8

The morning air was colder than usual. Not with the kind of chill that bit the skin, but the kind that sank into the bones...silent, paralyzing. Charollet stood just outside the gates of the estate, flanked by two guards with no names. She hadn’t been told where she was going. Kade hadn’t spoken a word since dragging her out of the servant quarters at dawn.

She clutched the coarse shawl tighter around her shoulders. Her wrists were raw from the bindings he’d insisted she wear—unnecessary, really. She had nowhere to run.

The iron doors creaked open, and Kade finally spoke, his voice low and sharp like frost.

“Follow.”

She obeyed.

Their horses waited nearby, dark and restless. He didn’t help her mount. She scrambled up the hard leather saddle herself, swallowing her pain, her shame. He led the way down the narrow woodland path, his back straight, his shoulders rigid with fury.

They rode in silence for an hour.

Through trees that whispered of secrets.

Past ruins where old packs once thrived.

Until finally, the trees gave way to a desolate outpost—wooden structures dark with age and smoke, windows shuttered, doors cracked open like sneering mouths. At the center stood a long, low building painted in garish crimson. A sign above it swung in the wind, shaped like a twisted crescent moon.

The Moon's Collar.

She knew the name, even if she had never dared come near it.

A brothel.

Her stomach turned to stone.

Kade dismounted and gestured. “Get down.”

Her legs trembled as she stepped down, nearly falling. He didn’t offer to steady her.

Instead, he leaned close, his voice a bitter growl.

“You think you’re too good for me? For this life? You want to act like you’re untouched, like some fragile little lamb? Let’s see how long you last in a place like this.”

Her breath hitched. “Kade… please. Don’t.”

He didn’t respond.

Inside, the air smelled of sweat and musk, heavy with perfume that failed to mask the rot beneath. Laughter rang out—low, mocking. Women draped across laps, smoke curling around them like serpents. Men...warriors, rogues, traders sat in shadows, drinks in hand, eyes glinting with need.

Kade walked ahead, a king in a den of wolves.

Charollet stayed close, her heart racing like a trapped bird. Her feet ached with every step. Her mind screamed at her to run, to fight, to do something. But she was frozen, caught between shame and fear.

At the back of the room, a woman approached—a madam, by the look of her. Tall, angular, lips painted a sharp red.

“Well, this is a rare gift,” she said, eyeing Charollet like she was a fresh piece of meat. “Didn’t think the great Beta would bring me something so… pretty.”

“She’s not yours,” Kade said coolly. “Not yet.”

Charollet’s vision blurred with panic.

Kade turned to her, his eyes unreadable.

“Beg me.”

Her lips parted, but the words caught in her throat.

“Beg me not to sell you.”

She dropped to her knees, eyes stinging with tears she had held back for days.

“Please, Kade. I’ll serve, I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t leave me here. Don’t let them…”

Her voice broke.

Kade’s expression didn’t change.

“You think I care about your tears?” he said, loud enough for the others to hear. “You disrespected me in front of my pack. You made me a joke. You think just because you’re beautiful, you can walk away from everything you’ve done?”

She looked up at him, trembling. “I didn’t mean to. I never wanted to—”

“But you did,” he snapped. “You humiliated me. And now you’re going to learn what it means to be nothing.”

The madam chuckled. “I like her. She’ll earn triple what the others do. That hair, those eyes, stormy little thing.”

Kade stared at Charollet for a long, cold moment.

Then he turned away.

“I’ll be back in an hour. If she’s not sold by then, she stays.”

He strode out without another word.

The door slammed shut behind him.

Charollet stayed on her knees, the wood floor rough beneath her skin. The room had quieted slightly. A few men glanced her way, whispering, laughing. One of them stood and approached.

A wolf without a pack mark. Broad-shouldered. Greying at the temples. His hunger showed not in his eyes but in the way he moved—slow, deliberate, like a hunter circling his prey.

“Didn’t think Beta Kade was one for sharing,” he said, crouching beside her.

She backed away instinctively.

“No, please—”

He caught her arm.

“You’re not his anymore, girl. You’re no one’s.”

His grip tightened.

Fear exploded in her chest.

He moved closer to her, and took in a large wiff of her scent. Although she was a maid, a mere servant, she still had a distinct smell. the one of flowers...lavender with roses. He looked into her delicate eyes. her lashes wet with tears. She blinked but all she saw was blur.

Looking at him, she tried moving back. But he was quick to grab her and pull her closer. He kissed her neck. more demanding, like he wanted to do the most unholy things to her. 

Slowly but surely, he grazed his teeth on her neck. She moved, but he slid his hand to her back and pulled her closer. She didn't dare touch him.

He was mesmerised.

She was beautiful

He let out a loud growl of approval and she she shivered, shook voilently. 

She struggled, but he was stronger. He pushed her back, eyes gleaming. His breath stank of ale and rot.

And then—

The door burst open.

A blur of black and silver.

Kade.

He moved fast—faster than anyone Charollet had ever seen. One second the man was leering over her, the next he was on the floor, clutching a broken nose, blood spraying across the wall.

Kade stood over him, chest heaving. “Touch her again and I’ll skin you alive.”

The room fell silent.

The madam stepped forward, hands raised. “Beta—”

“Shut it.”

His eyes locked on Charollet, who lay against the wall, shaking.

“You really are a fool,” he muttered, voice harsh.

She tried to speak, but he grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet.

“Come on.”

They left the brothel without another word.

The ride back was silent. She tried to look away, to hide her tears, but he caught every one of them. He said nothing, and yet his hand gripped the reins tighter, jaw clenched so hard it looked carved from stone.

Back at the estate, he dragged her into his quarters and shoved her onto the fur rug in front of the hearth.

“You almost let that mutt touch you,” he snarled.

She flinched and in a voice merely above a wisper. “You left me there.”

“To prove a point,” he hissed. “Not to have you fall on your back for the first thing that smiled at you.”

“I didn’t!” she shouted, for the first time raising her voice. “I was scared! You left me helpless, and you know I have no wolf. I can’t fight them, Kade! I can’t even protect myself!”

Silence.

For a moment, she thought he’d hit her and flinched.

But he didn’t.

He turned away, hand raking through his hair. “You’re right. You are helpless.”

Her heart sank.

“But you’re mine,” he added coldly. “And I don’t share.”

She stared at him, disbelief curdling into anger as tears spilled out of her eyes. “You don’t get to be cruel to me and then act like I matter.”

“I can be whatever I want to you,” he said, stepping closer. “Because no one else will ever look at you and see anything but a servant. A traitor. A broken girl without a wolf.”

“You think I don’t know that?” she whispered. “You think I don’t wake up every day wishing I was different? That I mattered?”

He hesitated.

And in that second, she saw it again.

That flicker.

Not pity. Not regret.

But something deeper.

Possession.

Obsession.

He didn’t want her gone.

He wanted her broken—but still his.

Still under his control.

Charollet looked away, her voice small but clear. “You won’t break me. Not completely.”

Kade didn’t respond.

He turned and left the room without another word, slamming the door behind him.

And Charollet left alone again—curled on the rug, exhausted, hollow.

But not empty.

Something had shifted.

A deeper understanding of who she was now.

And maybe… just maybe… of who he was too.