I tried to resist, I tried to fight it but I wasn't strong enough. Because I found myself slowly going down on my knees.
No! I fought with my wolf. Please don't be stupid! I growled in my head. We're supposed to be equal. But the whore of a wolf was ready to go down. I was almost face to face with Xander’s cock when I got back control and then I jumped up. “No!" I said and if he was surprised he didn't show it. Before I could say another word, my back hit the wall harshly, almost knocking the breath out of me and the next thing I knew was that Xander held my hands above my head and chained them. I hadn't even noticed there was something like this in this room. “What are you doing?!" I growled in anger as he went to my legs and then spread them apart before chaining them. I was seething with anger but that wasn't any of his business. When he was done with his work he came back up to me as he leaned to my ear. “I'm going to show you what you'll never get. I'm going to torture that body by touching another woman and you're going to stand there watching," his voice was low, deathly. My heart hammered in my chest as the realization of what he was about to do settled on me. Before I could really comprehend the whole situation the door opened and the woman from earlier who had poured water on me walked into the room with a smirk on her face. Without another word she started undressing and Xander had his eyes watching her like an animal in heat. I struggled against the chains. I didn't want to watch this. I knew what this could do to me because I bare his mark. “Enjoy the show," she said as she walked seductively to Xander and then he pulled her roughly to him and she moaned as his lips crashed down on hers hungrily. Immediately they started kissing, I felt a rush of pain go through my body but I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of making a sound of pain. Xander squeezed her butt grinding his cock into her as her fingers weaved into his hair. It was like I wasn't even there, like I was the intruder. He suddenly lifted her as he threw her on the bed and kept kissing her moving to her neck, her breasts and she moaned. Her moans were too extra like she was doing it on purpose to get on my nerves. “Xander, oh Xander put it in," she moaned as she clawed on his back just like my insides were clawing. My wolf was furious inside me as my insides burned at seeing my mate with another woman. My stomach was twisting painfully and I tried to close my eyes not wanting to see anymore but it felt like I was compelled, because I couldn't talk my eyes off the scene in front of me. Xander suddenly plunged his cock into her and she threw her head back moaning in pleasure. A wave of pain I've never experienced before tore through me. but I bit hard on my lips. I wouldn't scream, I wouldn't make a sound. Their sounds of pleasure and the slapping of their skin filled the room. The bitch eyes met mine and she started screaming unnecessarily just to gut me. My hands were beginning to hurt because of how much I was struggling. He pulled out of her and slammed right back and something slammed painfully inside me. “Yes, Xander harder," the the fucker of a mate obeyed as he took her harder and faster. I could taste blood on my lips but no sound came from my lips. Xander sat up and the bitch had her back to him as she slowly sank on his cock riding him. This way she could look at me with a smirk. Her eyes were shining with victory. Of course why wouldn't she feel victorious, she was fucking my mate in front of me. Xander drew her to his chest as he squeezed her breasts kissing her neck. His eyes met mine as he held the woman's waist pushing her harder and she screamed but he didn't take his eyes off me. “Stop," I found myself whispering before I could stop myself and I think that encouraged Xander to go faster as he started thrusting faster into the woman, hurting me. They changed posting again as he turned the woman back on her back breathing hard as he continued fucking her for me to watch. My wolf growled inside me when the bitch hand landed on Xander's ass guiding him deeper and he grunted. “Fuck, you're choking me Adriana," he hissed. So that was the bitch’s name. Xander grunted and then with a deep guttural groan he pulled out of her and came on her stomach. And then slowly he turned to me. “I hope you enjoyed the show, mate?"The sound hit me before the doors even opened.Struggling. Chains rattling. Her voice—hoarse but furious—spitting fire into the silence of the hall.“Let me go! Do you hear me? Let me go!”The guards pushed the heavy double doors open, their grips tight around her arms as if they feared she’d burn them alive. She stumbled into the office, wrists still bound, hair disheveled, eyes wild and flashing with defiance.My wolf lunged against my chest, a snarl ripping through me from the inside. The sight of her chained, treated like a criminal—it made my blood roar, my vision go red. Every instinct screamed to tear those chains apart, to crush the guards where they stood for daring to manhandle her.But I didn’t move.I couldn’t.Her life was hanging on the edge of a blade. One wrong move from me, one wrong word from her, and I knew this room would become her execution ground.So I sat rigid, my fists clenched against my knees, nails biting into flesh, and forced my wolf down. I had to play
Silence.That was all that filled the office. Heavy, suffocating silence that wrapped around my throat like a chain.Xander sat behind the desk, his hands folded neatly in front of him, his expression unreadable but his eyes sharp as blades. The weight of his gaze pressed into me. Raven sat to his right, her posture stiff, her fury radiating like heat from a forge. And me—goddess, I sat across from them, shoulders tight, heart pounding so hard I swore it shook the chair beneath me.Their silence was worse than shouting. Worse than any punishment they could have hurled my way.Because they were waiting. Waiting for me to explain how the woman who had been caught trying to steal their daughter was mine. My mate.Raven’s voice cut through the tension like a blade. “So what now, Dante?” Her tone was sharp, cold, laced with disbelief. “What do you want us to do? Free her? Free the woman who tried to take my child?”Her words slammed into me like hammer strikes. I couldn’t even bring myself
The moment the word left my lips—Deal—I hated myself. The sound of it still echoed in my head, clanging louder than the rattle of chains when the wolf—my mate, as he dared to claim—turned and left me in the dark. I sat slumped against the stone wall, breathing hard, pulse hammering in my throat, as though saying that single word had cost me a piece of my soul. A deal with him. A deal with fate itself, maybe. I pressed my wrists against the iron cuffs until the raw skin there screamed. Pain was better than thought. Better than the creeping realization that maybe—just maybe—he hadn’t been lying. Mate. The word burned hotter than fire. It explained too much. Why my magic had faltered that night in his room, betraying me when I had stood over him, blade in hand, victory within reach. I should have ended him. I wanted to end him. But the spell fizzled, the strike faltered, and for the first time in my life, power had turned traitor. Because of him. Because of the bond. I dug my n
I didn’t want to believe it. My mind screamed denial even as my wolf went utterly still inside me, ears pricked, nose testing the air again and again.No. No, it couldn’t be.But the scent hit me like a fist to the gut—roses, sharp and sweet, curling through the dank rot of the dungeon. The kind of scent that sank into bone and blood, that no time or distance could dull.And then there was the hair. That wild, untamed cascade of fire. My stomach dropped. My chest seized.Her.My mate.Chained. Shackled. Sitting on the damp stone floor of the cell as if the filth didn’t touch her. Back straight. Chin tilted. Defiant even with her wrists rubbed raw from iron.The one I had been chasing through forests and across borders. The one who had vanished like smoke after trying to put a blade through my heart. The one my wolf had raged for, hungered for, howled for.And now she was here. In the palace dungeon.Accused of touching my niece.The world tilted violently. For a heartbeat, I didn’t
The forest blurred around me, trees nothing more than streaks of shadow and green as my paws tore across the earth. The ground shook beneath every stride, claws digging deep into the soil, my wolf pushing harder, faster, driven by nothing but rage and fear.Sofia.The thought of her tiny face, her laugh, her bright eyes—my little girl—flashed in my mind, and each image ripped a fresh growl from my chest. My wolf snarled as I ran. My niece. My blood. My pup. Someone had dared to touch her. To take her. To make her cry.The world around me dissolved into red haze. My paws pounded harder. My lungs burned. None of it mattered. All that mattered was reaching the palace, reaching her, making sure with my own eyes that she was safe.My wolf surged, faster, stronger, until the gates of the palace finally came into view. Guards shifted nervously as I thundered toward them, but none dared block my path. They knew better. They knew what I was when it came to my family.At the last second, I skid
Darkness pressed against me like a second skin.The cell was nothing more than stone and shadow, yet it felt alive. Cold walls whispered of misery, chains rattled with every slight movement I made, mocking me with their weight. The air was damp, suffocating, filled with the stench of mold and iron and fear. My fear.I sat curled on the hard ground, knees pulled against my chest, my forehead resting on them. My wrists were raw where the cuffs dug into my skin, my ankles bruised from the shackles. Every time I shifted, the chains clinked—a reminder of how far I’d fallen.How far I had failed.I closed my eyes, but I couldn’t escape the truth. I had been caught. Not just caught—defeated, humiliated, stripped of everything that made me dangerous. The King himself had been the one to bring me down. His wolf, monstrous and magnificent, had crushed me into the dirt like I was nothing.And maybe I was nothing.I had told myself I was strong enough. Clever enough. Ruthless enough to take what