Chapter 8 — His Woman?!

AURORA

“…along with attending to the Alphas as their maid. Do you understand?”

I nodded, forcing myself out of my thoughts even though I barely heard what the wolf woman had said. I hadn’t even gotten her name, just that she looked like some kind of brown-skinned goddess.

Her skin was deep bronze, her dark-brown hair thick and wavy, her brown eyes sharp with authority. Even the tattoos curling across her arms shimmered.

Today was my first official day as a slave of the Blackfang Pack, and I’d dressed in the scratchy maid’s attire they had shoved at me. The woman was already gone, leaving me to begin my tasks.

I knew if I didn’t finish them in time, punishment would follow. Still, my mind kept drifting back to the mysterious note I’d found: Do you want your freedom back?

I was cautious. It could be a cruel setup from one of the wolves who wanted an excuse to torment me. But still… What if it was real? What if it was my only way out?

A voice shattered my thoughts.

“Report to the Pack Court. Now, Aurora!”

I flinched, realizing the voice was coming from the collar around my neck. My stomach dropped as I recognized it as Darius‘s cold voice.

“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath, setting the basket down and hurrying to the court.

The Pack Court was lined with guards, all standing stiff with a stoic expression on their faces.

Three women stood near the front, one with kind brown eyes and long chestnut hair, one with mischievous blue eyes and long blonde hair, and another with a powerful, athletic build, her cropped blue hair catching the torchlight.

Their tattoos pulsed faintly, each carrying a different aura. They weren’t mere werewolves. They were higher ranked, marked with their clan symbols.

Then my eyes met his.

Darius.

His silver gaze swept over me like frost.

“Fitting,” he said coldly. “You look like a proper slave.”

Heat burned my cheeks. I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from spitting back a retort. I knew he was mocking the plain grey dress clinging to me.

“Calypso, stay with the girl. We leave immediately,” Darius ordered, nodding to the blue-haired woman.

She strode toward me, her aura nearly sending me to my knees.

“Don’t even think about running, peach,” she hissed. “I’m one of the fastest wolves in the pack. You wouldn’t make it ten steps.”

I swallowed hard. I should’ve kept quiet, but curiosity got the better of me.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

The court froze. All eyes snapped to me. Even Draven, standing at the far side, let out a long sigh.

Darius’s boots echoed as he approached, towering over me, his stormy silver eyes boring into mine. I dropped my gaze, hands trembling.

“You are a slave,” he snarled. “You follow orders. You do not ask questions.”

His voice dropped, dangerous as a blade. “Speak out of turn again, and I will rip out your tongue.”

I flinched. Draven made a sound of protest, but Darius silenced him with a single glare.

So I said nothing more as we moved. My heart hammered the whole ride into town. Calypso sat beside me like a shadow, her presence a constant threat.

When we arrived, Darius and Draven climbed the podium in the town square while the others took their places around them. I remained by Calypso’s side, eyes darting nervously over the sea of gathered humans.

“Gather them,” Darius commanded.

A horn blasted, and people swarmed into the square. Starved, hollow-eyed, they looked at their rulers with a mixture of fear and hate. My chest ached at the sight.

For months since the Blackfang invasion, only guards and messengers had patrolled the streets. Never the Alphas themselves. Until now.

Lyra, the blonde wolf with laughing blue eyes, lifted her hand. The sound of the horn died instantly, silence crashing over the crowd like a spell.

“Before you stand your Alphas,” she declared proudly, “Darius and Draven Blackfang, rulers of the Bloodfang Kingdom. Bow before them.”

Every head snapped down including mine. My body obeyed against my will, their Alpha aura forcing submission.

“Thank you, Lyra,” Darius said, stepping forward.

I felt his aura expand, cold and crushing, storm clouds rolling off him. My body shook from fear and something else I couldn't quite name. His eyes flickered like lightning silver flashing darker, then storm-grey, like the sky itself warred inside him.

“Someone has been kidnapping my wolves!” Darius roared, his voice booming through the hall.

A chill ran through me as his gaze swept the crowd, then lingered on me, just long enough to remind me how small, how breakable I was.

“Three times,” he continued, his tone low and lethal. “Three times, my people have been stolen.”

His voice dropped into something darker.

“And yesterday… a human dared to kidnap my woman. Luna Astrid.”

My heart stopped.

Darius Blackfang, the cold, ruthless Alpha of Blackfang Kingdom had a woman? The thought twisted my insides with disbelief.

His voice cut through my thoughts like a blade.

“Bring her back to me,” he growled, “or I will burn this place to the ground.”