FOUR
1111 Words
Kael
She looked like a deer frozen in headlights as I jotted down her size. She was even smaller than I’d imagined nothing but skin stretched tight over fragile bones.
If I moved my hands any higher, I’d probably count every rib jutting out beneath her thin skin. It made my stomach turn. She was supposed to be strong, fierce after all, she carried Alpha blood in her veins.
Then I caught the way her face contorted when I measured her. It wasn’t fear; it was something darker—pain. She was hiding something beneath that loose maid’s dress.
“I know you’re holding something back. Just say it. I’m not interested in whatever Corin drilled into you. You don’t have to wait for permission to speak. You’re free. Are you hurt?”
“No.”
The lie was obvious. I could feel it.
She shook her head in an almost desperate way, as if convincing herself. A stray lock of black hair slipped free from the band struggling to hold it back.
Lira was going to be a fortress starved and broken, but fiercely guarded. And I swore I’d make Corin pay for every scar he left behind.
“You have to speak up, Lira. I can’t read your mind. When I mark you, I need to know what’s inside.”
“Mark me?”
Her eyes went impossibly wide.
“Yes. I will mark you.”
Her shock was nearly palpable. Her soft pink lips parted in disbelief, unable to tear her gaze from me.
I’d thought she knew. That’s why she came so willingly. My Beta kept asking if I was sure I wanted her as my mate.
I never doubted it. Despite her strange scent, something about her drew me in.
I couldn’t look away the moment I first saw her. Even my Wolf Nyx was restless over her—though lately he’d gone silent, sulking that I hadn’t brought her home yesterday.
“You... you brought me here to mark me?” She stepped back, bumping against the kitchen island, wincing but quickly masking the pain.
“If Corin had bothered to read the contract, he’d know you’re not a slave, you’re my bride. And if he or that i***t mate of his tries anything again, their pack becomes mine. Or better yet, yours. I didn’t buy you, Lira. You were always meant to be mine.”
“I’m a killer.” Her voice trembled. “Why would someone like you want a murderer for a bride?”
A low growl rumbled through me—‘Blood,’ Nyx snarled, cutting through my thoughts.
My eyes dropped to the loose dress she wore, and my heart stopped—a dark red stain bloomed right where my hands had held her.
“What’s that? Are you hurt?” I demanded, barely having touched her.
She slapped a shaky hand over the stain. “It’s nothing. Just a cut I keep reopening. I forget it’s there sometimes.”
Forget? How could anyone forget a wound like that?
“Why isn’t it healing?” Nyx’s panic was like fire in my chest. She’d been with us less than two hours and already carried an injury.
I needed to protect her. No matter what.
It hadn’t occurred to me that her curse included a failure to heal. I’d have to find someone—fast—who could break the binding.
“Show me.”
“It’s fine,” she muttered.
That phrase was already wearing on my nerves.
“It’s not optional,” I said through clenched teeth. “If you won’t show me, I’ll find a way to see for myself.”
Her heart jumped, and her eyes darted nervously around the kitchen. “Can... can we go somewhere more private?”
“Private?” I frowned. What did Wolf mean by that?
Nyx whispered, Office.
I was about to suggest the same. “This way.” I motioned toward the door.
Lira hesitated before following closely. The scent of blood grew stronger with every step—this was more than just a scratch. I already knew it.
Once inside the office, I hit the remote, and the blinds slid shut, darkening the room. Lira hesitated again but slowly began undoing the buttons on the dress—just over the stained section—keeping the rest tightly covered.
She pulled the fabric aside to reveal a wound about four inches long, already angry and infected.
“See? It’s fine,” she whispered.
“Stop saying that.”
Her lips pressed shut as she tried to button the dress back up.
“No.” I caught her hands before she could close it. My eyes caught sight of another bruise just beneath her sleeve. “Let me see all of them”
It wasn’t optional.
She gasped as my fingers tore through the rest of the buttons.
Her sports bra was worn and threadbare, as were her panties. But it was the bruises that gripped my attention—bruise after bruise, scars from lashes. Her hip bones and ribs jutted sharply beneath her fragile skin.
I spun her around, pulling the dress off completely, only to find the same injuries marred her back.
Yet strangely, there were no marks above her chest, nothing below her thighs. Her arms were untouched—completely free of wounds.
There was only one reason for that. To hide what they were doing... or to keep up appearances.
They didn’t want visitors to see. More importantly, they didn’t want me to see—especially since this meeting had been planned for over a month.
Lira fumbled with the dress, clutching it tighter around her fragile frame.
“You need a doctor.”
She hesitated, biting her lip when she caught the fury burning in my eyes. “It always heals... eventually.”
“Did Corin do this?” I ground my teeth and motioned to her battered body.
Her blue eyes dropped.
“Kareesa?”
She remained silent.
“That asshole who follows Corin around—the three of them?”
She tightened her grip on the dress and nodded silently, raising a hand to her cheek, brushing away a tear that had escaped.
“Anyone else?”
“The pack,” she whispered.
I was ready to annihilate them all. Nyx growled deep in my mind.
He’d have to wait his turn.
“Because of what you supposedly did to your parents.”
She nodded again.
“I don’t believe you were responsible.”
She lifted her head slowly, brow furrowed as her eyes locked with mine. “Because of the Blood of Wolfsbane?”
- Writer
