CHAPTER 4

Rowan

I carried the slave through the forest and up the mountain path to my tower, trying to ignore how right she felt in my arms. 

Her body was warm against my chest and her scent filled my nose with something sweet, like honey mixed with rain. 

My wolf howled inside me, demanding I claim what was ours, but I pushed those thoughts away because she would be dead soon, just like the others.

The tower stood alone on the cliff edge. Nobody came here because they all knew better than to enter my territory. 

It was three stories of black stone with narrow windows and heavy doors that I had reinforced with iron bars, not to keep others out, but to keep myself in when the beast took over. 

The inside was just as cold and empty as my life had been for years with bare stone walls and minimal furniture. What was the point of comfort when you lived only to execute the King's enemies?

I set her down inside the main room and immediately stepped back to put distance between us, even though every part of me screamed to pull her close again. 

The bond was like fire in my veins and it demanded I touch her, hold her and mark her as mine, but I knew what that would lead to and I would not watch another woman die because of me.

At the end of the day, it was still pointless. She was going to die anyway.

She stood there shaking, looking around with wide eyes that still held traces of gold from when the bond first snapped into place. 

Her servant dress was torn from the struggle in the hall and I could see bruises on her arms from where the guards had grabbed her before I intervened. The sight made my wolf snarl with protective rage that anyone had dared hurt our mate.

"You can take any room you want except the top floor," My voice came out harsh and cold because that was the only way I could maintain control. 

"There is food in the kitchen and water in the well outside. You are free to go wherever you want in the tower."

She nodded, but did not speak and I could smell her fear rolling off her in waves that made my chest tight. 

Of course she was terrified. I was Rowan Salvatore, the cursed executioner who had killed more wolves than anyone could count and now she was trapped here with me because of a bond that neither of us wanted.

I walked to the far wall where I kept the chains and started pulling them out. They were thick iron links that I had specially made after Helena died and I had nearly destroyed half the castle in my grief. 

The chains could hold me when the rage took over and they would keep me from hurting anyone else even though they could not keep me from hurting myself.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her voice so quiet I almost did not hear it.

I did not answer and just started wrapping the chains around my wrists and ankles. The locks were complex and designed so I could secure them myself, but not break free easily when the beast emerged. 

The metal was cold against my skin but not as cold as the emptiness that had lived inside me for years.

"Why are you chaining yourself?" She asked again and this time her voice was slightly louder, though still filled with fear.

"Because I am a beast," I said without looking at her as I secured the chain around my waist and attached it to the iron ring embedded in the stone wall. "And I do not trust myself with you."

The truth was that the bond was already affecting me and I could feel my control slipping with every breath I took of her scent. 

My wolf wanted out and wanted to claim her properly and mark her so everyone would know she belonged to us, but I knew that would only make her death more painful for both of us when the curse took hold.

I finished securing the last lock and tested the chains to make sure they would hold. They gave me about six feet of movement which was enough to sit or lie down but not enough to reach the door or any other part of the room. 

This was how I would spend however many days she had left, chained like the monster I was so I could not hurt her or lose control when she started dying.

"You can go now." I said, finally looking at her, expecting to see relief that she could get away from me.

But instead of leaving she walked over to the corner near me and sat down on the cold stone floor. 

She pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and making herself as small as possible, but she did not leave.

"What are you doing?" I asked, confusion replacing the emptiness for a moment.

"Staying." She said simply.

"Why?" I asked, raising a brow because this made no sense at all. "You are afraid of me. I can smell your fear. You should go to another room where you will be more comfortable."

She was quiet for a moment and then looked up at me with those strange eyes that seemed to shift between gray and gold. "You look like you have been alone for a really long time," 

Her voice was soft, but steady. "And I know what that feels like because slaves are always alone even when surrounded by people. Nobody should be alone"

I stared at her, unable to form a word. Nobody had ever chosen to stay with me in a really long time. 

Even before the curse, people avoided me because I was too strong and too dangerous. I was too different from normal wolves. 

The women who had been my mates had been forced by the bond to be near me, but this girl who was not even a wolf was choosing to sit on a cold floor just so I would not be alone.

"I frighten you." I whispered because I needed her to admit the truth.

"Yes," She said without hesitation. 

"But you also protected me in the hall when you could have let them kill me and now, you have chained yourself to keep from hurting me, so maybe you are not as much of a beast as you think you are."

My wolf whined at her words and something in my chest that had been frozen for decades cracked slightly. 

She pulled a thin blanket from a nearby shelf and wrapped it around herself before settling back against the wall like she planned to stay there all night.

"What is your name?" I asked because I realized I did not even know this most basic thing about my mate.

"Sylvia," She said, looking at me with curiosity. "Do you really have to stay chained like that?"

"Yes." I simply said because explaining the extent of my curse and what I became when I lost control would only terrify her more.

She nodded and did not ask anything else, but she also did not leave. 

We sat there in silence as the tower grew darker and colder and I watched her from the corner of my eye, unable to understand why she would choose this. 

The mate bond hummed between us, demanding we be closer but she stayed just out of reach of my chains. I was grateful for that because I did not trust what I might do if I could touch her again.

"Thank you." I said suddenly and the words surprised me because I had not meant to speak them.

"For what?" She asked, tilting her head in a way that made my wolf notice how exposed her neck was.

"For staying." I said, meaning it even though I should have been demanding she leave for her own safety.

She gave me a small smile and it was the first time I had seen her smile. It did something to my chest that I did not want to examine. 

"Everyone deserves to have someone stay." She said simply.

The shock of her words must have shown on my face because she looked away quickly like she had said too much.

I sat there chained to the wall, staring at this human girl who had just said the kindest thing anyone had said to me in years.