Chapter Three — The Quiet Before the Break
1168 Words
Taunie had learned long ago that the dungeon wasn’t meant to frighten her. It was meant to contain her. Shape her. Remind her every day that she was less than the wolves who walked freely above her.
The stone walls were familiar. The cold floor was familiar. Even the way the air tasted—damp, metallic, and stale—was familiar. She had lived down here for years, tucked away in a room that barely qualified as a room at all. A cot, a bucket, a cracked basin, and a single barred window that opened into the hallway. That was her life.
And she had made peace with it.
Or at least, she had learned to survive it.
Lilee stirred inside her mind, restless. We shouldn’t be here, her wolf murmured, the same complaint she voiced every morning.
“I know,” Taunie whispered as she scrubbed the stone floor outside her door. “But we are.”
Her hands were raw from the lye soap. Her knees ached from kneeling on stone. But she kept working, because working meant she didn’t have to think. Thinking led to anger, and anger led to punishment.
She had enough of that already.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor—steady, confident, unfamiliar. Taunie stiffened. Visitors rarely came down here. Shadow Star Pack didn’t show off its dungeon. They hid it.
A tall figure appeared at the end of the hallway, and Taunie’s breath caught.
He wasn’t Shadow Star.
His posture was too proud. His clothing too clean. His aura too controlled.
He stopped when he saw her.
“Are you alright?” he asked, voice deep and steady.
Taunie blinked. No one asked her that. Not here. Not ever.
“I’m fine,” she said quickly, lowering her gaze. “Just doing my duties.”
He stepped closer, and she felt Lilee lift her head, curious. The man’s scent was unfamiliar—pine, cold wind, and something sharp beneath it. Not unpleasant. Just… different.
“You live down here?” he asked, glancing at the barred door behind her.
Taunie hesitated. “Yes.”
His jaw tightened. “Why?”
She didn’t know how to answer that. Because Alpha Jermain said so? Because Marissa hated her? Because she was born wrong? Because she didn’t fit?
“Because this is where I belong,” she said softly.
He studied her for a long moment, and she felt the weight of his gaze like a hand on her shoulder—steady, grounding, unsettling.
“I’m Kallan,” he said finally. “Beta of the Scarlett Moon Pack.”
Her heart skipped. Scarlett Moon. The name carried weight. Power. Respect. Everything Shadow Star lacked.
“I’m Taunie,” she murmured.
He nodded once. “It’s good to meet you.”
No one had ever said that to her before.
Lilee pressed forward in her mind, tail flicking. He’s not afraid of us.
Taunie didn’t know what to do with that.
Kallan opened his mouth to say something else—but a sharp gasp cut through the hallway.
Marissa.
Of course.
Her heels clicked rapidly against the stone as she approached, eyes wide with outrage, lips curled in a poisonous smile.
“Well, well,” she purred. “What do we have here?”
Taunie lowered her head immediately. Submission was the only thing that kept her alive around Marissa.
Kallan straightened, expression cooling. “I was speaking with her.”
Marissa’s smile sharpened. “About what?”
“That’s between us,” he said calmly.
Marissa’s eyes flashed. She didn’t like being dismissed. Especially not by someone from a pack as powerful as Scarlett Moon.
She turned her attention to Taunie, voice dripping with venom. “You think you can flirt with visiting wolves now? Is that it?”
Taunie’s stomach dropped. “No, Marissa. I wasn’t—”
“Silence,” Marissa snapped. “Alpha Jermain will hear about this.”
Taunie’s blood ran cold.
Kallan stepped forward. “She did nothing wrong.”
Marissa ignored him completely. She spun on her heel and stormed up the stairs, her voice echoing behind her. “Alpha Jermain will deal with this immediately.”
Taunie’s hands trembled.
Kallan looked at her, concern tightening his features. “What will he do?”
Taunie swallowed hard. “Whatever he wants.”
Lilee growled low inside her mind. We should run.
“We can’t,” Taunie whispered.
Kallan’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry.”
She nodded, unable to speak.
He hesitated, as if wanting to say more, but footsteps thundered above them—heavy, angry, unmistakable.
Alpha Jermain.
Kallan stepped back, jaw clenched. “I’ll be nearby.”
Taunie didn’t know why that mattered, but it did.
The moment he disappeared around the corner, Jermain appeared at the top of the stairs, fury radiating off him like heat. Marissa followed close behind, smug and satisfied.
“Taunie,” Jermain growled. “In your room. Now.”
Her legs felt numb as she obeyed, stepping into the small stone space she called home. Jermain followed, slamming the door behind them.
“What did you say to him?” he demanded.
“Nothing,” Taunie whispered. “He spoke to me. I only answered.”
Jermain’s hand struck her before she even saw it coming.
Not hard enough to break anything. Not hard enough to leave permanent damage. But hard enough to remind her exactly where she stood.
Marissa watched from the doorway, smiling.
“You embarrass this pack,” Jermain snarled. “You embarrass me.”
“I didn’t—”
Another blow. Her cheek stung. Her vision blurred.
Lilee roared inside her, furious, but Taunie forced her wolf down. Fighting back would only make it worse.
“You think you can draw attention from a visiting Beta?” Jermain hissed. “You think you’re worth noticing?”
“No,” Taunie whispered. “I don’t.”
He grabbed her by the hair, forcing her to look at him. “You belong here. In the dark. Out of sight. Out of mind.”
Tears burned her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall.
“You will not speak to him again,” Jermain said. “You will not look at him again. You will not breathe in his direction.”
Taunie nodded.
He shoved her to the floor. “Good.”
Marissa laughed softly. “Pathetic.”
Jermain turned to her. “Lock the door.”
Marissa obeyed, sliding the heavy bolt into place.
Taunie lay on the cold stone, cheek throbbing, ribs aching, breath shallow.
When their footsteps faded, silence filled the room.
And then—
A pulse.
Soft. Warm. Impossible.
It thrummed through her chest like a heartbeat that wasn’t hers.
Lilee froze. What was that?
Taunie didn’t know.
But somewhere far away, a wolf lifted his head.
A wolf who didn’t know her name.
A wolf who didn’t know why his chest suddenly ached.
A wolf who would soon tear the world apart to find her.
- Writer
