MINE TO UNCHAIN

chapter 2

POV: Wren

Silence pressed against the walls.

Hundreds of eyes burned into my skin.

I couldn't speak.

Couldn't breathe.

"Wren?" Alpha Cassian's voice dropped. "Is this true?"

I opened my mouth.

Nothing came out.

The rogue tilted his head, silver chains clinking.

"She's trying to be brave," he said. "Give her a moment."

A low growl rolled through the hall.

"Silence," Cassian snapped.

He crossed the room in long, furious strides and stopped in front of me.

Up close, he looked tired.

Like a man who had been guarding a locked door for years and had just heard a knock.

"You've never shifted," he said quietly.

"No."

"And you feel it? The bond?"

My throat tightened.

I could lie.

I could say no, watch the rogue die at dawn, and go back to my candles and my ink.

But the warmth in my chest wouldn't let me.

It pulsed, steady and stubborn, like a second heartbeat.

"Yes," I whispered.

The hall exploded.

"Impossible!"

"She's a ghost!"

"The Goddess wouldn't bind a pack wolf to a rogue!"

Cassian raised one hand.

Everyone fell silent.

"By our law," he said, "a bonded mate cannot be executed."

Relief hit me so hard my knees nearly gave out.

Then he looked at me again.

"But the law doesn't say what happens to the one who claimed him."

Cold slid down my spine.

"Unchain him," Cassian ordered.

The guards hesitated, then obeyed.

The silver fell away.

The rogue rolled his wrists, wincing at the burns.

He walked toward me slowly, the crowd parting around him.

Every step made the fire in my ribs burn hotter.

He stopped an arm's length away.

Up close, his eyes weren't black like I'd thought.

They were gold.

Pale, glowing, ancient gold.

No wolf in our pack had eyes like that.

"Hello, Wren," he murmured.

I froze.

"How do you know my name?"

His smile flickered, just for a second, into something almost gentle.

"I've known it for nineteen years."

Then he leaned close, so only I could hear him.

"You were never unable to shift, little wolf."

My heart stopped.

"Someone made sure you couldn't."