’s making herself an outcast,” Dagen adds, eyes still locked on her across the room.“She should be,” Rael says, a slow grin pulling at his mouth. “If she isn’t, she’s going to start
Maddox POVDagen rises from his seat, and the room silences instantly. The Omegas still their movements, heads turning toward him as he surveys the hall.“The next trial begins now,” he announces, his voice cutting through the air like a blade. “Once you’ve eaten, you will be guided outside. Those housed within the main quarters receive an advantage. As always, you get information the others do not.”Across the room, I catch the flicker of surprise on Veyra’s face. She wasn’t expecting this. She thought the benefits ended at a warm bed and a private bathroom. She’s wrong. Being in the house means more than luxury, it means strategy.“Today,” Dagen continues, “you will be placed in groups of three. You won’t know your partners until the moment it begins. Only one of you will walk out.”Her reaction is subtle, but it’s there. Jaw clenched, shoulders tight. She’s already calculating. I stand from my seat, my gaze locking directly with hers.“You and two others will fight,” I say clearly,
Veyra POVThe early morning air bites at my skin as I'm guided outside and down a narrow path. Two guards flank me as I walk in silence. My boots crunch over the dead leaves and gravel. The compound fades into the background behind me with every step.The further I walk, the more my surroundings become a dense forest with the scent of damp earth. Just ahead of me, the trees open into a wide clearing, and I see the massive wooden gate. It looms ahead of me, more than twice my height. I can see it's reinforced with blackened iron bolts and heavy hinges. It looks almost ancient and brutal, like something that is supposed to keep the monsters locked inside, not out. I pause in front of the gate, and my eyes scan the towering structure. My heart is steady despite the tension that is knotting in my chest.One of the guards stop beside me and rests his hand on the hilt of a blade. "No shifting," he warns, his voice is flat and devoid of all emotion. "The rules are clear. If your opponents c
Veyra POVThe branches sway above me, and I move to crouch in the crook of the tree. My eyes narrow on the distant forest floor. I can see the entire wall from here, so I can figure out how big the field is that I have to survive. I’ve been still for too long, and it’s starting to make my muscles ache.I’ve not seen anyone yet, which means neither person is moving. Why? Suddenly movement catches my eye, it’s subtle and careful. It’s near one of the large gates like the one I came into. I freeze completely and focus on the shadows below.Just there is a flicker of fabric between the trees. I hold my breath and lean forward just enough to track it without snapping the branch beneath me. Another shadow moves beside it, close as well. It’s following the same path.At first, I thought it was a second opponent, tracking the other, and I knew I’d have a fight coming to me from that direction now.The bodies shift, and I see their faces. It's Riven and Sera. Only they aren’t fighting; they ar
Vane POVMaddox's choice to let Sera and Riven know they were going up against Veyra may seem cruel, but she's got an advantage over them. I doubt they will take her down. She's too well-trained. The screens are on, showing everything. Veyra has set up her traps and is now making a bow like this entire battle is nothing. "She's trained well," Rael mutters. "I told you before she came, she was trained to be Alpha. Her pack isn't one with a lot of money, so she would have been taught to hunt and survive with nothing." Dagen's words have me smiling. Right now, she's adding something extra to the game. Any other Omegas would fight and try to kill each other that way. Veyra is planning it. She's trying to take them down without even coming close to them."Bets on who falls into that trap?" Rael laughs."Are you joking? She's meant to die," Maddox snaps. "I'm serious. Look at the online chat; people are betting on whether they will notice, and if not, who falls into it and dies." Rael
Vane POVWe’re all watching and waiting. The numbers have shifted now. People think Sera will fall into the trap because she’s running from Veyra and no longer pushing Riven in front of her.I can see that happening. She’s more bothered about escaping Veyra than anything else.“She’s not allowed to survive this, not easily,” Maddox mutters.There’s a reason he’s known as cruel, despite his young age. His mate was someone he hated, and rather than accepting her or rejecting her, he used her, broke her, then gave her to the rogues as a gift. His mate wasn’t an Omega like these women are. She was a Luna, not that he cared.He destroyed her, then her father, then her entire pack. He treated it like it was just another day. Not many people can hurt the one they are fated to. It causes too much pain for yourself, but Maddox? He withstood the pain throughout all the torture.The screens grab my attention again, and there, I see it. Veyra makes a noise on purpose, and Riven rushes in front of
Maddox POVWhat is wrong with Sera? I’m pacing, getting increasingly frustrated. She’s got permission to use her wolf, but she’s not! My hands clench into fists, and I watch her fly back from the force of Veyra’s hit. I can’t watch this, it’s pathetic, not just that, but weak. Who in their right mind wouldn't use their wolf for protection?She's been given permission, but I hate this, I hate watching it, and I despise the fact that Veyra is about to win!Pacing this floor is doing nothing now. It's pointless, it's not going to give Sera common sense!Finally, there’s a growl and Sera shifts. “What was she waiting for?” I mutter and watch the screen. “Veyra to bring her within an inch of her life!”I'm just glad she's finally shifting. The fact that she has managed to shift has thrown Veyra off, and it’s the advantage that Sera needed. That brief moment of shock has Sera pouncing onto Veyra. Her wolf’s teeth dig into her shoulder.Veyra cries out, and I smirk. Good, let her fall. Let h
Maddox POVI grab the nearest glass off the table and hurl it across the room. It shatters against the stone wall with a sound that does nothing to ease the fury burning inside me.“She wasn’t supposed to win!” I roar, throwing another glass, another plate. Anything I can grab. This isn't how today was meant to go.The furniture shakes under the violence of my rage. “She was meant to break, not fucking win!”There on the screen is Veyra, standing up. Her body is soaked in blood, and she's swaying on her feet. One arm is hanging uselessly at her side, but she stays standing.Her face is expressionless, but her eyes...Those damn golden eyes burn with something savage and unbroken.My body nearly shifts right here in the room. My wolf surges inside of me, scraping at my skin, wanting to break free. My muscles stretch and strain against the change. I force it back with every bit of control I have.“She should be dead,” I snarl.“She deserved to win,” Dagen says bluntly, his voice cutting
Vane POVPushing back my own doubts and worries, I sink into her slowly, guiding her down onto me with careful hands, but her body moves faster than I do. She's too hot, too slick, too desperate. Her breath catches the moment I fill her, and I swear I feel her wolf stir before I’ve even started to thrust.She buries her face in my neck, shaking. Her fingers dig into my shoulders like she’s clinging to the last piece of herself.I hold her and wrap my arms around her back to keep her chest against mine as I move inside her, deep, slow, and steady. I don’t want to hurt her, don’t want to add pain to what she’s already drowning in. Her body’s exhausted, worn down from too much agony and not enough time.But go, she still feels perfect. Every part of her fits me like we’ve done this a thousand times before. My hips roll, lifting to meet her, and her body clenches down around me with a soft, broken moan.“I didn’t want it like this,” I murmur against her temple. I was just getting to the p
VANE POVThis isn’t right, none of it at all. She's curled in Rael's lap, limp and burning. Her skin is flushed and her breathing is coming in shallow gasps. Her wolf has gone again, entirely. The bond failed, and his knot barely deflated before she was writhing and crying out, worse than before.Now though, they're looking at me. Like I’m the next fucking solution.“No,” I snap, stepping back. “We need to stop this.”“She’s dying,” Dagen growls. “We stop and she dies for sure.”“She’s dying anyway!” I shoot back. “All you’re doing, what you already did... is dragging it out. She gets a moment of peace, maybe even hope, and then the fire comes back stronger. You’re not saving her. You’re thrusting her closer to death.”Rael looks like he wants to argue, but he doesn’t. He’s still holding her, staring at nothing, as if he’s trying to understand what he just felt leave him.“She begged me,” he says softly. “She begged me to claim her.”“And it didn’t work,” I spit. “What makes you think
Rael POVShe’s still limp in my arms, barely conscious, but she still moves with me. Still rises and falls with the rhythm of my hips. Her body knows what it needs, even if she can’t speak it clearly. I hold her steady, trying to stay in control, but I can already feel my restraint fraying.“Rael,” she whispers, so faint I almost miss it. Something about her voice has my wolf surging forward more, clinging onto her.I look down. Her eyes are open, barely, but she’s looking right at me.“Don’t speak,” I murmur. “Just breathe. Save your energy”Her fingers claw weakly at my chest. “Please. You have to claim me.”I go still.
RAEL POVNo one’s happy about this. Not about Dagen fucking her. Not about him biting her. Not about the way he’s clinging to her like she’s the last thing keeping him breathing.And definitely not about what comes next.She’s delirious with pain. Driven purely by heat, desperation, and the instinct to survive. That doesn’t mean she wants this. That doesn’t mean she can consent to it. Her wolf is barely present. Her body is in agony. But Dagen’s right about one thing, if we don’t try, she dies. Then we're just monsters who watched her burn from the inside out.There’s a chance she dies anyway. Even if we agree, she could still die, th
Dagen POVShe’s barely holding on, but she still nods. Still gives me that final, broken little whisper of permission “Make it stop.”That’s all I need. I strip fast, my jaw tight, breath short, barely hanging on as my wolf surges beneath my skin. The scent of her is everywhere, sweet and wild and burning through me like a drug I can’t fight. It hits me the moment I pull my shirt over my head, the moment I shove my pants to the floor and crawl back onto the bed where she lies stretched out, weak and trembling, her legs already parted for me like she’s waiting for salvation.I grab her thighs, drag her down to the edge of the bed, and settle between them. My cock is painfully hard, slick already, throbbing with the pressure building in me. When I press the head against her entrance and feel her heat, slic
Veyra POVSomething shifts in him.The careful movements give way to something deeper, firmer. Each thrust grows more deliberate, more insistent, like instinct is pulling him out of the restraint he's clung to. I feel it in the tension of his muscles, in the way his fingers press harder against my hips, holding me in place like he’s afraid I’ll vanish.I know I should be afraid. I know what rogues are... what they become when instinct takes over, but I don’t pull away.Instead, I arch into him.My breath comes faster, not from panic but from need, sharp and staggering. The pain that once consumed me has been replaced with something I didn’t expect. Pleasure. Rich and overwhelming, like it’s blooming through every nerve ending. My wolf leans into his without hesitation, drawn to the strength he’s offering, to the rare and careful way he’s giving it.He groans low in his chest as he sinks deeper, filling me completely with each thrust. The rhythm isn’t brutal, he never becomes careless,
Veyra POVHe doesn’t move like I expect him to.There’s no wild snarl, no rip of fabric, no hands dragging me down into the dirt. Just a pause. A slow exhale. One of his hands brushes against my waist, then stills as if he’s giving me a chance to change my mind. When I don’t, his fingers drift toward the hem of my shirt, curling beneath it with deliberate care.The fabric is stiff with dried sweat and blood. It clings to me in places, but he’s patient, peeling it upward, inch by inch, until my stomach is bare. My skin prickles under the touch of air, but it’s his silence that unsettles me more.He’s not grinning or gloating. He’s looking at me like I’m something fragile. Something breakable.My voice is rough, wary. “You’re not doing this like a rogue.”He doesn’t answer. Just eases the shirt higher, over my ribs, past my bruised arms. I wince when he lifts it off my head, and his touch softens instantly, like he noticed. Like he cared. He folds the ruined shirt and sets it aside, as
Veyra POVI crawl to the pile of items and grab the meat, shoving it into my mouth without caring how it tastes. It won't save me. Even I know that. I thought I was ready to die, but now that it's closer, I'm not.It's not the pain, not the burning heat under my skin, not the way my body refuses to move. It's the thought of dying that scares me. I was ready. Now, I want to live. But living means asking one of the Alphas to knot me.My pride won't let me. But maybe... if one of them offers again, if they suggest it, if they give me even a fraction of an excuse... maybe then I can say yes. I can take what I need and go back to surviving this trial on my own terms.I can't move. My body's done. My wolf is slipping further away, curling back into herself, and the last of my strength is gone. I know I'm exposed. I'm lying out in the open. Anyone can see me. The scent of the other Omega's body is going to draw the rogues soon, maybe even a boar or another predator. Still, I can't do anythin