The morning air was thick with the scent of wet iron and impending war.
A fleet of black armored vehicles crested the ridge of the Blackwood territory, bearing the sigil of the Iron Claw Pack.
Alpha Silas,not Zehra’s uncle, but Camille’s father, a man known for his ruthless diplomacy had arrived to reclaim his daughter.
Derek stood on the fortifications, his arms crossed over his massive chest.
Zehra was forced to stand beside him,he wanted her there as a trophy, a visible sign to the Iron Claw Alpha that he had replaced Camille with a mere human, It was the ultimate insult.
"You look like a ghost, Zehra," Derek murmured, his voice cold,He noticed the way she shivered in the wind, but he didn't offer his cloak. "Stay still, Let them see what a broken thing looks like."
Zehra said nothing,Her silver eyes were fixed on the lead vehicle.
The Sight was screaming at her,She didn't see Alphas or warriors, she saw a web of black thread weaving around the Citadel, a trap being laid.
Alpha Silas of the Iron Claw stepped out, his presence a heavy, oppressive weight,He was an older version of Camille, with the same sharp features and arrogant eyes, He looked up at the fortifications, his gaze lingering on Zehra with profound disgust.
"Derek," Silas’s voice boomed. "I have come for my daughter,Release Camille, and we can forget this madness, You have been led astray by the scent of human trash,It’s beneath an Alpha of your standing."
"Camille is in my dungeon for attempting to murder my property," Derek shouted back, his voice echoing through the valley. "She stays until I decide her blood has paid the debt."
"Property?" Silas laughed, a dry, rattling sound, "You risk a war for a girl who smells of lye and poverty? Look at her, Derek,She’s nothing,If you want a toy, I will send you ten more beautiful than her,But give me my daughter."
Derek’s grip tightened on Zehra’s shoulder, his claws digging into her skin through the thin silk of her dress.
He felt a surge of irrational anger,not at Silas’s demand, but at the way Silas looked at Zehra as if she were dirt.
"The answer is no," Derek growled. "Leave my lands before I decide to keep your head alongside your daughter's."
As Silas turned to leave, his eyes met Zehra’s,he didn't look angry, he looked triumphant,He had seen exactly what he needed,Derek was distracted by his own cruelty.
Derek’s fury followed him back to his chambers.
He was agitated, his wolf, Vane, pacing inside him, sensing the threat from the Iron Claw.
He didn't speak to Zehra as he threw her onto the bed, He didn't care that her shoulder was still healing or that she hadn't eaten since the previous morning,He was a man drowning, and he was using her as his anchor.
" Strip" he commanded.
Zehra said nothing,her eyes felt so dry that tears was no where to be found.
she stripped without letting him say anything again,she laid tiredly on the bed while Derek starred down at her like a predator at his prey.
Derek flipped her into a bending position, her knees on the bed in a kneeling position and her head bent down on the bed with her back arched while he stood tall on the floor at the edge of the bed behind Zhera with his very erect rod which was inserted into her.
A light moan and groan filled the room.
Derek took her mercilessly,the mate bond and vane forced him to be gentle on her but he didn't want to get controled by the mate bond.
He trust more mercilesy into her and she moaned in both pain and love for it.
Zehra dispised how brutal Derek was with her,but the mate bond wasn't helping,it made a part of her want more of it,she got used to his roughness,the way his rod went in and out of her was a bit addictive but she felt so exhausted, malnourished and maltreated.
He gripped her bum so hard that it left a bruise as his pace increased as he groaned in pleasure, he tried to prove to himself that Zhera was just an object that belongs to him and the mate bond can't control an Alpha like him.
He flipped her again after his first release,her back on the bed while he was above her,he inserted his still erect rod into her and she tiredly moaned as he thrust into her.
"Say it," he hissed, his breath hot against her neck. "Say you belong to me."
Zehra didn't answer. Her silence was the only thing she had left that he couldn't take.
"Say it!" he roared, pinning her wrists above her head.
"You have my body, Alpha," she whispered, her voice like cracking ice. "But you are the loneliest man I have ever known,Even when you are inside me, you are alone."
He recoiled as if she had struck him.
He finished quickly, his pleasure tasting like ash,He stood up, buckling his belt without a word, and walked out, slamming the door.
He didn't see Zehra curl into a ball, her body shaking as the first true Lycan transformation began to pulse in her marrow.