THE SUBJECT OF HIS POSSESION

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Phemelia’s POV

The moment his touch settled beneath my chin, my body forgot how to breathe, a wave of nostalgia washed over me.

Nostalgia?

Where have I felt this touch before?

My head tilted up without permission, dragged by nothing but instinct, but I still couldn't look him in the eye. I couldn't dare. Somehow I felt if I did, I would lay exposed before him.

When he spoke I couldn't help it, my eyes swerved to his so quickly, betraying my mind that was screaming to pull away.

Did he just ask me that?

But suddenly he was everywhere. His face filled my vision, sharp lines and predator calm, eyes like dark ocean heating up beneath the sun.The world around us blurred, the stunned crowd dissolving into more silence.

“What is your name?” he asked.

The words were simple but they shattered me. No one had ever asked me that before. I had never mattered enough to have my name vocalized, I've been called 'omega' throughout my life, I never imagined something like this was possible, that's why I couldn't stop my eyes looking to confirm and the shameful desire that coursed through me because of this.

He could see it.

I couldn't hide.

He could see the way my pupils melted, the way my lips parted on a sound I didn’t mean to make, the way my body leaned into his hand even as my mind recoiled in panic. I had been taught to disappear under an Alpha’s gaze, not ignite beneath it. Thi..this was criminal.

My heartbeat thundered so loudly I was sure he could hear it. My vision blurred at the edges, not from tears but from the sheer overload of sensations colliding within me.

My throat closed. My lips trembled. I forced the sound out from my tightened lungs.

“Phemelia.” I heard myself say. "My name is Phemelia."

Something dark and pleased flickered across his face.

My wolf stirred, equally pleased.

When he finally released my chin, the loss hit like cold air against overheated skin. I swayed slightly, my lungs grappling for air as if I’d been underwater too long.

And still, even as fear curled tight in my chest, my body ached for his hand to come back.

**********

The ground felt different the moment we drove beyond RavageClaw’s border.

Not just cleaner. Quieter.

I kept my eyes down, re counting the past events. I didn’t know why I pointed to Ashley when he asked who I wanted to bring, but the name slipped out before I could think. Maybe because when my blanket disappeared in winter, it came back folded, warm, smelling faintly of soap. I saw it in her hands, in my room, through the doorway but I didn’t go in. I didn’t want to expose the kindness she’d gone to such lengths to hide.

GoldenMoon Pack.

We had arrived.

My breath came shallow as I glanced around. RavageClaw had seemed so.....refined, so sophisticated but standing here, felt....surreal. I couldn't even classify RavageClaw as a candle before such magnificence.

Avolio walked ahead of us, unhurried, his presence pulling space aside without effort. There were wolves waiting for us outside when we arrived, and they bowed as their Alpha passed by them. I felt the dominant wolves bristle as I passed by. They must have sensed that I was weak. I flinched, my spine curved and my shoulders bent inward a bit but I continued walking behind him.

I hated it.

I hated that my knees wanted to fold.

I hated the fear that slid through me like cold water pouring down my back just because I was around dominant wolves.

I hated the fact that I was afraid yet still yearned for the Alpha in front of me.

The audacity I had.

His scent wrapped around me like an addictive smoke, I bit back a groan of pleasure. My gaze burned holes in his back. Could he feel I was nervous? Is that why he sent his pheromones to calm me?

He led us into a grand hall. Marble floors shone like mirrors. Light poured down from a domed ceiling. The space was too large, too open. I felt exposed, every instinct screaming for a corner, a wall, somewhere to hide.

Then they turned. From their mode of dressing similarities, I assumed they were 'the Elders' of the pack, just like we had in my former pack. Their skins were smooth, untouched by wrinkles, yet their eyes carried the weight of age.

Their eyes sharpened as their gazes landed on me.

Their nostrils flared.

The air changed as they inhaled as one, and the awareness of it scraped my skin.

My scent betrayed me.

Soft. Unarmored.

Weak.

A ripple of shock went through them. Their eyes widened all at once.

“What. Has. he brought?!” one elder bellowed, his disapproval loud and clear.

“She’s an omega.” another whispered, disbelief and shock lacing every word.

Their pheromones rolled toward me unintentionally in thick waves. The pressure of Alphas' pheromones, pressure from aged wolves that have built strength over time, washed over me. My vision swam. My ears rang. My wolf whimpered, shrinking beneath the weight of it all.

I looked up just to see Avolio’s mouth curve, not in apology, but in amusement. It was as if this was the desired outcome he wanted.

“You judge quickly,” he said slowly.

“She is runt flesh,” an Elder snapped.

"You do not speak of my Luna in such manner, Elder Takis." Avolio's voice steeped low. Things were getting dangerous.

“You’ve brought prey into a den of predators.” Elder Takis continued, staring straight into Avolio's threatening gaze, even while mildly trembling beneath his armor of clothes.

My chest tightened. My breaths turned sharp and shallow. I stared at the floor, at the reflection of my own shaking hands, as fear tangled inside me.

“She is light,” Avolio agreed. “That does not make her weak.”

Their outrage spiked. Their dominance surged. It all crashed into me like a physical assault.

My knees buckled.

I dropped.

Hard.

Stone kissed my skin as my body folded into the only shape it remembered. I tried to stand, to fight the pressure but my body remained in the same position, the position that had always kept me alive. My forehead pressed to the floor. My fists clenched at my sides.

The words tore out of me before I could stop them.

“By claw and command, I yield,” I whispered at first, but the pain tore deep into my chest, ripping a yell from my throat, my voice pitched higher, scraping raw.

“By silence, I survive.”

“I am owned by the one who dominates until released.”

The hall exploded.

Gasps. Shouts. Fury.

But I stayed where I was, trembling, the vow echoing in my bones like it had been carved there long ago. I didn't dare raise my head 'cause I felt it.

The weight of the horror of what had just happened.

The forbidden vow I had just spouted indicated I was defiled and used by another. How did this happen?

And somewhere above me, the air thickened as Avolio went very still.