2: You’re mine!

Luna Valerius

“You belong to me.”

The Alpha’s voice was so commanding it had carved itself into my mind.

In the forest, the sound of silver bullets still echoed. Or maybe it was the cracking of bones. Three people wouldn’t make that much noise. There had to be more hunters. What had I stumbled into?

It wasn’t the hunters I feared, though. It was the silver. I knew how much silver burned. I’d never been wounded before, but the thought of that cold metal touching my skin made my very soul tremble.

While I held my breath in terror, Silas didn’t even lift his head from my neck. It was as if the world had stopped, time had dissolved, and only we remained, caught in that poisonous pull.

“Silver,” I whispered, afraid.

“Don’t be frightened, little stranger.” His voice was a low, raspy growl rising from his ribcage. “While I’m here, no one can touch you.”

“But—” I stammered, but a voice from the darkness choked the words in my throat.

“Alpha! Border breach. The silver hunters are closing in.”

A massive wolf tore itself from the belly of the night and knelt a few steps from Silas. When his eyes met mine, his gaze held that raw expression, a mix of hatred and shock. “She’s cursed, Silas. Her scent… it comes from that bloodline. You can’t take her home.”

Silas pulled his fingers from my throat and clamped them hard on my chin. A furious snarl rose from deep in his chest. Without looking away from my eyes, which had begun to edge toward red, he answered the wolf behind him in an ice-cold voice: “I took her from the hunters’ claws myself, Dante. Questioning what’s mine is not your place.”

“But Alpha—” said the werewolf named Dante. A single savage snarl from Silas, and he submitted. He was an extremely powerful and commanding Alpha.

As Dante vanished into the forest like a shadow, Silas lifted me onto his lap in one swift motion. My scream died in my throat. Pressed against his chest, I felt the rhythm of his heart, each beat like a powerful drum shaking the earth.

“Let me go… I didn’t do anything. I’m not from that bloodline,” I whimpered. Fear had laced lies onto my tongue, but Silas’s unwavering gaze screamed that he already knew everything. He was certain of who I was.

“Not yet,” Silas said, taking monstrous strides as he defied the darkness. “But when we wake that sleeping wolf inside you, we will both see what you’re capable of. Your curse will merge with my darkness, Luna.”

Minutes later, we stood before a massive stone structure wrapped in ivy and centuries of secrets: Blackwood Castle. I’d heard of this place. A fortress no outsider had ever entered. And now, breaking that rule, the monster of the castle was carrying me in his arms.

Silas carried me inside and set me down in a vast, high ceilinged room where a fire roared in the hearth. My feet hit the floor and I swayed.

“Why me?” I asked, clasping my trembling hands together. “When there are so many wolves to choose from… why pick someone not even wanted by her own family?”

I understood that lies would no longer serve as a shield. It was time to speak in the nakedness of the truth. If I had brought disaster to my own family, how could I possibly be a healer to an Alpha? The thought was a tragicomic joke.

Silas unbuttoned his wet shirt in one smooth motion and flung it aside. The scars on his back whispered the bloody story of every battle. He walked toward me, and I felt the oxygen drain from the room. Trapping me between the wall and himself, he placed his hands on either side of my head.

“Because,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper that brushed my lips, “I’m no saint either, Luna. I am this pack’s monster, and you, underneath that innocent mask, are my equal in darkness. You cannot escape the sealing on your eighteenth birthday.”

Just then, a sharp, agonized howl rose from downstairs.

“Silver,” I whispered in horror. “The hunters have arrived.”

“They are no longer a threat to you,” Silas said, running his thumb over my lower lip with commanding authority. “What you should truly fear is my patience. Because once that seal is burned into your skin, there’s no turning back.”

When I saw that wild hunger in his eyes, my pulse began to pound madly in my carotid. His gaze dropped to my lips. And suddenly, the fear inside me was replaced by a raw fury. Years of being cast out, abandoned, standing on my own two feet. I wasn’t going to let anyone claim me like an object.

I lifted my chin and looked straight into those burning amber eyes.

“Don’t talk to me about belonging, Silas Vane,” I said, my voice cutting like a blade of ice. “I’m not one of those submissive wolves in your pack. I survived when no one wanted me. I’m not about to kneel just because an Alpha has found me.”

Silas’s eyes flickered first with surprise, then with dark delight. This defiance fed the hunter inside him. “So the cursed blood in your veins carries not just fear, but a bit of poison,” he said mockingly.

“Poison or fire, I don’t care what you call it. You saving me doesn’t mean you bought my soul.”

As I tried to move past him, Silas cut me off again with inhuman speed. The sound of the door closing echoed through the room. “Where are you going, little stranger? Back to the forest, where dozens of men wait for you with silver bullets? Or to that fake little café of yours?”

“You—” I said, stepping back. How did he know I worked at the café? “You knew me. You tricked me.”

“This place is safe, Luna. Besides, everyone knows the cursed girl. Especially if she is their enemy.”

“Anywhere is safer than here!” I shouted, pressing my hands against his chest and trying to push him away. I was in enemy territory, after all. But he was like an unshakable rock. The moment I touched him, the intense heat radiating from his skin burned my fingertips. “You can’t keep me here.”

I couldn’t swallow. Even his pack knew why my family had abandoned me. There it was again, the same old familiar shame… I couldn’t take any more of this. I was going to leave and never see anyone from my past again.

Silas brought his face close to mine, his breath grazing my skin. “I’m not keeping you, Luna. I’m protecting you. But if you step outside these walls, those hunters won’t just kill you. They’ll tear you apart to extract your secrets.”

“Maybe being torn apart is better than being your sealed slave.”

The mocking expression on Silas’s face vanished instantly. The air in the room grew heavy as lead. “Slave?” he thundered. “I don’t seek a slave as my mate. I seek a queen to stand beside me. But I see your inner wolf hasn’t yet learned to show its teeth. All you do is snarl.”

Those words struck a dark nerve inside me. The legacy of my cursed bloodline stirred with rage for the first time, somewhere deep within. I could tell from Silas’s hesitation that my eyes had momentarily flickered to red.

“Don’t try to teach me how to bite, Alpha,” I whispered, digging my fingers into the hard muscles of his chest. “Because if I do, I’ll hurt you far worse than any silver bullet.”

Silas was silent for a moment. Then a low, guttural laugh filled the room. “There it is,” he said, his voice now like a bloodied promise. “That’s the ferocity I wanted. Now go ahead, try to leave, Luna. Let’s see if you can walk through that door, or if fate pushes you back to me.”

He stepped aside from the door. Without a moment’s hesitation, I ran straight into the rain. The heavy door of Blackwood Castle closed behind me with the silence of a tomb. I stood breathless inside the storm. Something was pulling me back, as if an invisible rope tied my heart to the castle.

I turned my head and looked up.

In the upstairs window, a silhouette stood before the crimson firelight. Silas Vane. Bare shoulders, unwavering stance, watching me. He just smiled. There was no triumph in that smile. Only the patience of a hunter certain his prey would eventually return to the trap.

“You’ll come back, Luna,” the wind whispered, as if carrying his voice. “Because even if the seal isn’t yet on your skin, your soul has already knelt.”