Chapter 4: The Bond That Ties Me to My Enemy

Anne’s POV

Mate.

The word echoed inside my head long after Caelan Blackthorn left my room.

I pressed both hands against my ears, as if I could silence my wolf by shutting out the world.

“No,” I whispered.

My wolf stirred beneath my skin, restless and certain.

He is our mate.

“He killed Adrian.”

I know.

“He murdered my parents.”

I know.

“Then why would you choose him?”

My wolf offered no answer.

I stumbled away from the door and gripped the edge of the dressing table. The mirror reflected a stranger with pale cheeks, bloodshot eyes, and a wedding dress stained with the blood of the man I had planned to spend my life with.

Adrian had been my future.

Caelan had destroyed it.

And now my own wolf wanted me to accept the monster responsible.

I swept the ornaments off the dressing table. They crashed against the floor, but the sound did nothing to ease the anger burning inside me.

“I will never be his Luna,” I said to my reflection. “I would rather die.”

Then we must be clever enough to survive him, my wolf replied.

For the first time since the attack, I agreed with her.

I couldn't kill Caelan with my bare hands. His guards outnumbered me, and I knew nothing about Blackthorn territory. But I had spent my entire life learning the layout of Silvermoon Manor. I knew how people moved when they believed they controlled everything.

Caelan thought a locked door and a few guards would make me obedient.

He had made his first mistake.

I waited until the footsteps outside my room faded. Then I removed the silver hairpin holding my hair in place and approached the door.

The lock was simple.

I had learned how to open similar locks years ago when Adrian and I used to sneak out of the training grounds after curfew. The memory struck me so suddenly that I almost dropped the pin.

Adrian had laughed when I complained about the punishment we received.

One day, Anne, you'll be grateful I taught you that.

My throat tightened.

“I am grateful,” I whispered. “I just wish you were here.”

I forced the memory aside and worked the pin into the lock.

A faint click sounded.

The door opened.

I slipped into the corridor.

Two guards stood at the far end, speaking quietly. I retreated into a shadowed alcove before they turned in my direction.

One of them carried a ring of keys.

I needed those keys if I wanted to reach the outer gates without attracting attention.

When the guards separated, I followed the one carrying them. He entered a narrow passage beside the servants' staircase, apparently unaware that I was behind him.

I moved quickly.

Before he could turn, I struck the back of his knee with my foot and caught his arm. He stumbled, and I snatched the keys from his belt.

He recovered faster than I expected.

His hand closed around my wrist.

“Where do you think you're going?”

I drove my elbow into his chest and twisted free.

He reached for me again.

I pulled the first key from the ring and slashed it across his cheek. It was a desperate move, but it bought me enough time to run.

“Prisoner escaping!” he shouted.

The alarm spread through the corridor.

I raced down the staircase, clutching the keys so tightly that their edges dug into my palm. At the bottom, I found a side door leading into the courtyard.

Beyond it stood the outer wall.

Freedom was so close I could almost taste it.

I ran toward the gate.

A guard stepped into my path.

I changed direction, darting between two stone pillars. Another warrior appeared near the stable, forcing me toward the narrow path that circled the mansion.

Then I saw a door beneath an archway.

I tried the keys.

The first didn't fit.

Neither did the second.

The third turned.

I pushed through the door and found myself inside a dark passage that smelled of damp stone and old wood.

I had barely taken three steps when a voice came from behind me.

“Impressive.”

My blood turned cold.

Caelan stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable.

“You managed to escape your room, disarm a guard, and reach the servants' passage in less than twenty minutes.” His gaze dropped to the keys in my hand. “I should be concerned about what you'll accomplish when you have an entire day.”

“Move.”

“No.”

I charged at him.

He caught my arm before I could pass and turned me away from the exit. I struggled, kicking at his legs, but his grip held firm.

“Let go of me!”

“You're making this unnecessarily difficult.”

“Then make it easier. Open the gate and let me leave!”

“And send you back to the territory where the people who killed your family might still be waiting?”

I froze for half a second.

He noticed.

“Who are you talking about?” I demanded.

“Your father had enemies beyond Blackthorn.”

“My father was murdered by your warriors!”

“On my orders,” he said.

The admission struck harder than I expected.

He didn't deny it. Didn't offer some pathetic excuse about his warriors acting without permission.

He had ordered the attack.

I hated him for making the truth so simple.

“Then you have no right to speak about my father's enemies.”

“I have every right when his actions nearly started a war that would have killed thousands.”

“My father would never have threatened your kingdom!”

“Your father arranged a meeting with two rival Alphas. He exchanged patrol routes and security codes with men who had spent years trying to weaken Blackthorn.”

“That is a lie.”

“Is it?”

“Yes!”

“Then tell me why he was hiding something my warriors couldn't find.”

I stared at him.

The object.

The warriors at Silvermoon had searched my family's chambers for something Caelan wanted. I had heard them report their failure.

“What did you expect to find?” I asked.

His expression hardened.

“A record of the agreement your father made.”

“What agreement?”

“The one that would have given my enemies access to Blackthorn's eastern border.”

My mind raced.

Father had argued with someone three days before my wedding. I had heard him mention the truth and Blackthorn. He had looked frightened when he noticed me outside his study.

But he had never said anything about an agreement.

“If you believe my father betrayed you, why keep me alive?” I demanded. “Why drag me here and declare me your Luna?”

For the first time, Caelan hesitated.

It was brief, but I saw it.

“Because there are things about your family you don't understand.”

“Then explain them!”

“I don't have all the answers.”

“You have enough answers to slaughter an entire family!”

Something shifted in his eyes.

I wanted to believe it was regret.

But regret wouldn't bring Adrian back. It wouldn't restore my mother's smile or erase the sight of my father falling to the floor.

Whatever Caelan felt, it meant nothing to me.

I twisted my wrist, trying to break free. His grip tightened, and something inside me snapped.

I drove my knee into his stomach.

He grunted and loosened his hold.

I seized the opportunity, pulled a small blade from the sheath at my waist, and thrust it toward his chest.

The blade struck.

Caelan went still.

For one terrible moment, neither of us moved.

Then I felt it.

A sharp, invisible pain tore through my chest, as though someone had driven a second blade between my ribs.

I gasped and stumbled backward.

The knife slipped from my fingers.

Caelan caught it before it hit the ground. His other hand pressed against his chest, just above the wound. Blood spread between his fingers.

He looked down at it, then back at me.

“You shouldn't have done that.”

I struggled to breathe.

“What did you do to me?”

“Nothing.”

“Liar!” I clutched my chest. “Why does it hurt?”

His jaw tightened.

“Because the mate bond is real.”

I shook my head violently.

“No. I don't accept you.”

“Your acceptance isn't what creates the bond.”

“Then break it!”

“It's not that simple.”

“Everything is simple to you, isn't it?” My voice cracked. “You decide who lives. You decide who dies. You decide who becomes your Luna. Now you expect me to accept that the Moon Goddess tied me to my family's murderer?”

His gaze dropped to the blood on his hand.

“I expect nothing from you.”

“Then let me go!”

“I won't.”

I lunged for the knife.

He moved it beyond my reach, but I struck his chest with both hands.

“You killed Adrian!” I screamed. “He was the man I loved! My parents are dead because of you! What more do you want from me?”

Caelan didn't answer immediately.

His silence enraged me more than any insult could have.

“Say something!”

“I can't undo what happened.”

“No. You can't.” Tears blurred my vision. “But I can make you pay for it.”

He looked at me for a long moment.

“Listen carefully, Anne. The bond connects us. When one of us is seriously injured, the other can feel the pain. If one of us is close to death, the bond can drag the other toward it.”

I stared at him.

“You're saying that if I kill you, I might die too?”

“I'm saying you should understand the risk before you try again.”

“Is that supposed to frighten me?”

“No.” His voice was quiet. “It's supposed to keep you alive.”

I laughed bitterly.

“How considerate of you.”

He didn't react to the mockery. Instead, he pressed a folded cloth against his wound.

“You need to understand something else. The bond can make you feel my pain, but it cannot make you love me. It cannot erase what I've done. And it cannot force you to forgive me.”

For the first time, his words offered no command.

No threat.

No demand that I kneel.

That should have made me feel better.

It didn't.

“Then stop calling me your Luna.”

“I can't.”

“You can. You're the Alpha King. You can do whatever you want.”

“Not everything.”

His eyes met mine, and for a moment, I saw something beneath the cold authority. It wasn't softness. It was something more complicated, something he seemed determined to bury before I could understand it.

Then the mask returned.

“You'll remain in the east wing. The guards will be doubled, but no one will touch you without my permission.”

“I don't need your protection.”

“You may not need it from me. But there are people in this territory who would gladly use you against me.”

“Let them try.”

“They will.”

He stepped aside, allowing me to pass him into the corridor.

I didn't thank him.

I walked back toward my room with my head held high, refusing to let him see how badly my chest still hurt.

At the doorway, I turned.

“One day, Caelan Blackthorn, I'll find a way to kill you without dying with you.”

He wiped the blood from his hand.

“And one day, Anne Vale, you'll learn why your father died protecting a secret.”

My heart stopped.

“What did you say?”

But he was already walking away.

I rushed after him, ignoring the guards calling for me to stop.

“What secret? What did my father protect?”

Caelan didn't turn around.

He disappeared around the corner, leaving me with the pain in my chest and a question that threatened to shatter everything I thought I knew about my family.

My father had died trying to protect something.

And Caelan Blackthorn believed that secret was worth killing for.

I returned to my room and locked the door, even though I knew it wouldn't keep him out.

Then I searched the few belongings the servants had brought from Silvermoon.

My wedding veil was there. So was a torn piece of my dress and the small jewelry box my mother had given me on my eighteenth birthday.

I opened it with trembling fingers.

Inside lay her silver pendant, shaped like a crescent moon.

I had worn it on every important day of my life.

I lifted it to my lips.

“Mother,” I whispered, “what were you hiding from me?”

As I turned the pendant over, my thumb caught on a tiny groove along its edge.

I pressed it.

A small compartment sprang open.

Inside was a tightly folded strip of paper.

My breath caught as I unfolded it.

There were only seven words written in my mother's handwriting.

If Caelan takes you, find the traitor within.

I read the sentence again.

Then I heard footsteps stop outside my door.

A man's voice followed.

“By order of the Alpha King, open up.”

I closed my fist around the note.

Because I suddenly understood something far more frightening than the mate bond.

My mother had known Caelan might come for me.