Chapter Six

Daron’s POV

“You bastard!” she snarled,  her golden eyes blazing with fury. “How could you change my clothes?”

Her body was pressed against mine, warm and alive, her damp hair sticking to my chest. Despite the anger radiating off her, my wolf purred in satisfaction at the contact. Mine. Alive. Breathing.

I gripped her hips to steady her, my fingers digging in harder than I meant to. Fighting the urge to pull her closer, to bury my face in her neck and breathe her in.

“Easy, little wolf,” I said, voice rough, scraping out of my throat. “Your clothes were dirty and torn. What’s wrong in offering a hand?”

She glared down at me, breathing hard. The fire in her eyes only made the heat in my blood burn hotter. This woman, this fierce, impossible female, tested every ounce of my restraint. No one spoke to me like this. No one lived after trying.

“How… how could you change my clothes?” she shot back angrily. “Don’t you understand the basic decency between men and women?”

I let out a cold laugh. “I have seen better than you, so stop yelling like you’re special. If at all, I saved your fucking life. Again. And I am clearly not interested in you.”

“What?” she said, and raised her hand to hit my chest.

That was her mistake.

In one move I had her flipped, her back slamming into the furs, my body caging hers. I pulled my small dagger from my boot and pressed the flat of the blade against her throat. Not enough to cut. Enough to warn.

“Don’t you dare raise your hand to me again, little wolf,” I said, my voice low and lethal. “It seems I haven’t shown you the real me. You think I am lenient with you?”

“Tan… Tan…” I yelled his name loudly, not taking my eyes off her.

The tent flap opened immediately. Tan stepped inside, eyes widening at the scene. “Daron, what happened?”

“Tie her up outside,” I said. “I can’t keep up with her behavior. She needs to be taught a lesson.”

“But Daron, she just woke up from a bee sting,” Tan said, frowning. “Let’s wait till we get to the pack. She’s in no state…”

“Tie. Her. Up. Outside,” I said, each word a command. My tone meant I was dead serious. My wolf was clawing at me, but my alpha pride was bleeding.

Tan nodded reluctantly and pulled Lily to her feet. As he led her out, I stayed behind for a moment, jaw clenched. I had tried to be patient after discovering she was a woman. But her constant disrespect, her attempts to kill me, and now this… my ego had its limits.

Outside, the night air was cool and carried the crackle of campfires. Guards moved quietly around the perimeter. Tan had her wrists bound to a sturdy post at the center of camp. I grabbed a long leather whip from my supplies and approached.

The first lash landed across her back. Lily jerked with a sharp gasp. My wolf snarled inside me, furious at the sight, but I pushed the beast down. She needed to learn.

I struck again. And again. Each crack of the whip echoed through the camp. Her body tensed with every hit, but she refused to cry out. Blood began to seep through her fresh clothes.

“Daron, I fear she might die if you keep up with this,” Tan said, grabbing my arm. “She’s badly wounded and you’ve been whipping her for a while now. We still need her for the information on their Weapon House.”

I stopped, breathing hard. I stared at her badly bruised back, the lines of red blooming through the thin fabric they’d given her. I walked to her, grabbed her chin, and forced her head up roughly.

I stared right into her eyes. And there it was. That look. That fucking look of defiance. Unbroken. Unbent.

“That look,” I said coldly. “That stubborn, unbroken look in your eyes is what I hate most. I haven’t even begun to show you who I really am, Lily. Keep pushing me and I might kill you before we ever reach the pack.”

She smirked, blood on her lip. “You’re exactly the monster they say you are. You want me to bow? In your fucking dreams, Daron. I’ll keep trying to kill you until I succeed.” 

Something in me snapped.

I slashed the ropes with my dagger, grabbed her by the arm, and dragged her roughly toward the pool of water in the middle of the camp. It was for drinking, for washing, but tonight it was for breaking.

I shoved her head into it, aggressively. The water was cold. She thrashed, wriggled, bubbles exploding around her. Her hands clawed at my arms. I counted to five before I yanked her head back up.

She gasped, choking, water and hair streaming down her face.

I touched her face, holding her jaw, forcing her to look at me. “Lily. Lily. Lily.”  “The information you hold is the only reason I still spared your life till now. Don’t fucking ruin the little patience I still have left.” I said it calmly. Too calm.

She smiled weakly, water dripping down her face. “Too bad for you, Daron. You captured the wrong person. I will never speak.  And I will never bow to you or your pack.”

Without warning, she slammed her forehead into mine with brutal force. Pain exploded through my skull. I staggered. Before I could recover, she lunged, knocking me to the ground and sinking her teeth hard into the side of my neck…right over the sensitive birthmark that marked me as Wolf-Lord.

“Fuck!” I roared.

“Are you seeking death?” Tan said angrily. From my blurred vision I could see him raise his sword.

I raised my hand up and gave him the sign. Stop. Don’t.

She tightened her teeth on my neck even harder. All the veins on my forehead were shooting out. My vision went red. I folded my hand in a fist and punched her right in her stomach. She didn’t budge. She kept on tightening her sharp teeth on my neck, like she wanted to rip my throat out.

I punched her again, right on her forehead.

She finally let go and fell flat on the floor beside me, her whole mouth covered with my blood. She was panting, smiling through the blood. Feral. Victorious.

I stood up, holding my now bruised neck. My hand came away covered with blood. My blood. Her saliva. Shock was visible on every guard’s face.

Leo, one of my senior guards, stepped forward with his sword raised. “My Lord, I will end her right now.”

“Stop,” I yelled at him loudly. My voice echoed through the camp.

I kicked her roughly in the side. She rolled across the dirt and hit a wooden stool, going limp. Unconscious.

“She’s the only one we have right now who can unravel the mystery between my parents’ complicated death,” I said angrily, looking at Tan, at Leo, at all of them. “So we keep her alive till we get to the pack. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Alpha,” they said in unison.

I stood over her battered body, chest heaving. My birthmark burned like she’d branded me.

No matter how loudly my wolf demanded I claim her, no matter how her fire called to something deep inside me… I would break her. She had to learn her place.

“Take her back inside,” I ordered them, voice cold. “Clean her wounds. Chain her if you have to.”

As the guards carried her away, I touched the fresh bite on my neck, feeling the warm blood. A dark smile tugged at my lips despite the pain.

This little wolf was going to be more trouble than I expected.

But I had broken stronger spirits before.