THE LAST HEIR OF VEILMOOR THRONE

CHAPTER 4: YOU'RE MY SLAVE

Ronan halted mid-step, his grip on me unyielding. The battlefield still raged with the sound of sword clashing, the scent of blood thick in the air. My chest tightened as I looked up, a flicker of something desperate curling in my chest.

Maybe—just maybe—he wouldn’t let this happen.

Maybe I was still worth saving.

Kael stepped forward, his dark eyes locking onto Ronan. His face was unreadable, his posture rigid, but his wolf…

His wolf was fighting him.

A low, guttural growl rumbled from within his chest, his muscles tensing as if he was barely holding himself together. His fists clenched at his sides, his breathing uneven.

For a moment, I saw it I saw the war within him.

But then, Kael exhaled sharply, his jaw tightening. His expression turned cold.

“It seems you are a disaster.” His voice was clipped, detached, like he was forcing himself to say the words. “And thank the Moon I rejected you.”

Immediately he made those statements Ronan eyes darkened a bit but was instantly replaced with a wicked grin.

Something inside me twisted painfully.

The bond between us was becoming weak, trembling and unbreathable.

His wolf snarled, the sound raw and angry. His entire body shuddered, his chest rising and falling heavily. His pupils dilated, his canines lengthening just slightly, as if his wolf was fighting to get out.

I could feel his pain, feel his wolf’s rage clawing to the surface, demanding to claim me.

But Kael didn’t give in.

Instead, he forced his hands behind his back, standing taller, his face void of emotion. His wolf howled inside him, furious, betrayed.

Seraphina slid her hand onto his arm. “Let her go,” she whispered. “You don’t need a weak mate holding you back.”

Kael’s gaze darkened, his jaw clenching harder, but he didn’t protest.

He didn’t fight.

He let me go.

Ronan chuckled. “Well, that was entertaining.” His grip on me tightened. “Come, little stray.”

And just like that, he turned, dragging me with him.

Kael didn’t move.

He didn’t stop me.

He just stood there as I was taken away.

And that…

That was the moment something inside me finally broke.

Pain.

Why does it hurt this much, I had never had feelings for kael but immediately I was chosen as his mate I felt attached and felt I needed to be claimed but am breaking down already as i can't beat this pain anymore.

I woke up with pain wrapping around me like an unshakable curse. My wrists ache, the rough scrape of rope biting into my skin. My body is stiff from being thrown across a hard surface—cold, unyielding.

I try to move, but a sharp yank at my wrists reminds me that I'm bound.

A rough chuckle echoes in the dimly lit space. “Awake already?”

I freeze. The voice belongs to him.

Ronan.

The rogue Alpha.

I force my eyes open, adjusting to the flickering light of a nearby fire. The room is nothing like where I lived in the midnight pack. The walls are made of stone, damp and cracked, the air thick with the scent of pine, smoke, and there's a well arranged wooden bed here.

But the room smelled blood.

I sit up slowly, my limbs trembling. Ronan lounges on a wooden chair, one leg propped over the other, his golden eyes watching me with amusement.

“You must be useless,” he muses, tilting his head. “Rarely do Alphas throw away their mates so easily.”

I say nothing. My throat is dry, my mind still reeling from what happened.

From what he said.

Kael’s voice plays over and over in my head.

It seems you are a disaster. Thank the Moon I rejected you.

Ronan hums, as if sensing my thoughts. “Did you really think he’d come for you?”

I flinch.

He smirks. “That’s adorable.”

I glare at him, but it only makes his smirk deepen. He leans forward, elbows resting on his knees. “Tell me something, His voice lowers, a dangerous purr. “Do you really want to go back?”

I press my lips together,

Of course, I want to go back. I spent my whole life in that pack. I belonged there, didn’t I?

But Kael’s words echo in my mind.

She’s of no use to us.

Tears burn the backs of my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall.

Ronan watches me carefully, then laughs low and knowing. “That’s what I thought.”

I turn away, swallowing hard.

I don’t answer.

Because I don’t know what to say anymore.

I straighten up on the cold floor, my arms wrapped tightly around myself, my wrists ached from the ropes that bound them earlier. Ronan had removed them before throwing stale bread at me like I was a stray dog.

“You can use the bed,’’ he said and then he walked out.

The heavy door slammed shut behind him, the sound ringing in my ears, final and cruel.

I didn’t move.

I didn’t eat.

I just sat there, my eyelids shut, my heart bleeding.

Kael’s voice haunted me, over and over again.

I dug my nails into my palms, willing the pain to replace the hollow ache inside me.

But it didn’t.

Nothing did.

In mindnight pack Kael paced in his chambers, his hands clenched at his sides. The moon hung high in the night sky, casting silver light across his room, but it offered no peace.

His wolf growled inside him, restless, furious.

"Go get her!" The beast raged, slamming against the barriers of his mind. "She’s ours!"

Kael exhaled sharply, gripping the edge of the windowsill as he looked out over the vast forest stretching beyond the pack’s borders.

The wind carried the scent of pine and damp earth, but beneath it was a faint, almost imperceptible scent.

His mate.

The mate he had abandoned.

"She’s gone," he told himself, grinding his teeth. "She’s with Ronan now. She’s no longer my concern."

But his wolf snapped back, claws tearing into his consciousness.

"Liar!"

Kael’s breath came fast and uneven. His entire body was tense, his chest tightening with a pressure he couldn’t shake. The longer he ignored it, the worse it got.

His wolf was unraveling.

"You let him take her. You let Ronan touch what’s ours."

Kael shut his eyes, pressing his forehead against the glass. He needed to push her out of his mind. Needed to forget.

She was a stain in his world.

A weakness.

But then he felt Pain.

It ripped through him like claws sinking into his soul, white-hot and suffocating. His breath hitched, his fingers digging into the window frame so hard the wood splintered.

The bond was very weak, but still there and it disturbed him.

She was hurting.

His wolf let out a low, guttural snarl. "She's crying."

Kael gritted his teeth.

"Good," he snapped. "She should be."

The words tasted like acid in his mouth.

His wolf howled in protest, slamming against his ribs. "You don’t mean that!"

Kael shoved himself away from the window, his hands trembling as he ran them through his hair. His heart pounded violently, his entire body on edge.

"She was never meant to be mine." He clenched his fists. "She doesn’t belong in my world."

The beast inside him growled low and menacing. "Then why do you feel like this?"

Kael exhaled shakily. He knew why.

Because no matter how much he fought it, how much he denied it—

The bond was still there.

And it was killing him.

I stared blankly at the ceiling, the faint flicker of torchlight casting shadows across the damp stone walls. The bread Ronan had thrown at me sat untouched on the floor, its stale scent making my stomach churn.

I wasn’t hungry.

I was empty.

Hollow.

I heard sharp noise of footsteps outside my door.