Shackled to the Shadow King

04

The heavy leather interior of the black SUV smelled of expensive suede, mahogany, and Gaze.

I sat pressed against the far door, clutching my small canvas bag to my chest. Inside was everything I owned: two worn-out tunics, a faded ribbon my mother left behind, and a wooden comb with missing teeth. It was a pathetic pathetic pile of belongings for someone who had just been "bought" for millions.

Outside the tinted windows, the familiar pine trees of the Silverfang territory slowly dissolved into the distance. I was leaving the only home I had ever known—a place that had been a living hell, yet the unknown felt terrifyingly worse.

Sitting across from me, Gaze didn't say a word.

He had discarded his suit jacket, rolling up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt to reveal thick, vein-mapped forearms covered in faint, silvery battle scars. He was focused on a sleek tablet, his fingers tapping against the glass as he read through financial reports and territory updates.

Despite his quiet posture, the absolute authority he radiated filled every inch of the vehicle. My inner wolf, usually dead quiet, whined softly in my chest, completely subdued by his presence.

"If you keep digging your nails into that bag, you're going to tear it," Gaze said, his deep voice slicing through the hum of the engine. He didn't look up from his screen.

I quickly loosened my grip, my face heating up. "Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize to me, Salem," he murmured. Finally, he set the tablet aside and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His dark, golden-flecked eyes locked onto mine. "Nor do you need to look at me like I’m going to throw you to the wolves. You're out of Silverfang. Marcus has no hold over you anymore."

"And what about you?" I whispered, daring to meet his gaze for a fraction of a second. "What hold do you have over me, Gaze?"

A slow, dangerous curve touched his lips. "The kind you allow me to have."

Before I could process his answer, the SUV smoothly pulled off the highway and entered a dark, private mountain road guarded by heavy security checkpoints. Towering stone walls flanked by armed men in dark tactical gear stood watch.

"Welcome to the Onyx Citadel," Gaze said softly as the heavy iron gates parted. "My main stronghold."

Unlike the wooden, rustic territory of Silverfang, the Onyx Citadel looked like a fortress built for modern war and high finance. High-tech surveillance cameras swept the perimeter, and massive stone arches framed an estate that looked more like a billionaire's private fortress than a traditional pack house.

The car came to a stop, and a young man in a sharp suit immediately opened Gaze's door. He had silver-tinted hair, sharp features, and a permanent smirk playing on his lips.

"Welcome back, Alpha," the silver-haired man said, casting a curious, lingering look at me as I stepped out of the vehicle. "The Board is already throwing a fit in the capital. They heard you bought out Silverfang's debt without consulting the council."

"Let them throw a fit, Julian," Gaze replied coldly, adjusting his cuffs. "They don't run my bank accounts or my territory."

Julian raised an eyebrow, his eyes scanning my dirty clothes and messy hair. "And this is the cause of a hundred-million-dollar emergency transfer? A bit rough around the edges, isn't she?"

Gaze’s aura instantly flared, heavy and suffocating. The air around us temperature seemed to drop instantly. "Watch your tongue, Julian. You are speaking to your future Luna."

Julian’s smirk vanished instantly. He dropped to one knee, his head bowed low in immediate submission, though I caught the flash of utter shock in his eyes.

"My apologies, Alpha. My apologies, Luna," Julian said quickly, his voice tight.

My breath hitched. Luna? Hearing the word out loud sent a cold shockwave straight to my stomach.

"Take her inside," Gaze commanded, ignoring my wide-eyed panic. "Put her in the master wing. Call Vance to do a full medical checkup, and tell Lady Beatrice to prepare the household."

Julian nodded, rising to his feet and motioning for me to follow. "This way, Salem."

I looked back at Gaze, but he was already turning toward a group of waiting guards, his phone pressed to his ear as he barked orders about corporate stocks and rogue rogue pack movements along the eastern border. He was a man with a hundred wars to fight, and somehow, I had just been dragged right into the center of his battlefield.

The interior of the Onyx Citadel was breathtakingly vast, but cold.

Julian led me up a grand spiral staircase made of dark marble, his steps light and silent. "Don't mind Gaze," Julian said smoothly as we walked down a wide hallway lined with expensive oil paintings. "He’s been under a lot of pressure lately. The Shadow Council in the city is trying to stage a corporate takeover of his syndicate, and rogue packs are starting to cross our northern borders."

"Why did he bring me here?" I asked, my voice echoing slightly in the quiet corridor. "I can't help him with corporate council or rogue packs. I don't even have a functioning wolf spirit."

Julian stopped in front of a pair of double mahogany doors. He turned to me, his silver eyes softening just a fraction. "Because, Salem, Gaze has been losing his mind for the past three years. His wolf was dying of shadow-rot—a condition that happens when a powerful Alpha goes too long without his true mate. If he hadn't found you, he would have gone completely feral by the next full moon and killed everyone in the city."

He pushed the doors open, revealing a sprawling bedroom suite that was larger than the entire Silverfang basement.

"You aren't just a girl he picked up," Julian added quietly. "You're the only tether keeping a monster from destroying everything."

Before I could digest his words, an older woman with sharp gray hair pulled back into a tight bun stepped out from the adjoining dressing room. She wore a high-collared dress and carried a silver tray with hot tea and linen towels.

"So this is the girl," Lady Beatrice said, her sharp blue eyes judging me from head to toe. She was the head housekeeper of the Onyx estate, and by the look on her face, she was far from impressed. "Scrub the dirt off her first, Julian. Doctor Vance is already on his way, and we have a rogue outbreak report to review before dinner."

I stood in the center of the luxurious room, feeling smaller than ever. I was out of Silverfang's physical chains, but looking out the high windows at the sprawling, fortified mountains of the Onyx territory, I realized a terrifying truth.

I hadn't been freed. I had just been moved to a much bigger, much deadlier cage.