Broken Wolves

6

It’s disgusting.

I don’t even know how I stomach eating breakfast with him, but I have to. I need to. I need to live for them—to survive long enough for them to find me.

The Crescent Prince is out there. I know he is. Luther… Blaze… Colt… Ash… they’re all looking for me.

Please, let them be looking for me.

I close my eyes for a split second, pretending I’m somewhere else, somewhere safer. Maybe in the woods with Luther’s rough hands pulling me against him, or Blaze’s reassuring voice in the dark. Colt’s laughter, even Ash’s quiet intensity. Anything but this.

But when I open my eyes again, Theodus is still there. Still watching me like I’m nothing more than a toy for him to play with, and the bile rises again, thick and burning in the back of my throat.

I look up at him, trying to mask the disgust on my face, the fear clawing its way up my spine. But inside, it’s like I’m screaming. Screaming for them to find me before he ruins me completely. Screaming for them to save me before I break beyond repair.

Please, let them be looking for me. Please, let them find me before I lose everything.

Theodus leans in, his lips curling into that sickening smirk, and I can’t stop the tremor that runs through me. “ Are you done eating, love?”

My stomach churns. " f**k you."

“f**k you,” I repeat, the words barely more than a rasp, but my voice is shaking with something much more fragile than hate. It’s desperation. A plea for something—anything—to change, to stop him from tearing me apart.

He chuckles, a low, cruel sound that twists something deep inside me. " Later. Now, get on your feet. I'm going to show you something."

I hate it. I hate him. I want to defy him so badly it burns in my chest. But the thought of what he might do if I don’t obey… I don’t have a choice. Not right now. Not when every instinct in my body tells me that refusing him means plunging into something worse than this.

With my heart hammering in my chest, I push myself up from the table. My legs feel like they might give out from under me, but I force myself to stand. I don’t look at him. I can’t. Because if I do, I know I’ll break. And I can’t do that. Not yet. Not when I’m still clinging to the hope that someone—anyone—is out there looking for me.

Theodus moves with that calm, measured precision of someone who’s used to getting exactly what he wants. I hear the scrape of his boots against the floor as he waits for me, the sound somehow louder than everything else in the room.

When I finally force myself to meet his gaze, his eyes are cold, almost bored. But there's a flicker of something darker underneath—something that promises whatever he's about to show me will make everything that’s come before it feel like child's play.

And I know, deep down, I’m not ready for this.

But I have to keep moving. For them. For myself.

I swallow hard, forcing my feet to move forward, knowing I’m walking straight into whatever hell he’s prepared.

“You’re quiet,” he said, his voice slipping over me like oil, smooth and mocking. “Are you finally learning your place?”

Theodus glanced over his shoulder, his grin sharp and unforgiving. “You’re trembling,” he said, his voice dark with amusement. “Scared?”

I wanted to lash out, spit in his face, make him feel something other than the smug satisfaction he wore so easily. “Go to hell,” I spat, my voice barely more than a growl, shaking with the effort to keep myself from shattering.

His laugh came low and dark, making my skin crawl. It wasn’t fear that twisted inside me. No, it was rage. Pure, unfiltered rage. And I could feel it burning me alive, eating at every shred of my resolve.

When we reached the bottom, I knew we were nowhere near the end of this nightmare. The door in front of us—massive, rusted, and thick as if trying to hide whatever lay beyond—didn’t open into anything good. I could feel it in my bones.

The moment he opened it, the stench hit me first: blood, rot, death. It clawed at my throat, made me gag, but I refused to let him see me break. I wouldn’t give him that.

But then I saw them.

Wolves. Shackled to the walls like animals, their bodies battered and broken. Some were nothing more than husks of what they used to be. Others… children. Small, trembling bodies huddled in chains, their eyes wide with terror.

I staggered, nearly choking on the bile rising in my throat. “What the f**k is this?” The words left me in a rasp, cracking under the weight of the horror, the raw rage threatening to consume me.

Theodus crouched beside me, his presence suffocating. His fingers brushed against my cheek, too soft, too tender, like he was savoring the moment. “This,” he whispered, his voice as cold as the dungeon itself, “is the cost of power, Amanda. This is what it takes to rule.”

I wanted to claw at him. To scream in his face, tear the smug grin off his lips. But instead, all I could do was tremble, my body betraying me, my thoughts splintering, spinning out of control.

“You’re a monster,” I spat, voice shaky but full of venom.

He didn’t flinch. His smile only widened, colder, crueler. “And you’re mine,” he murmured, his fingers tightening on my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes. “You’re part of this now. Complicit.”

“No,” I snarled, struggling to break free, my heart pounding in my chest. “I’ll never—”

“You already are,” he cut me off, his voice low, intimate. “You killed me, remember? You think you’re better than this? Than me?”

The words hit like a slap, the truth of them sinking in, ripping open the wound he’d left on me. He was right. I had killed him. And now I was paying the price. We all were. We were all just pieces in his sick game.

He dragged me to my feet effortlessly, his fingers digging into my skin like he owned me. “Let me show you something,” he said, his tone so casual, like we weren’t standing in the middle of his personal hell.

He walked toward one of the captives—small, a child, no older than ten, his body shaking in fear.

“No,” I whispered, my voice breaking with the weight of what I knew was coming. My feet moved before I could stop them, but Theodus turned, eyes gleaming with sadistic amusement.

“You want to stop me?” he asked, voice cold as ice. “Beg me, Amanda. Beg me to spare him.”

I froze, my throat closing up, the words caught in my chest. I wanted to scream, wanted to tear him apart. But I couldn’t.

“Or,” he continued, stepping closer, his lips curling into a smile so cold it made me shiver, “give yourself to me. Completely. Willingly. Right here. Right now.”

The words were a blade, a threat wrapped in silk. My body recoiled, my stomach twisted, but there was no way out. Not anymore. I was trapped.

“What’s it going to be?” His voice was soft, lethal. He knew I had no choice.

I stood there, trembling, useless. I could feel the darkness closing in, suffocating me.

He snapped his fingers, and two guards appeared from the shadows, their eyes dead and cold. They seized the boy, dragging him away as his screams filled the room, sharp and raw.

“No!” I screamed, my voice breaking as I lunged for him, but Theodus held me back, his grip iron-tight. “No, please!” I begged, desperate. “Don’t take him!”

Theodus leaned in close, his breath hot against my ear. “Remember this, Amanda. Your choices have consequences. We’re all monsters here.”

The boy’s screams faded into the distance, leaving nothing but the echo of my broken heart.

And Theodus was still smiling.