Chapter 3: The Cold House

LENA

My body was trembling.

“Alpha kael,” Elder Marsh said and the room went still. 

My mind was blank but my wolf had backed into a corner.

Who was Alpha Kael?

And why was my wolf acting…strange?

My eyes flickered, landing on Cara. A coldness seeped into my skin as something glinted in her eyes. Pity…guilt? It was gone before I could understand it.

 Guards came out of nowhere, surrounding me and my body went still. 

Surely they weren’t serious…

My father was at the corner, his lips set in a thin line, eyes faraway.

“Father…”

“Come with us,” one of the guards demanded and I stood my ground. There was no way they would force me to go if I didn’t want to go. 

“Father!” I called again but he would not look at me. My eyes watered as I stepped forward but a firm hand had engulfed my arm, claws sunk into my flesh and I let out a horrid gasp.

I only had a few seconds to breathe before I was dragged and that was when he finally looked at me.

I should have known. If he didn’t defend me once when his new wife abused me, what made me think he would save me now, risking even an iota of his status?

I was a fool.

We walked out and I shivered the instant I realized that a car had been situated outside, waiting to take me to my doom. I struggled a little but it was futile. I couldn’t have been able to wrestle against a guard, talk more 4.

The door of the car closed abruptly, rendering me in a deafening silence and before long, the drive started. My fists were balled up as everything I knew flew by my window and by the time we left my pack’s territory, they unfurled.

There was nothing I could do. This was my fate.

My thumb brushed over the mate mark on my wrist. The gold had faded, leaving behind only a faint silver outline while I tried to brace myself for whatever layed ahead.

“Come on, Lena. What do you know about Kael?” I whispered under my breath, trying to remember anything I could have read or seen.

Alpha Kael was the strongest Alpha in three generations. A man who had never lost a challenge. A man ruthless enough to execute his own beta.

A shiver ran down my spine as I snapped my eyes open. I shrunk against my seat. How did we turn onto a private road?

The car turned once more and the forest began to change slowly. Old trees swayed in the wind, their branches twisting together overhead until they blocked out most of the skies and then…

The car stopped. 

Thick unsettling silence engulfed us as Black iron gates set into towering stone walls stretched out before us.

My throat had gone dry and a sweat had broke out on my forehead. There was no pack symbol on the gate. No crest and something dried and red stained the pillars of the gate.

 I gripped my dress, heart thumping as the gates creaked open allowing the driver access. He didn’t stop till we got to a mansion and stopped at the front steps. 

The door opened and I tried to merge my body with the cushion of the car but it was fruitless. 

“Miss ashford, we have been expecting you. I’m mauren, manager of the household, come with me,” a woman appeared out of nowhere, her face devoid of emotions as she began to walk away.

My heart was beating in my ears. Everywhere was dark and the nearest wall was so far, I had to squint to see it.

I couldn’t escape. I had no other choice. 

I followed closely behind, my steps careful, eyes scanning everywhere for an escape hatch. Anything at all…but all corners were mounted by a guard. Bigger than any we had in my previous pack. 

“You will rest today, then tomorrow we will discuss the details of your stay,” Mayren said but I didn’t reply.

There had to be some way out of here…

“Here is the east wing, it contains servants quarters, some of the councils…”

Maureen’s voice had blended into the background, I had stopped listening. My eyes scanned until I noticed, something.

We stopped adjacent to a long hall, the air dropped ten degrees and my wolf howled, backed into a corner again. The sensation of dread familiar.

“And here is the west wing. We do not go to the west wing,” mauren ominously said.

She was walking but I didn’t move. Every fiber of my body knew there had to be a reason for that warning…

But it was unguarded. Mauren stopped, turned to look at me for a split minute. Everything aligned in that minute.

Her mouth opened, brows raised but my legs were faster. I bolted.

The hall echoed with my hurried breathing and steps. There were no windows and panic was unfurling in my blood.

Finally, a door appeared at the end of the hallway. I nearly screamed for joy. Surely there must be a window if there was a door.

As I neared, time seemed to slow. My wolf howled, every fiber of me was against me opening the door but I was not about to take any chances.

I opened the door and a man stood. Hands bloody, his eyes cold and silver. 

I stopped at the door, heart pounding in my ears as a small gurgling sound came from behind him just as something rolled to my feet.

A shiver broke out of my skin, I looked down and the sound that came out of me didn’t feel like mine. 

I locked eyes with him and my stomach dropped.

The minute he moved, I ran. Air rushed past me as I sprinted down the hall, back to where I had come from. My steps uneven against the stone. I looked back, guards still stood where they were. 

No one pursued and for some reason that terrified me even more. I grabbed the handle of the door and turned, a flicker of hope burst in my chest as I stepped a foot out, only for the air to be knocked out of me.

I was pulled back. The door slammed shut and an arm spin me around. 

A horrid gasp escaped my lips as I was face to face with him. Up close, his body was even more terrifying but where his body made contact with mine sent electric waves bursting through me. 

“Seems like my bride has finally arrived,” it took me a second to realize what that meant.

“You’re Alpha Kael,” I breathed out. 

He smiled.