DESPERATE MEASURES
1589 Words
POV: Aria
My room felt too small. The walls pressed in on me like they knew what I was about to do.
Luna moved fast, her hands shaking as she shoved clothes into a small leather bag. A cloak. Boots. Dried food. A flask. Everything felt unreal, like I was watching someone else plan an escape.
“Are you sure about this?” she whispered. “If they catch you running...”
“I don’t care,” I said.
My voice sounded steadier than I felt. Inside, terror clawed at my chest. My hands trembled as I tied my hair back.
“I won’t let them separate me from Kael,” I continued. “And I won’t mate with that monster.”
Luna swallowed hard. “Damien is dangerous.”
“So it is staying,” I replied.
I closed my eyes and focused inward. The bond answered immediately.
Kael.
He was weak. Wrapped in pain and darkness. Beneath the packhouse. In the cells.
But alive. That was all that mattered, at least for now.
“I have to get to him,” I said. “Tonight.”
Luna hesitated, then nodded. “There’s a passage.”
I looked at her sharply. “What?”
She gave a tight smile. “You used it when you were little. When you want to sneak out and race the guards. Your father sealed the main entrance, but not the old crawlway.”
Hope flared, and my face brightened a little bit.
“Show me,” I said, already moving like a possessed human. The passage was narrow and cold, hidden behind a loose stone panel in the west wing. We moved quietly, the sound of my heartbeat louder than our footsteps. The scent of damp earth filled my nose as we crawled downward.
When we reached the cells, the corridor was empty and void, just like a graveyard.
“The guard,” I whispered.
Luna held up a small vial. “Sleeping draught. Strong one.”
I squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”
She nodded, eyes shining. “Be quick.”
Kael’s cell was the last one. I saw him before he sensed me. He was chained to the wall, wrists bound in silver, the metal burned deep into his skin. Blood streaked his arms. His head hung low, dark hair falling into his face. His chest rose slowly, unevenly.
My throat closed.
“Kael,” I whispered.
I rushed to him, dropping to my knees. My fingers shook as I brushed his hair back, touching his cheek.
His skin was too hot.
“Kael, please,” I breathed. His eyes snapped open and all I could see was pain, joy, anguish and what more could I say.
“Aria,” he rasped. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Relief crashed into me so hard I almost cried.
“You’re alive,” I said.
“Barely,” he replied. His gaze swept over me, sharp with hunger and fear. “If your father finds you.., you will be in trouble”
“I’m getting you out,” I said quickly.
I pulled the tools Luna had given me from my cloak and went to work on the locks.
“We’ll run,” I said. “Together. Somewhere they can’t find us.”
“No.”
The word was firm, final.
I froze. “No.”
He strained against the chains, pain flashing across his face. “Aria, listen to me. If we run, your father will hunt us down. You’ll be exiled. Branded a traitor. You’ll lose everything.”
“I don’t care,” I shouted.
The lock clicked.
“One chain,” I said, breathless. “Almost free.”
“None of that matters without you,” I continued, tears blurring my vision.
Kael caught my hands. He brought them to his lips, pressing a kiss into my trembling fingers.
The gesture shattered me, wanting him more and more.
“You should care,” he said softly. “I’ve lived thirty-two years. I built myself from nothing. I chose my battles. I accepted my losses.”
His voice cracked.
“But you,” he whispered. “You’re eighteen. Your life is just beginning. You deserve more than running through forests with a man your family hates.”
I yanked my hands free and cupped his face, forcing him to look at me.
“Stop it,” I cried. “Stop trying to protect me from you.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks.
“You are my mate,” I said. “Mine. I don’t want another life. I don’t want any of this without you.”
My chest hurt so badly I could barely breathe.
“For two years I thought I was losing my mind,” I sobbed. “Wanting you. Dreaming about you. And now I find out you wanted me too. You felt it too.”
I kissed him. Not gently. Not carefully, I did it desperately.
“Don’t push me away,” I whispered against his mouth. “Please. I can’t survive it.”
Something broke inside him. I felt it through the bond. His resistance crumbled, falling away like ash.
“Aria,” he breathed. “My Aria.”
He kissed me back, all the longing and restraint of two years pouring into that single moment. When we finally pulled apart, his eyes were blazing with decision.
“Alright,” he said. “We run.”
Hope exploded inside me.
“But first,” he continued, his voice dark and steady, “I mark you here and now.”
My breath caught.
“So everyone knows,” he said. “Your father. Damien. Everyone. You are mine.”
“Yes,” I whispered.
I tilted my head, exposing my neck. My heart pounded as his fangs extended, sharp and deadly and beautiful.
“Make me yours,” I breathed.
His lips brushed my skin.. Then the door exploded inward.
“STOP.”
My father’s voice cracked like thunder.
Magnus Stormridge stood in the doorway, pack warriors flanking him. His face was pale, twisted with fury and something else.
Pain.
“I can’t let you do this,” he said hoarsely.
He stepped forward, and my breath stuttered.
There were tears in his eyes.
“I thought I was protecting you,” he said. “Both of you.”
He swallowed hard.
“There’s something you need to know.”
The air went still.
“Kael,” Magnus said. “Your pack wasn’t destroyed by rogues.”
Kael went rigid.
“It was destroyed by me.”
The words felt like poison.
“What?” Kael whispered.
“Seventeen years ago,” Magnus continued, his voice heavy, “I was newly made Alpha. Your father, Alpha Rowan Stormridge, challenged me for territory.”
My heart stopped.
“We went to war,” my father said. “I killed him. I killed most of your pack.”
Kael’s face was drained of color.
“You were fifteen,” Magnus said quietly. “I took you in out of guilt. I raised you to honor your father. To give you the life he wanted for you.”
Kael stared at him, empty.
“But I cannot let you mate with my daughter,” Magnus continued, his voice breaking. “Because your father’s dying curse was this. That my bloodline would suffer for what I did.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“A witch witnessed it,” Magnus said. “She told me if Aria ever bonded with a Stormridge, the curse would activate. Your children would be stillborn. Or worse.”
The world collapsed. Kael’s voice was hollow. “You killed my father.”
Magnus nodded. “Yes.”
“You let me call you Alpha,” Kael said. “You trained me. Trusted me.”
“And now,” Kael whispered, turning to me, “I can’t even have you.”
I stepped between them. “Curses can be broken.”
“There is no way,” my father said. “I’ve searched for eighteen years.”
A slow clap echoed.
“How convenient,” Damien’s voice drawled.
He stood in the doorway, smiling coldly.
“Our arrangement stands,” he said. “Your daughter comes with me. Tonight.”
Kael roared. The silver chains shattered into many pieces.
Power exploded from him as he shifted, a massive black wolf filling the cell. He placed himself between Damien and me, snarling so hard the walls shook. Damien shifted too, a huge russet wolf with blood-red eyes.
“Go,” Luna shouted, grabbing my arm. “Now.”
“I can’t leave him,” I sobbed.
“You have to,” she hissed. “He’s buying you time.”
Through the bond, Kael’s command slammed into me. Run, go far away where nobody is going to find you.. Luna dragged me through the passage as fighting erupted behind us. Growls. Screams. The bond stretched, screaming with pain.
We burst into the forest.
“There’s a safe house,” Luna panted.
A howl cut through the night. Not Kael’s. Damien’s. Triumphant. Pain tore through my chest. I collapsed, screaming as the bond began to fade.
“No,” I sobbed.
Luna’s face was pale. “Aria, we have to move.”
I couldn’t. I couldn’t breathe. Through the bond, I felt Kael slipping away. And the last thing I felt before everything went dark was his final thought.
I’m sorry, little wolf. I love you.
- Writer
