The Lycan's Chains Of Obsession

The walls were closing in again. I could feel it—the suffocating weight of the air in Luca’s house, the pressure that made it hard to breathe, harder to think. I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the closed door, waiting for it to open. Waiting for him to walk in, for his eyes to tear through me with the same cold indifference he’d perfected over the years. I hated that I still waited. That some part of me still hoped today would be different. That he would come in, say something kind, touch me like I mattered. But he never did. I clenched my hands together in my lap, my nails digging into my palms as if the pain could bring me back from this haze. Maybe if I could just stay in one place long enough, I’d remember who I was before him. Before the weight of his words crushed me into something unrecognizable. “Isolde, you’re imagining things again.” Luca’s voice was sharp in my mind, echoing from the last time he said it. I’d been crying then too, over something I couldn’t even remember now. He always made me feel like I was losing my grip on reality, like I couldn’t trust myself. And maybe I couldn’t. Every time I tried to talk about how I felt, how lonely and hollow I’d become, he made me feel like I was exaggerating, like my pain was just some delusion I’d conjured up for attention. Maybe he was right. Maybe this was all in my head. I glanced down at my wrists, red and bruised from the last time he grabbed me. “Stop making me the villain,” he’d said, his grip unrelenting. “You do this to yourself, Isolde. You make things worse.” I wanted to scream at him. To throw something, break something, make him see the wreckage he’d made of me. But instead, I just sank deeper into that familiar, crushing silence. My chest ached, a constant, dull pressure that never went away. Crying didn’t help anymore. I wasn’t even sure I had any tears left. Tonight was different, though. There was a party tonight. Luca had been talking about it for weeks, though he never said much about why it was so important. He had been secretive, distant—more so than usual, which only made my nerves worse. I was expected to be there, of course. I was always expected to show up, to stand by his side and smile like the perfect mate, no matter how broken I was inside. I stood in front of the mirror, tugging on the sleeves of the black dress I’d chosen, trying to make myself look presentable. It didn’t matter how much I adjusted, how much I tried to smooth the wrinkles or fix my hair—it was never enough. I could never be enough. The knock on the door made me jump. I opened it to find Luca standing there, his expression unreadable, though I could sense his impatience. “You’re coming with me,” he said simply, offering no explanation. I followed him, my heart heavy in my chest. The walk to the party felt like a march to my execution. The moment we stepped into the grand hall, all eyes turned to us. The pack was gathered, dressed in their finest, murmuring amongst themselves as we arrived. I felt their stares, their whispers prickling against my skin, but I kept my head down, trying to disappear into the background. Luca, of course, was different. He thrived in the attention, his presence commanding the room as he led me toward the center. His hand rested lightly on my back—more for show than affection, a gesture of possession rather than care. He didn’t glance at me, not once. It was as if I didn’t even exist beside him. The pack’s eyes followed us. I could feel the weight of their judgment, their pity. I knew what they saw: a weak, broken mate who wasn’t fit for the alpha. I didn’t belong here, and they all knew it. Even the lower-ranking wolves gave me sidelong glances, their quiet snickers barely concealed. I shouldn’t have come. I shouldn’t be here. We reached Luca’s family, standing near the raised platform where the alpha traditionally made his announcements. His father, David, the current alpha, nodded at Luca with pride. His mother, Lawrencia, however, barely spared me a glance, her lips curling into a tight, disdainful smile. “Isolde,” she said, her tone laced with contempt, “you should have worn something more... appropriate.” The heat rose to my cheeks, but I forced a smile. “I thought this would be fine.” “Well,” she sniffed, looking past me as if I were invisible, “it’s a pity you didn’t think harder.” Cressida was there too, standing next to Luca’s mother, her long blonde hair shining under the chandelier lights. She wore a shimmering silver gown that clung to her figure perfectly, and she looked like she belonged there—at Luca’s side, in his world. When Luca glanced at her, his face softened, just for a moment, as if he was seeing her for the first time that night. I watched the small smile tug at the corner of his lips—a smile I hadn’t seen directed at me in so long I could barely remember what it felt like. The sight of it twisted something deep inside me, and suddenly, I felt nauseous. “Cressida,” Luca said warmly, his voice taking on a tenderness that made my skin crawl, “you look beautiful.” She smiled back, her eyes sparkling with something I couldn’t place. “Thank you, Luca. You’re too kind.” The ease between them was obvious—too obvious. There was something intimate in the way he spoke to her, something that felt wrong, like a puzzle piece sliding into place in a way I hadn’t expected. My stomach tightened with dread. “You’re lucky to have such a considerate sister, Isolde,” Luca’s mother added, her voice dripping with sweetness that didn’t match her words. “Always looking out for her, aren’t you, dear?” Cressida’s smile widened, and she shrugged with mock humility. “I just want what’s best for the pack, Mother.” I swallowed hard, forcing myself to stay still even as the pieces started clicking together in my mind. Luca’s warmth towards Cressida. The way his family barely acknowledged my existence. The way even the lower-ranking wolves showed more respect to her than they did to me. I was a ghost here, a shadow. A burden they all wished would disappear. I tried to ignore the knot twisting tighter in my stomach, the sense that something was terribly wrong. I shouldn’t have come. I shouldn’t be here. The conversation in the room died down as Luca cleared his throat, stepping forward to address the pack. I felt the tension shift, the atmosphere growing heavier as everyone waited for him to speak. “My family, my friends,” Luca began, his voice ringing with authority. “Tonight is a special night. A night of change. A night where we celebrate not just the future of this pack, but a future that will secure our strength and legacy for generations to come.” I stood frozen, my heart pounding in my chest. He hadn’t told me about this speech. He hadn’t told me anything. Luca smiled, and it was a cold, calculated thing. “It is time for me to take my rightful place as alpha, and with that, it is time to choose the mate who will stand by my side as I lead.” The room was silent, the weight of his words hanging in the air like a storm about to break. And then he turned to me. I felt my breath catch, the world narrowing down to that single moment. Maybe he was going to finally claim me, to publicly acknowledge me as his mate. Maybe this was his way of making things right. But his smile twisted into something cruel. “Tonight, I choose Cressida Mercer to be my mate.”