CHAPTER 2

Sylvia

The sound of that goblet hitting the floor was the loudest thing I had ever heard and every single wolf in the great hall turned to look at me. 

The music stopped, the conversations died and I could hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears as I stared at the red wine dripping down his chest.

"Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no." I whispered, my legs turning to jelly as gasps of horror echoed around the hall.

The man slowly lifted his head and I saw his eyes for the first time. They were ice blue but something had to be wrong with them. 

Red light glowed faintly at the edges like fire trying to break through ice. 

He stood up from his chair and my breath caught in my throat as he stepped into the light where everyone could see him properly.

I knew who he was now even though I had never seen him up close before. Every slave knew the stories about Rowan Salvatore. 

He was the King's executioner who had killed a hundred wolves in a single battle when his own pack was destroyed.

He was the cursed Alpha whose mates always died before the bond could complete and he was the monster parents used to scare their children into obedience.

But standing there in the light, he did not look like a monster. He looked like something else entirely. 

His face was all sharp angles and harsh lines, but there was something beautiful about it, like a statue carved from stone.

His black hair fell across his forehead with those strange silver streaks catching the light. 

He was taller than any wolf I had ever seen and his body looked like it had been built for war, with broad shoulders and arms thick with muscle.

The scars covering his skin told stories of battles I could not imagine.

The tattoos on his arms seemed to move as he stepped closer, and I realized they were not tattoos at all, but some kind of markings that shifted and writhed like living things. 

His presence filled the space around him and made the air feel heavy and cold. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to run, but my legs would not work.

"Please, Please. Please." I heard myself whispering as I dropped to my knees so fast, pain shot through them when they hit the stone floor.

I pressed my forehead to the ground in the submission pose they had taught us on our first day as slaves, and my whole body shook as I waited for death. 

This was how slaves showed complete surrender and maybe if I made myself small enough and pathetic enough he might kill me quickly instead of slowly.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. Please." I babbled into the floor, tears running down my face.

I knew what happened to slaves who offended important wolves and death was the kindest thing I could hope for.

Rowan did not speak and the silence stretched on until I thought I might scream just to break it. 

Then I heard him move and felt him squat down next to me, his presence so overwhelming that I could barely breathe.

"Look at me." He said and his voice was deep and rough like he had not used it in a long time.

"I cannot. I am not allowed. Slaves cannot look at wolves, please." I whispered, pressing my forehead harder against the cold stone.

He did not speak again, but his fingers touched my chin and the moment his skin made contact with mine, everything changed. 

Lightning raced through my body, and I gasped as visible threads of silver light erupted between us and connected us like rope made of moonlight. 

The bond exploded to life with such force that it knocked the breath from my lungs and made my vision go white.

Something that had been sleeping inside me my whole life suddenly woke up and roared to life. My eyes burned and I knew they were glowing because I could see golden light reflecting off the stone floor.

My body felt like it was on fire, but not the kind that hurt. It was the kind that had been waiting eighteen years to burn.

"Mine." A voice that was not quite mine growled from my throat and I did not understand where it came from.

Rowan staggered back and his hand went to his chest as a sound ripped from him that was not human at all. 

His wolf was howling and the sound made every other wolf in the hall step back in fear, because it was the sound of something ancient and powerful recognizing its other half.

"Impossible." Someone whispered and then more voices joined in until the hall was full of shocked murmurs.

"A human cannot be mated to a wolf."

"This is dark magic."

"Kill her before she curses us all."

I stayed on my knees and tried to understand what was happening to me, but my thoughts were scattered, and all I could focus on was the pull toward Rowan like invisible hands trying to drag me to him. 

The bond hummed between us and I could feel things I had never felt before like his confusion and his shock and something else underneath that felt like recognition.

"SILENCE!" A voice boomed through the hall and everyone immediately went quiet.

Alpha King Lucian Castile rose from his throne, his amber eyes glowing with fury as his eyes landed on me, and then at Rowan. 

The King was everything a wolf ruler should be with his golden brown hair, perfect features and the kind of presence that made everyone want to bow, but right now his face was twisted with rage.

"A human slave dares to use dark magic in my hall," He growled, each word dripping with venom as he walked toward us. 

"She has somehow tricked the bond and created a false connection to one of my wolves."

"It is not false." Rowan cut in, his voice carrying a warning that made several wolves step back.

"It has to be," The King insisted, his eyes narrowing as he looked at me like I was something disgusting he had stepped in. 

"Humans cannot mate with wolves because it is against nature itself, and this slave has clearly made a deal with dark forces."

I wanted to scream that I had not done anything and that I did not know any magic. I was just as confused as everyone else, but slaves did not speak unless spoken to and definitely not to contradict the Alpha King.

"Look at her eyes," the King continued, pointing at me. "They glow gold when no human eyes should glow. She has bewitched the cursed Alpha himself and this is proof of her evil."

The crowd murmured agreement and I could feel their fear and hatred pressing down on me from all sides. 

Some wolves had partially shifted with claws and fangs out and ready to attack and others looked at me like I was a demon that had invaded their sacred ceremony.

"I call for her execution," King Lucian announced and his voice rang through the hall with finality. 

"The slave will die for the crime of using dark magic and for the abomination of forcing a mate bond with a wolf.”