The room was quiet. Too fucking quiet.I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the chains around my wrists. The silver glinted faintly under the dim light, each link pulsing with a strange, faint glow. Every time I tried to break it, it healed itself—like it was alive, mocking me.I closed my eyes and tried again. The air around me shifted, stirring with my power. I whispered the old words under my breath, feeling the energy rise from deep inside me, hot and wild like fire ready to explode——and then, nothing.The light faded, my strength disappeared, and the chains remained, whole and unbroken.I hissed in frustration, slamming my wrists against the bedpost. “Come on!”My voice echoed through the room, but no one answered. Just me, trapped in this stupid, beautiful prison. The walls were made of smooth stone, covered with soft tapestries that did nothing to hide the feeling of being caged.I hated it here.I hated the silence, the smell of wolf, the weight of the bond that kept tugg
The air outside the palace felt heavier than inside.Cold wind brushed against my face as I walked down the stone steps, my boots echoing against the marble. Behind me, the guards followed, dragging her along in chains. The sound of metal scraping against metal made my wolf growl low in my chest.Victoria didn’t make it easy for them. Every step she took was sharp, angry, full of fire. Even with her wrists bound, she still looked like she ruled the night. Her chin was lifted, her eyes locked forward, refusing to look at me.When we reached the car, I opened the door and turned to her.“Get in,” I said quietly.She stopped. Her eyes finally met mine, burning with that same wild defiance that both thrilled and infuriated me.For a moment, neither of us moved. The air between us was thick, charged with everything we couldn’t say here.Then, with a sharp breath, she lifted her chin higher. “You think I’m just going to walk into that car because you said so?”I leaned in slightly, lowering
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