Alpha Magnus

Chapter 7: It’s a Marriage Contract

Mira Ashford POV

“He’s crazy… completely crazy… How did I end up in his hands?”

“Good. You came. You’re already obedient.”

His voice was calm, but there was a twisted edge to it, a slyness that made my stomach burn with fear. I swallowed hard as he walked toward me, the cigarette between his fingers moving with a sick kind of confidence. His eyes behind the glasses were eating me alive, like my whole body was a show made just to entertain a psychopath.

He lifted his head slowly. And his face… damn it. That face carried something dark, something wrong, something that planted a cold seed of dread deep inside me.

I let out a shaky breath and stepped back. I moved toward the table in the room, where a file and a wrist strap were placed. I didn’t care what was inside the file.

Suddenly, he grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back. I gasped loudly. Before I could understand anything, he spun me around and pressed my back against the table. He stood right in front of me, his eyes digging into mine as he leaned in… then blew smoke straight into my face. My lungs caught it even though I didn’t want to, and I coughed softly, my eyes burning, my pride burning even more.

I opened my mouth to scream at him, to tell him I couldn’t take this anymore… but he shut me up fast. He grabbed my right hand and touched my palm with cold fingers. His gaze fell to it as he whispered, “This hand… I didn’t like what it did today.”

I whispered, confused and shocked, “What?”

His tone turned harder. Rougher. More unhinged. “You’re pushing me past my limits. And you’re going to make me take you right here, Mira.”

The blood inside me froze. My eyes widened. Air got stuck in my chest. My heart almost tore its way out. My jaw tightened. Every muscle in my face locked with anger and disgust. This bastard. This lunatic. His closeness… his words… no. I wasn’t going to stand there.

Without thinking, I lifted my left hand and punched him hard across the face. His head snapped to the side, but he didn’t release my right hand. I panted, my eyes filling with tears from the shock and rage, while he… smiled.

“This punch…” he said in a low, chilling voice, “I’ll deal with it later. After I punish the hand that touched the guard in the hallway today. Then I’ll deal with the punch you dared to throw. Don’t worry. I have time for everything.”

He really was insane. Truly insane. Sadistic. He wanted to hurt me because I accidentally brushed the guard’s hand when he took me out of the cell. Even if it wasn’t an accident… was my body his property now? Did I lose the right to exist in my own skin?

I tried pulling my right hand away. My fingers twisted inside his iron grip, but he didn’t let go. He turned my palm upward. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t defend myself. He raised the cigarette to his mouth, took another drag, blew the smoke out… and then…

A scream tore itself out of me. Loud. Raw. Violent. He pressed the cigarette into my palm and put it out on my skin.

Something inside me broke. I wasn’t a person anymore. Just a shaking, destroyed thing. I whimpered, tears pouring down my cheeks, breaths short and sharp. He touched the burn with his fingers… and pushed.

“Ah!” I screamed again.

He murmured like death itself, “This is so you learn not to touch anyone. Now… time for what you did a moment ago.”

He didn’t let me finish a word. His sudden punch hit my face so hard that I nearly lost my balance. It felt like the bones in my jaw cracked open. Blood rushed from my nose, fast and hot. My breath betrayed me. Every inhale felt like stabbing myself.

But he wasn’t done.

He spun my body around until my back hit his chest. His hand grabbed my hair violently, so hard I thought he would rip it out of my scalp.

He lifted me by my hair again. I gasped, my mouth opening wide to breathe because my nose no longer worked. When he pulled me up, I felt the blood dripping from my nose to my lips, then down my neck. It covered me completely.

His voice came next to my ear. Cold. Threatening. Too calm.

“Let this be a simple reminder. If you ever repeat what you did, your hand won’t ever rise again. And your voice won’t dare to speak to me. I don’t want screaming. Don’t touch the guards. Don’t talk to that slut again.”

He continued, cruel and emotionless. “If I see it happen, I won’t burn your palm next time. I’ll break your fingers. Tear the skin off your hand. Don’t challenge me. Be good… and I’ll be good. Disobey… and you’ll meet another version of me.”

He grabbed a pen, forced it into my left hand… and somehow he already knew I wrote with that hand. He opened the file. It looked like a black folder used for something serious. Inside, there was one paper. One page.

My tears made everything blurry, but I could still read.

Marriage Contract.

His signature already there.

My name next to it.

I frowned, ignoring the pain, and whispered, “W…what is this?”

He answered with deadly calm. “Can’t you read? It’s a marriage contract. Between you and me.”

I whispered, barely able to breathe, “A…are you insane?”

He said, “Sign it. For your own good. And for everyone else’s.”

I shouted weakly, broken. “I… I’ll never… do something like that…”

His voice turned colder than ever. “Then you didn’t understand me the first time. I’ll make you understand.”

He pulled my hair again, straightening my back as he pressed me to him. His whisper cut into me like a cold knife. “Sign. For your sake. If you refuse… you’ll leave this room with broken bones.”

I screamed, falling apart. “Just kill me… you bastard!”

He laughed. Dark. Empty. Cruel. “Killing is easy. But I prefer watching you suffer.”

Then he whispered slow, enjoying every threat. “I’ll make you collapse. Lose your mind. Break your ankles. Crush your bones. Cut your skin. I’ll torture you with electricity. You know it already. It won’t kill you… but you’ll wish it did.”

I sobbed loudly. “Are you a criminal? A monster? What are you?”

He smirked. “Wrong again. I’m a chief detective. Head of the criminal investigations unit. And I know exactly how to walk away clean.”

His voice dropped lower. “This is your last chance. Sign… or I’ll make good on everything I said. You have seconds.”

I shook my head, crying so hard my whole body trembled. Blood soaked my shirt. My nose screamed in pain. My hair felt torn. He pushed the file in front of me again. He didn’t look at the blood. Didn’t care. He took my hand with the pen, pushed it to the paper, and said I had ten seconds. He started counting.

I stared at the words. My tears fell silently, each one heavier than the one before. The pain was too deep to describe.

He reached three.

“Three. Two. O—”

He didn’t finish.

My hand moved.

I put the pen down.

Pressed it to the paper.

And signed.

A signature of the end.

The end of my identity.

The end of my soul.

Whatever was left of me died there.

I dropped the pen.

And dropped myself.

I could no longer control the sobs ripping out of me.

He grabbed my hair again and pulled me back against him. I felt his breath touch my ear. His smile was cruel when he whispered:

“Congratulations, princess. Stop crying. When you leave this room, you’ll be the Luna of the Fire Pack. The wife of the strongest Alpha.”