BOUND BY FATE

CHAPTER 4:NO MERCY IN.HIS EYES

Chapter 4: No Mercy in His eyes

AVA

Silence pressed down on the room. Heavy. Suffocating.

No one spoke, and the quiet made my skin crawl. My chest burned with the need to scream at them, to yell, to beg for them to stop deciding my life as if I wasn’t even here.

Everything was moving too fast, too sudden, too cruel. They weren’t giving me a choice. Not even the smallest chance to breathe, to think, to say yes or no.

I wanted to run. I wanted to disappear.

Then, a voice cut through the silence.

“It’s not possible, baby.”

I froze, my lungs opening as if I’d been drowning and someone had pulled me above water. Of all people, I had never expected his mother to speak for me. Relief rushed out of me in a shaky exhale. Thank the moon goddess.

Elijah’s brow furrowed, his cold eyes narrowing. “Why not?”

His mother’s sigh filled the space. “We need preparations, baby. I want your wedding to be the loudest among the packs.”

I turned my gaze toward his father, praying he would stand beside his wife. He didn’t. His eyes gleamed with pride, fixed on his son as if Elijah had already conquered the world.

“Sure,” he said, his voice full of coldness,“It will be loud. We have today to prepare for everything you might need. Let’s start now, mother.”

His mother’s tone sharpened. “Why won’t you say something, Samuel?” Her stern voice carried her disapproval, but it clashed uselessly against his father’s stubbornness.

“What should I say?” His father’s lips curled into a proud smile. “He wants her immediately, then let him have her. She’s his already.” His gaze softened only for Elijah. “You’ll become Alpha once you marry tomorrow.”

Tomorrow?!

Elijah’s eyes lit up with triumph, but when he looked at me, his face remained cold. No smile. No warmth. Just those unyielding eyes, as if he had never been taught what gentleness looked like.

“You’re a blessing,” he said flatly.

His words felt like chains around my neck. My stomach twisted until I wanted to vanish into nothing. His gaze bore into me, stripping me bare, and I had to look away. My hand found my father’s lap beneath the table, urging him silently to say something... anything that might save me.

I couldn’t marry like this. Not tomorrow. Not so fast.

“We shouldn’t rush things, Samuel,” his mother said again, this time firmer. “You know she’s not ripe yet.”

My heart stopped. Did she just... ? My nails dug into my palm.

“More reason why I want to marry her quickly, Mother,” Elijah cut in without hesitation. His voice was steady, void of shame. “So that I’ll be the one to make her ripe.”

Heat surged through me, not the good kind. The bitter, ugly kind. I almost slapped him right there in front of everyone. So that was it. That was why he wanted me so badly? Not love. Not partnership. Just… to break me.

My father finally spoke, his voice calm but weighed with something I couldn’t name. “I would advise two weeks, Alpha. That way we can prepare at our pack too.”

Two weeks.

It wasn’t freedom, but it was something. A breath of air in the drowning sea.

Alpha Samuel shrugged. “If Elijah agrees. She’s already his wife. The wedding only seals them.”

I looked at Elijah, my eyes pleading, begging for that little grace. Two weeks. Just two weeks to gather myself, to say goodbye to the pieces of my life slipping from my hands, to see my twin, to cry in peace before being bound forever.

“I don’t...” Elijah began, but I moved before he could finish.

I rose from my seat and walked to him, my knees trembling but my heart desperate. His head lifted, eyes narrowing on me. I grabbed his hand, the rough, war-born hand that had spilled blood long before mine had even touched a man’s.

“Please, my king,” I whispered, the words catching in my throat. “Give me the grace of two weeks, and I promise… I will be yours. Forever.”

He stood, making me drop his hand. His towering presence closed the space between us. My chest rose and fell too quickly, our breaths colliding in the thin gap. His fingers brushed a stray lock of my hair back. My body stiffened at his touch.

“You’re mine already, Ava,” he already knows my name, his voice heavy with a chilling certainty. “My queen. I only want to marry you quickly so you’ll be at my side, to rule the pack with me.”

He bent, pressing his lips to my forehead. My skin shivered beneath the coldness of his affection, aware that every pair of eyes was on us, watching as if this wasn’t a moment of dread but a sacred blessing.

“But…” He pulled back, his eyes holding mine. “I respect you. So I’ll give you the two weeks. And after that, I will want you in my palace.”

Relief tore through me. My lips trembled, and without thinking, I whispered, “Really?”

“Yes.”

His mouth pressed to my cheek, slow and deliberate. Then his lips hovered at my ear, his breath burning my skin.

“I can’t wait to be inside you, Ava.”

The words ripped a tremor through me. His hand brushed my waist in the same breath. I staggered back, my heart slamming against my ribs.

“Thank you,” I forced out, my voice breaking. “Thank you for the… privilege.”

I turned and hurried back to my seat, clinging to my father’s presence. Elijah smiled faintly, a strange glimmer of satisfaction on his face, before sinking into his chair.

My soul screamed.

Was this the man I was bound to marry?

***

Later, I begged my father to take us home, back to our pack. We could prepare there. We could start breathing again. But he refused. He only sent word to our pack, saying we would remain here for at least two days.

Two days. Trapped.

I found parchment and ink, forcing my hand to steady as I wrote a letter to my twin. He needed to read this... needed to know what was happening to me, no matter the risk.

But then, a scream shattered the quiet.

“Ahhhh!”

My head snapped toward the door, my heart stuttering.

“Who could that be?” I whispered under my breath, panic rising.

Another scream, rawer this time. Broken. But it faded, as if the voice was being dragged away. My chest tightened. I couldn’t stay here. I couldn’t sit still. I closed the book, stood quickly, and opened the door.

I had been warned not to leave my chambers unless summoned. But that sound, that tortured voice... it clawed at me.

I slipped into the corridor, my bare feet soft against the stone floor. The cries pulled me forward, guiding me down the stairs until I reached the shadows of the lower halls.

And then I saw them.

Two guards dragging a man. His head hung low, his body weak, his clothes soaked through with blood. My eyes darted past them.

Elijah.

My body shook. What was he going to do to him? Surely he wouldn’t...no, he was one of his pack. His own man. He wouldn’t hurt him. Would he?

What foolish hope.

I stayed hidden, slipping behind the wall, my steps careful and slow.

They reached a large cell. The guards flung the man inside.

“Tie him!” Elijah’s voice rang like steel.

The guards obeyed instantly.

“Whip him until he confesses.”

My stomach knotted.

“Yes, your grace.”

They bowed and pulled out a silver rope. The sound it made as it lashed through the air burned into me before it even struck the man’s body. The first hit landed. His scream pierced the cell. My chest ached with it.

“My prince, please!” the man choked out, blood already dripping from his torn skin. “I swear with the moon goddess... I didn’t do it!”

His voice shattered into sobs.

But Elijah’s cold voice cut through. “Harder.”

The rope cracked again. And again. The man’s screams echoed, bouncing off stone walls until it felt like they were inside me. Tears blurred my vision, spilling freely as I covered my mouth to keep from crying out.

Was this how Elijah treated his own pack? His own blood?

If this was what he did to them… what would he do to me?

Ruthless. Like his father. No mercy. No heart.

I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. Even if it cost me everything, I would never truly be his.

“Who’s there?”

The whip stopped. His voice was sharp, cutting and ripped through the silence. My heart stopped.

My sob. He had heard it.

Footsteps came closer, the sound of his boots striking the stone floor. He was coming.

Panic surged. My legs moved before I could think. I turned and ran, my breath loud, my feet slapping the ground. I didn’t care if he heard. Didn’t care if I looked like prey fleeing a predator.

I flew up the stairs, down t

he hall, until I burst into my chamber. I slammed the door shut and locked it, pressing my back against the wood as my chest heaved.

Oh no.

He must have seen me.