CHAPTER FOUR
884 Words
Mira
I had escaped the Wolf King…
Only to fall straight into the jaws of wolves far worse.
Iron bit deeper into my wrists as I jolted awake, choking on the damp cloth tied around my mouth. My head throbbed. Blood roared in my ears. My ankles were chained together, forcing my steps into stumbling, humiliating shuffles as the rogues dragged me across the forest floor.
Moonlight dripped through the leaves, silver, sharp, and cold, while five men circled me like vultures, waiting for permission to feed. Their eyes glowed feral red, the mark of wolves who'd let madness chew away their humanity.
"Check her again," one growled. "Make sure she's the right girl."
"She is," another said, fisting my hair and yanking my head up. "Look at her. Even half-dead, she reeks of the king's bond."
My stomach twisted.
He can smell the bond even though Arden rejected me…
My heart sank deeper.
Because if they could smell it, Arden could too.
And his guards were still out there.
Hunting me.
The rogues shoved me against a tree. One pulled out a chain tipped with silver spikes.
"Let's get her packaged. The buyer wants her delivered before dawn."
The buyer.
A cold wave rolled through me.
They weren't taking me to Arden.
They were taking me to someone else.
"Should we break her first?" the leader asked, lifting my chin with a claw-tipped finger. "Make sure she doesn't try to run again?"
I flinched.
He smiled like he enjoyed that.
Before he could touch me again, a gust of wind tore through the trees so violently that leaves ripped free and spiraled through the air. The rogues stiffened.
"What the—"
A growl thundered across the clearing.
Deep.
Alpha-deep.
Savage enough to make the Earth tremble.
My breath caught.
No.
Not now.
Not him.
The shadows shifted, and then he stepped out.
Arden.
The Wolf King.
His eyes glowed like molten silver, brighter than the moon overhead. Power rippled off him in waves so strong that it rattled the chains on my wrists.
The rogues froze.
"I'll give you one chance," Arden said, voice low and lethal.
"Run."
They did.
But not fast enough.
Arden moved like lightning, shifting midair. His wolf—huge, black, and monstrous hit the first rogue so hard the ground cracked beneath them. Bones snapped. Screams tore through the night. The others scattered, but his wolf hunted them with merciless precision.
I squeezed my eyes shut as another body hit the ground.
It should have felt like justice.
It felt like doom.
When the silence finally settled, a single pair of heavy steps approached me.
My pulse hammered.
My breathing broke.
My knees trembled.
He shifted back behind a wall of shadows—then stepped into the moonlight.
Blood streaked his jaw. His chest rose and fell in ragged breaths. His face, always carved from stone, held something I had never expected to see.
Desperation.
His gaze locked on my chains… then climbed slowly to my face.
"Mira," he breathed, voice cracking on my name. "Goddess… what have they done to you?"
I swallowed hard.
My throat burned.
"Don't," I rasped. "Don't pretend you care."
His jaw tightened. "I didn’t come to pretend.”
I forced myself to stand straighter, even though my legs shook.
"Why are you here?" I whispered. "To drag me back in chains? To finish what you started when you rejected me?"
He flinched.
The Wolf King flinched.
One step brought him closer. "The curse is spreading faster. My warriors are collapsing. My generals can't shift. The healers… Mira, they're dying.”
Pain flickered through his hardened features.
“It's you," he forced out. “You're the only wolf the curse can't touch.”
My stomach dropped.
"What are you saying? ”
He moved even closer, voice low, torn between command and confession.
"I'm saying I made a mistake I can't undo."
He exhaled shakily.
"And I'm saying I need you."
My heart betrayed me, stumbling, aching, reaching for him.
But I forced steel into my spine.
"I survived without you," I whispered. "I bled because of you. I'm not going back."
His eyes burned. "You don't understand. If I don't bring you back, my kingdom will fall."
"And if you do bring me back?"
My voice broke.
"What happens to me, Arden? What happens to the omega you rejected in front of everyone?"
Silence stretched between us, heavy, painful, and filled with truths neither of us could escape.
Then he said it.
The thing that shattered what was left of my breath.
"Mira… if I don't fix this bond, I will die.”
My eyes widened.
"What?"
He stepped close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his skin.
"The curse is tied to my rejection," he whispered. "To break fate. It's killing me from the inside out."
My heart pounded so loudly it drowned the world.
"You need me alive to save your kingdom," I said slowly.
"And you need me alive… to save yourself."
He nodded once.
Rough.
Raw.
Honest.
But the truth was a knife.
Because saving him meant going back.
Facing the kingdom that hated me.
Facing the bond that destroyed me.
And I knew in the depths of my bones
This was only the beginning.
- Writer
