MINE TO UNCHAIN

POV: Wren The bell rang three times. That meant the Choosing had begun. I stayed where I was, kneeling in the pack archives, copying birth records by candlelight. Nobody would notice I was gone. Nobody ever did. I was nineteen and had never shifted. Not once. In a pack of wolves, that made me a ghost with ink-stained fingers. "Wren." I flinched. Old Maren stood in the doorway, frowning. "The Alpha wants everyone in the hall. Everyone." "Even me?" "Especially you." That should have worried me more than it did. The hall was already packed when I slipped inside. Torches burned along the walls. Hundreds of wolves stood shoulder to shoulder, whispering. And in the center of the room, chained to an iron post, was a man. He wasn't one of ours. His shirt was torn. Silver cuffs bit into his wrists, and the skin around them was raw and blistered. But he wasn't looking at the floor. He was looking at the crowd, calmly, like he was counting us. "A rogue," someone whispered beside me. "Caught at the border last night." "What will they do to him?" "Alpha Cassian says tonight, the Moon Goddess decides." My stomach dropped. An old, cruel tradition. If any wolf in the hall felt the bond to a captured rogue, he lived. If no one did, he died at dawn. No one ever did. That was the point. I turned to leave. Then the rogue's gaze passed over me. And stopped. The floor seemed to tilt. Heat poured through my chest, wild and impossible, as if someone had lit a fire under my ribs. My hands trembled. My breath caught. Mine. The word wasn't a thought. It was a voice, low and certain, from somewhere I had never known existed. Across the hall, the rogue went completely still. His eyes widened. Then, very slowly, he smiled. It wasn't a kind smile. It was the smile of a man who had just found the one thing he'd come here to take. "Well," he said, his voice carrying across the silent room. "That was faster than I planned." Every head turned toward me. Alpha Cassian's voice cut through the silence like a blade. "Who is it?" The rogue never looked away from me. "Don't be shy, little wolf," he murmured. "Tell them."POV: Wren The bell rang three times. That meant the Choosing had begun. I stayed where I was, kneeling in the pack archives, copying birth records by candlelight. Nobody would notice I was gone. Nobody ever did. I was nineteen and had never shifted. Not once. In a pack of wolves, that made me a ghost with ink-stained fingers. "Wren." I flinched. Old Maren stood in the doorway, frowning. "The Alpha wants everyone in the hall. Everyone." "Even me?" "Especially you." That should have worried me more than it did. The hall was already packed when I slipped inside. Torches burned along the walls. Hundreds of wolves stood shoulder to shoulder, whispering. And in the center of the room, chained to an iron post, was a man. He wasn't one of ours. His shirt was torn. Silver cuffs bit into his wrists, and the skin around them was raw and blistered. But he wasn't looking at the floor. He was looking at the crowd, calmly, like he was counting us. "A rogue," someone whispered beside me. "Caught at the border last night." "What will they do to him?" "Alpha Cassian says tonight, the Moon Goddess decides." My stomach dropped. An old, cruel tradition. If any wolf in the hall felt the bond to a captured rogue, he lived. If no one did, he died at dawn. No one ever did. That was the point. I turned to leave. Then the rogue's gaze passed over me. And stopped. The floor seemed to tilt. Heat poured through my chest, wild and impossible, as if someone had lit a fire under my ribs. My hands trembled. My breath caught. Mine. The word wasn't a thought. It was a voice, low and certain, from somewhere I had never known existed. Across the hall, the rogue went completely still. His eyes widened. Then, very slowly, he smiled. It wasn't a kind smile. It was the smile of a man who had just found the one thing he'd come here to take. "Well," he said, his voice carrying across the silent room. "That was faster than I planned." Every head turned toward me. Alpha Cassian's voice cut through the silence like a blade. "Who is it?" The rogue never looked away from me. "Don't be shy, little wolf," he murmured. "Tell them."