MasukThe Alpha tone in his voice was impossible to ignore. My shaking hands slowly released their tight grip on the fur. I reached out with my left hand and carefully took the heavy water skin from his thick fingers. Our skin brushed for a second. His hand was rough, like sandpaper, but it was so warm.I brought the leather skin to my dry, cracked lips.I tilted my head back and drank. The water was not freezing. It was cool, clean, and tasted slightly sweet, entirely different from the dirty, rusty puddle water I had been forced to survive on. I drank greedily, the water spilling down my dirty chin and soaking into the thick fur around my shoulders.I drank until my stomach physically ached. I lowered the skin, breathing heavily.I held the water skin out, trying to give it back to him.Kaelen just shook his head slowly. "Keep it."I pulled the heavy skin back against my chest, hiding it under the fur. I pressed myself harder against the stone wall, waiting.The silence stretched between
[Elian’s POV]The loud sound of the breaking wood echoed off the dark stone walls of the tunnel. It sounded like a bone snapping in half.I stayed completely still on my knees in the freezing, muddy water. I did not move away from the massive man standing over me. I slowly looked up at the sharp pieces of Barek’s heavy wooden club floating in the dirty puddle right next to my legs.The terrifying rogue Alpha let his thick, scarred hand drop slowly to his side.The air in the tunnel felt incredibly heavy. It was hard to breathe. The scent coming off this man was a thick, dark cloud of wild pine trees, wet mountain dirt, and old, dried blood. It was the smell of a pure predator. My inner wolf was completely silent and broken, but my human body still recognized the raw, overwhelming power of a true Alpha. Every single instinct inside of me screamed to press my face into the mud and hide.Barek was still sitting in the freezing water, scrambling backward on his hands and feet like a frigh
I kept my eyes locked on the muddy water. I did not move a single muscle.My total silence always made Barek angry. He hated that I never cried out. He hated that I never begged him to stop. Bullies fed on fear, and I had no fear left to give him."I am talking to you, beast," Barek growled.He raised his dirty foot and kicked my shoulder as hard as he could. The rough force of the kick knocked me completely off balance. I fell sideways, splashing down into the cold water. My head hit a solid rock hidden under the surface, sending a dizzy, spinning feeling straight through my brain.I lay on my side in the mud. The dirty water washed over my face, filling my mouth with the terrible taste of rust and dirt. I didn't try to sit back up. I didn't wipe the mud out of my eyes. I just lay there.Barek frowned deeply. This wasn't the reaction he wanted. He wanted a fight, or he wanted me to cry so he could laugh at me."Get up," Barek ordered, stepping closer to my head.I slowly closed my ey
[Elian’s POV]The water in the deepest part of the tunnel was completely still.I sat with my bare back pressed against the rough, freezing stone wall. The dirty water came all the way up to my chest. It was so incredibly cold that my skin burned at first. It was a sharp, biting pain that made my breath stutter in my dry throat. But after a few minutes, the burning stopped. A heavy, thick numbness slowly spread from my toes, moving up my legs, over my stomach, and all the way up to my neck.It was very quiet here. The loud sounds of the other slaves swinging their heavy iron pickaxes were very far away.I closed my eyes.In my mind, I saw the wet piece of parchment lying in the mud by the fire pit. I saw the dark black ink. I saw the messy, uneven letters.I wish the King had never pulled you from the river. I wish you had drowned in the ice. You are dead to me.Martha had written it. The messy, shaky letters were exactly how she wrote out her grocery lists in the warm castle kitchen.
My blood turned to pure ice.The mine overseer turned and pointed a thick, dirty finger directly at me in the shadows. "Over there. The skinny, mute one at the back of the line."Guard Vane turned his head. His eyes locked onto me. He looked at my bare, shivering chest, my bleeding, scarred back, and my crushed hand wrapped in a dirty rag. He did not look sorry for me at all. He smiled."Bring him to the fire," Vane ordered.Two large mine guards stepped forward and grabbed my thin arms. They dragged me out of the line and pushed me roughly toward the center of the cavern. The sudden heat from the blazing fire pit hit my freezing face, making my pale skin prickle painfully. It was the first time I had felt true warmth in weeks.The guards shoved me down. I fell to my knees in the dirt, keeping my head bowed low. I locked my jaw tight, closing my eyes, fully preparing myself for a beating or a sword strike."Look at me, beast," Vane snapped.I slowly raised my head. My amber eyes were
[Elian’s POV]There was a specific kind of cold in the Northern Silver Mines that did not just touch your skin. It crawled inside your mouth every time you breathed. It slid down your dry throat, settled directly into your empty stomach, and stayed there like a heavy block of solid ice.I stood in freezing, muddy water up to my knees, swinging my heavy iron pickaxe against the dark cave wall.Clang. Clang. Clang.My arms felt like they were made of dead, rotting wood. The deep cuts on my back from the Warlord’s leather whip pulled and burned with every single swing. The dirty, salty mine water splashed against my bare chest, washing over the angry, infected brand on my collarbone. The numbers ‘84’ were swollen, hot, and constantly leaking yellow fluid into the dirt.But I did not stop swinging. I did not make a single sound.My stomach cramped so hard that I almost dropped my heavy pickaxe. I was starving to death. We were only given one hard, moldy piece of stale bread a day, and dir







