chapter 7

Damian POV

A savage, blood-curdling roar tore through the dark, suffocating depths of my mind. It wasn't human. It was ancient, wild, and utterly merciless.

My wolf was thrashing against his cage, his claws tearing at the walls of my subconscious, threatening to rip my mind to shreds.

I clamped my jaws shut, locking my teeth so tightly my gums bled. I squeezed my eyes closed, fighting with every ounce of my formidable alpha strength, refusing to open them to the darkness of the room. I refused to look at the fragile, quiet shadow lying on the freezing floor.

‘Mate!’ my wolf bellowed, his voice vibrating through my skull like thunder over a battlefield. ‘She is our mate! She carries our crest! Why are you punishing her?! Why are you letting our female suffer on the bare stone?!’

Shut up, I snarled back into the mental void, my soul battling itself. I don't believe it. I will never believe it. She can never be my mate. She is an intruder—a weak, useless omega dumped at my feet by a pathetic pack! She is nothing more than my unwanted wife!

‘You are a fool, Damian!’ the beast growled, slamming his massive body against my control. ‘Look at her! Smell her! She is the one we bled for! She is the one we searched for through endless nights!’

No! I roared back, my chest heaving beneath the silk sheets. I will never accept her!

I felt it then. A faint, shivering heat prickled against my skin.

She was watching me.

Through the haze of my agony, I felt the heavy, terrified weight of her eyes pinned directly onto my thrashing frame. A cold, sudden realization struck my mind like a lightning bolt.

Wait… I asked myself, my pulse skyrocketing into a chaotic tempo. Can she hear it too? Is the mate bond pulsing so wildly that my wolf’s fury is echoing directly into her mind?

Sweat broke out across my forehead, slick and cold, as I struggled desperately to restrain the beast attempting to violently seize control of my limbs. The wolf didn't just want to surface—he wanted to hurl me out of this bed, drag her small, shivering body into my arms, bury his face into her neck, and soothe every bruise her soul had suffered. He wanted me to hold her until the cold left her bones.

No! I fought back, forcing my muscles into stone. She is not my mate! She simply carries my mark by some twisted, forbidden magic! That is the only reason you are disturbing me, you damned beast! It is a trick!

Suddenly, the soft, agonizing rustle of fabric broke through the storm in my head.

Through my slitted, glowing eyes, I saw her.

Lucia had quietly scrambled up from the freezing hardwood floor. She was moving cautiously, her small, pale hands pressed against her throat as she crept toward the heavy oak doors of my suite, desperate to escape the suffocating tension of the room.

My eyes snapped wide open.

Instinct overrode my willpower. In a fraction of a second, I threw back the heavy furs, swung my legs off the bed, and bolted upright, my massive frame towering in the moonlight.

“Where do you think you are going?” I demanded, my baritone voice crashing through the quiet room like a wave of iron.

Lucia froze dead in her tracks, her hand hovering inches from the bronze door handle. She spun around to face me, her wide, tear-stained eyes filled with absolute shock and sheer terror.

I… I want to… her hands trembled violently as she forced her fingers to sign, her breathy, fragile voice attempting to whisper through her locked throat. “…go… to… the…”

“Go to where?” I interrupted coldly, stepping out of the bed and advancing on her with heavy, deliberate strides that made the floorboards groan beneath my boots.

I stopped just feet away from her, my shadow swallowing her small form completely, the cold moonlight reflecting off the sharp, deadly angles of my face.

“The sun has not even broken the horizon,” I said, looking down at her pale, shivering body with an unyielding glare. “Remember who you are in this palace. You are my unwanted wife. Do not entertain the foolish delusion that you can freely wander around my estate whenever you please.”

A tiny gasp escaped her lips. Her lower lip trembled, and she quickly lowered her head, hiding her weeping eyes from my sight.

“I’m sorry,” she signed weakly, her small hands dropping limply to her sides in complete, broken submission.

Before I could even absorb the bitter taste of my own triumph, my wolf let out a deafening, monstrous roar that shattered my internal control.

‘You may call her an unwanted wife!’ the beast snarled, his voice echoing with savage, divine authority directly through our shared soul. ‘You may spit on her name and drag her dignity through the dirt! But that does NOT stop her from being your mate!’

The sudden, overwhelming force of the wolf’s claim hit my chest like a physical blow. The raw, undeniable truth of his words slammed into my mind with suffocating power.

My heart hammered against my ribs. I stumbled backward, taking a heavy, unsteadied step away from her, my silver eyes wide as I stared at the quiet, weeping girl standing before me in the dark.