MasukMariana’s POV“No….” I shook my head when he lunged at me. We both fell into the bed, him on top of me kissing my neck aggressively without any ounce of gentleness. “No!” I pushed him away, the chains rattling around me as he forced himself to me but then he stopped and gave me a mischievous grin. “You are delusional,” he grimly said before huffing and leaving. I never fell asleep after that. His uneven breathing is still fresh in my mind while he’s kissing me. I do not want to refuse him when he is entitled to it but I just cannot give myself to him knowing that he sees me as nothing but a spy wolf to his pack. They knocked on the door before dawn followed by the door opening without my permission. Two servants came in with eyes lowered and hands steady. Neither spoke to me first. I felt their hostility but the mark on my neck stopped them.“Prepare yourself,” one of them finally says. “You are summoned by the alpha.”Summoned.The word tightens something in me.They guide me to
Mariana’s POVI just knew that my life would have a drastic turn from then on.After saying those words in front of his own beta, he ordered me to come with him like a prisoner about to get her death sentence.He walks ahead of me in the hallways that seemed to never end which feels like a walk of shame. He paused sometimes not to wait for me but to throw me an impassive glance like he's making sure that I'm really following him.The chains around my ankles scrape softly against the stone floor with every step, tiny drops of blood littered the concrete a sound. Guards line the sides of the underground cell as we pass. None of them look at my face but their eyes drop to the glowing mark at my throat instead.I'm not going to lie. It burns. It stings but nothing is more painful than the cold shudder Rozen is giving me.“Eyes on the ceiling!” he roared and his enforcers looked up hastily, not wanting to be caught up in their alpha’s rage.I clutch the collar of chains around my neck ins
Mariana’s POVRozen stepped back only far enough to give me air.“Speak,” he said. “Tell me what you were so desperate to hide. Why did you lie? What made you do all of this?”My throat closed around the words as a mix of fear and guilt consumed me. Slowly, I lifted my head and met his cold eyes that almost bit my tongue in surrender. “Alpha Rozen, I did not lie because I wanted to hurt you. I lied because I had no choice. I had to protect—”“Yourself.” He cut me off and smiled smugly. “Always yourself. Of course, everyone should protect themselves.”“That is not fair,” I said in a soft voice. His eyes snapped to mine the instant I said that. “What is it that you say? It is not fair?” His nostrils flared as he growled. “You wore a false name. You stole my sister’s identity and name! You slept under my roof for free! You ate at my table. You let me defend you with my life and the entire time you were screwing at me! You were laughing behind my back because you successfully manipula
Mariana’s POVThe door blew open in my cell and five council members marched in with their robes flowing and their eyes locked on me like I was already a corpse they were preparing to bury.I flinched when they approached, not from fear, but from the weight of the judgment in their eyes. They looked at me with their trained eyes. They did not see a girl. They saw a threat that needed to be wiped out immediately.Rozen stood in front of them, unmoving. His aura flooded the room as the air thickened, heavy enough to force the council to stumble back a step. “Alpha Rozen,” one of the council members barked. “We are here to retrieve this lady for immediate trial. Your stepmother, Jezebel, asked us for an investigation. She claimed that this is Mariana Rose, the criminal who killed Alpha Phillips' former mate.”Criminal. That word pierced deeper than the chains on my skin.Rozen’s voice never rose but he did not need volume to strike fear because with just one growl, he took the attentio
Mariana’s POVBut still I deceived him. The one he has been waiting all his life manipulated him in the end. If that is not the worst thing to do, then I don’t know what is. I staggered as my knees hit the floor, the chains dragging with me. My breath shook uncontrollably.The memories that I got to peek inside his head due to the mate bond is replaying in my mind over and over again. He was never blind. He was never indifferent. He was never fooled the way I thought.He wanted me long before he ever admitted it to himself.The realization hollowed me out. He isn’t someone I can handle. “Rozen,” I whispered. “I never meant to hurt you. It’s just that…”I took a long breath. Am I ready to tell him everything? Can I tell him that, ‘oh, I went into prison for Evan’s murder but he betrayed me so I need to have my revenge with the use of your sister’s face and identity’. He stared at me with empty eyes and hidden animosity. For a second, I thought he would walk away but he inched close
Mariana’s POVThey dragged me across the stone floor back at the mansion like a criminal upon the order of Rozen. The chains around my wrists scraped loud enough to echo through the whole wing. My wrists ached from hours of restraint, the metal biting into skin leaving red throbbing marks around it. My ankles felt worse. Every step is like a trip to hell. By the time the guards shoved me back into my cold dark cell, my breath was shaking from the labor.But this does not compare to what I've gone through back in prison, I kept telling myself.I can do it. I can take it all until I can make Evan pay for what I endured behind bars.“Leave us alone!” a guttural voice came out from the back of the guards as they bowed before their alpha.“Yes, Alpha!”Rozen locked the door behind him as the guards left.The scent hit me first. Nirvana scratched against my bones wanting to run straight into our mate.But I know I couldn't. He is just too angry with me.Right from the moment that I climbed







