THE EMPTY CAGE
713 Words
The heavy double doors clicked shut, plunging the massive bedroom into a suffocating silence. I was alone.
For a long moment, I could not move. The phantom heat of Kaelen touching my waist still burned through the oversized cotton shirt. Mate. The word echoed in my mind, a terrifying death sentence wrapped in a supernatural fairy tale. Alpha Kings did not take human mates. They took powerful shifter brides from rival territories to secure alliances and breed stronger heirs. A human cleaner with a magical debt was not a mate. She was a liability.
And right now, that liability had just sent the most dangerous predator in the city straight into a war zone.
I scrambled toward the floor to ceiling windows, my bare feet sinking into the plush carpet. The glass was cool against my palms as I peered out into the darkness. The Northern Syndicate estate was a sprawling compound of stone and shadow, completely isolated by dense forest. Below me, the courtyard was a hive of chaotic, terrifying activity.
Dozens of shifters were flooding out of the main hall. They were stripping off their suit jackets, their bodies already trembling with the violent premonition of a shift. But Kaelen did not join the chaotic crowd. He strode directly toward the armored vehicles, flanked by four massive guards who moved with absolute, lethal precision.
Even from this height, his dominance was an undeniable physical force. The chaotic pack parted for him instantly, bowing their heads in complete submission as he passed. He climbed into the lead vehicle, and within seconds, the convoy roared to life, tearing out of the courtyard and disappearing into the tree line.
He was actually doing it. He was going to war with the Obsidian Circle.
I slid down the cold glass, pulling my knees to my chest. If the witches realized Kaelen was coming, they would immediately execute the blood curse. My sister was miles away, asleep in a tiny apartment, completely unaware that a supernatural war had just been ignited over her life.
Please be fast, I whispered to the empty room, squeezing my eyes shut. Please do not let them hurt her.
A sharp, metallic scrape right outside my bedroom door made my blood run cold.
My eyes snapped open. I held my breath, straining to listen. There were no footsteps. No voices. Just the terrifying, heavy sound of an animal breathing right on the other side of the thick oak wood.
I stood up slowly, backing away from the window. The door did not have a lock on the inside. Kaelen had said he did not need one because he would be sleeping here. But Kaelen was gone.
He said anyone who touches you will be executed, a low, gravelly voice sneered from the hallway.
It was Silas. The scarred second in command. His voice bled straight through the wood, dripping with lethal malice.
But the King is not here to protect you right now, human, Silas continued, his claws slowly scraping down the surface of the door, carving deep grooves into the wood. And my King’s mind is currently clouded by grief and a false mate bond. Witches are deceitful creatures. We all know they cast a glamour on you to confuse his senses.
I covered my mouth with both hands, frantically backing up until my spine hit the edge of the wardrobe.
You reek of our dead prince, Silas snarled, his voice rising in volume, the thin veneer of his human control snapping. You bathed in his blood, and now you have sent our Alpha into a magical trap. I will not let a little human blood bag destroy the Northern Syndicate.
The heavy brass handle of the door began to turn. Slowly. Deliberately.
You cannot come in here, I shouted, my voice cracking with absolute terror. He will kill you. He swore it.
The door handle stopped turning. A terrifying, menacing silence stretched across the gap between us.
I am the second in command, Silas whispered through the c***k in the door. If I tear your throat out right now and claim it was justice for the fallen prince, the pack will stand behind me. Kaelen will not s*******r his entire army over a dead human.
The door burst open.
- Writer
