27|| A Binding Contract

“Lady Dahlia, you have to calm down! We’ll treat her please, she’s not dead yet.”

Doctor Jeffery, the royal doctor, spoke with a forced calmness that didn’t make me feel better at all. I bursted into the palace hospital and practically screamed for help. I watched as he adjusted his glasses, his expression full of pity which I’d always hated when people looked at me like that but for the first time, I didn’t care.

I grabbed his arms with my shaky hands. Two nurses tried to hold me back as others rushed Poppy toward the emergency room.

“Please, save her! I’m begging you!” My voice broke, shaking with every word. “Whatever you want, I’ll give it—just don’t let her die!”

He only gave me a stiff nod before running after the nurses, leaving me standing there trying not to break into pieces. My knees gave out, and I hit the cold floor hard, my hands cleaning on the tears I didn’t even realize were falling.

How did this happen? Who could’ve done something so cruel?

But deep down, I already knew.

There were only two people in this palace capable of something this vile and it was Head Maid Smite and Concubine Naomi.

I gasped out in tears until I could barely breathe. I’d always known they were monsters, but this… this was different. This was blood on their hands.

If Poppy died… if she didn’t open her eyes again then I’d failed her. I promised to protect her. And now she was lying there, fighting for her life because of me.

My hands clenched into tight fists as I prayed to the goddess so much harder than I ever had before. I prayed until the words I said lost their meaning, until all that was left was just begging.

“Take whatever you want, just give her let her die, she’s all I have”

I made a vow right there on the cold floor that, if Poppy survived, I’d devote myself to the goddess forever. My life, my soul, my eternity she could have it all.

That was when the pain hit.

I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my chest that made me crouch down in pain. I started coughing so hard I could barely breathe. My insides felt like they were burning alive, and just as I held my stomach. That was when I heard it — that voice.

The one I hadn’t heard in weeks.

The one that haunted every dream I had tried to forget.

I covered my mouth, and when I pulled my hand away, it was covered with blood. My eyes widened just as the voice echoed through my mind.

‘Sorry to disappoint, but I am not the Goddess’

The words vibrated inside my skull.

‘How dare you call for her when you’re in need? Tell me! what has she ever done for you?’

I immediately screamed as the pain exploded in my head. Nurses rushed forward to grab me as I almost hit my head on the floor.

“Lady Dahlia! Lady Dahlia, are you all right?”

But I couldn’t answer.

The voice grew louder in my head.

‘When your brother disappeared, where was she?’

‘When your mother died! when your father turned his hate on you! Did she help you?”

‘When your mate abandoned you for your best friend, where was your goddess then?’

The voice laughed in a cold and evil way.

‘No, little one. She was never there. I was. Inside you. Silent, patient, giving you strength. And you dare call for her now?’

‘You dare?!’

“Then help me!” I shouted back inside my head, seeing myself standing in that empty void from before. “Give me the power! The strength! Help me protect myself. Help me protect her! If you do, I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ll give myself to you. My body, my soul—everything. Just help me!”

The voice only laughed, a barbaric sound that made my skin crawl .

‘Do you think you can handle it, little one? Me? My power? The truth of what you really are? Do you think you can survive if I’m set free inside you?’

My hands clenched so tight I felt my nails dig into my palms. “Yes! Yes, I can! If you can save Poppy… then I can handle anything!”

‘Then say my name,’ the voice purred, like the voice of the devil. ‘Say it three times. Call me and bind our souls together.’

I froze. My heart was beating so hard I thought it might shatter .

“I—I don’t know your name! I don’t know who you are!”

‘You do, Dahlia,” the voice hissed, urgent now, almost desperate. ‘You do. Remember me. I’m part of you. Remember me!’

I stumbled to my feet, pushing the nurses away as I ran down the hallway to the bathroom.

I gripped the sink, staring at my reflection. There was blood all over my body, I was terrified. I ran my hands through my hair over and over, walking left and right . Trying to think hard.

Remember me!!

I thought about the book from the library. The story my grandmother used to whisper when I was a child—the one about The Great War. I knew it was connected to me somehow, but I could never understand how.

Then my mind drifted back to that night. The night my brother disappeared. I had been babysitting him. I remembered the sharp pain that I felt in my chest, how my body went weak, and how everything went black. When I woke up, he was gone.

I remembered my father’s screams, my mother’s tears. The nights I cried alone in my room until my throat burned. The day I saw Elias and Marielle together, the way my heart cracked so loudly I swore the whole world could hear it.

All of it came flooding back. The pain, grief, and guilt mixing together into one unbearable realization that made my body go cold.

It was a guess. A wild, dangerous guess. But I couldn’t stop myself.

It would’ve been easier if I was wrong.

Easier if the name I was about to call was a lie.

The bathroom lights flickered wildly above me, making it look like a scene from a horror movie. I took one deep, and inhaled before I closed my eyes.

“Wonlock!”

My whole body trembled. The air around me seemed to be beating like a heartbeat.

“Wonlock!”

“Wonlock!”

The bathroom mirror cracked down the center the second I said the third call. I could feel something changing inside of me.

“I always thought history never lied,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “But I see now… there were stories they buried and hid. Truths they twisted.”

Tears fell down my cheeks as I said each word.

“You were never a man, were you?” My voice shook. “You were a woman. You are me. My wolf—my shadow, my sin, my strength.” I laughed in disbelief. “I was never a wolfless omega.”

I pressed my hand to my chest. “I bind us. I bind our souls together. Accept my contract and bind our souls!”

I heard the voice ring in my head. “You should have never called my name”