Cells of Blood Moon

Maya’s POV

The cold from the stone seeped through the thin wool of my worn cloak, but the real hell was inside me. The fever burned my throat, turning every breath into a trail of fire scraping against my lungs. I had no idea how many hours had passed since the military carriage stopped and Lawrence’s guards dragged me down the stairs, straight into the basement of Blood Moon’s military wing. They hadn’t given me a guest room; they had thrown me into a confinement cell, a dark dungeon with nothing but a narrow slit high in the wall where the gray morning light filtered through and a damp straw mattress in the corner.

I wrapped my arms around myself, drawing my thick thighs against my chest as I shivered violently in the middle of the darkness. Any other she-wolf would have died after spending a night unprotected in the blizzard. Yet deep inside my abdomen, that strange silver pulse continued beating with a slow, steady rhythm. My mystical wolf, the one that had only just begun to awaken, was silently fighting the infection, sending waves of warmth through my organs to keep my heart beating. I was weak, shattered by Hunter’s rejection, but I refused to die in this hole.

The heavy sound of military boots echoing through the stone corridor shattered the silence of the dungeon. With every step, the vibration of a massive presence made the iron bars rattle softly.

I didn’t need the heavy outer wooden door to open to know who it was. The scent of fresh pine, bitter tobacco, and pure danger flooded the corridor before his figure blocked out the light. Supreme Alpha Lawrence entered the cell block alone, without guards, wearing a black military leather tunic that made his enormous shoulders look even broader. His square-jawed face remained a mask of relentless hostility, and his gray eyes scanned me from the other side of the bars with an intensity that made me swallow hard.

He slid the key into the lock with a sharp click that echoed like a gunshot through the basement. He opened the cell door and stepped inside, forcing me to scramble to my feet and press my back against the damp stone wall so I wouldn’t be left in a vulnerable position.

Lawrence approached with slow strides, stopping only inches away from me. His shadow completely engulfed me, trapping me inside his personal space. The natural warmth radiating from his enormous Lycan body collided with the icy air of the dungeon, and the physical contrast sent a shiver through me that had nothing to do with my fever.

“You’re still alive,” he said, his deep baritone voice, filled with natural authority, vibrating straight through my chest. “Most border she-wolves would have collapsed before reaching the capital. Your endurance is unusual for someone my guard described as nothing more than a defective servant.”

“I already told you… I’m not a spy,” I managed to answer, forcing my cracked lips to move while keeping my chin raised even though my head spun from dizziness. “If Hunter had sent me, he wouldn’t have left me… lying in the snow for your trackers to tear apart.”

Lawrence took another step forward, completely trapping me against the wall. He leaned in, planting one of his enormous gloved hands against the stone beside my head, forcing me to tilt my neck back to keep meeting his gaze. He was so close I could smell the clean scent of his skin and trace the path of a small scar running across his upper lip. The sexual tension in the air became so thick and suffocating that the space seemed to run out of oxygen. My nonexistent wolf seemed to claw at the walls of my soul, desperate for contact with the beast standing before me.

His gaze dropped to my neck, where my worn blouse had come slightly open during the struggle the night before. His gray eyes settled on the silver chain hanging against my chest.

Before I could react, Lawrence reached out with his rough fingers and brushed the skin of my collarbone as he took hold of the mystical medallion. The touch of his fingers against my feverish skin felt like a jolt of pure electricity; both of us tensed at the same instant, and the Lycan King held his breath as his pupils widened completely until his eyes looked almost black.

He examined the worn metal, turning the medallion between his fingers, and suddenly the rigidity of his face transformed into absolute shock. His brows drew together sharply, and he gripped the amulet so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

“Where did you get this?” he demanded, and this time his voice wasn’t merely cold; it carried a dangerous urgency that frightened me. “This symbol… this crescent moon intertwined with silver roots doesn’t belong to any ordinary pack. It’s the mark of the ancient bloodline of the royal court’s mystical healers. The very bloodline the High Military Council swore to exterminate ten years ago.”

I tried to push his hand away from my chest, but my physical weakness was laughable compared to his brute strength.

“It belonged to my mother,” I mumbled, feeling the fever gaining ground and my eyelids beginning to weigh a ton. “She gave it to me… before they took everything from us.”

Lawrence released me abruptly, taking a step backward and staring at me as though he had just seen a ghost rise from the empire’s ruins. His gray eyes wavered between the distrust of a king protecting his territory and a wild, possessive fascination that seemed to awaken inside him. He looked at my hips, at the way my curvy body trembled with illness, and then returned his gaze to my dark eyes, which refused to surrender.

Before he could ask another question, the sound of hurried footsteps broke the silence in the corridor. One of Lawrence’s beta guards appeared at the entrance to the cell, panting and holding a scroll sealed with red wax.

“Supreme Alpha!” the guard exclaimed, giving a quick bow. “An envoy from the Silver Moon Pack has just crossed the border under a flag of truce. He brings an urgent message from Alpha Hunter. He demands the prisoner’s immediate return.”

Lawrence never took his gray eyes off me. A cold, dangerous, deadly smile slowly spread across his perfect lips as he stepped toward the dungeon exit.

“Tell the envoy to wait in the great hall,” Lawrence ordered, and the aura of power he released made even the guard take a step back. “I’ll answer his Alpha personally.”