Chapter 2: The Bond That Shouldn't Be
1083 Words
The guards shouted. Swords were drawn.
Tanya froze as Shadow stood protectively in front of her, lips curled back in a snarl. The corridor echoed with growls and chaos. Dust trembled from the walls. More footsteps rushed in.
The guards raised their weapons, ready to strike.
“No!” She gasped.
The first sound she’d spoken in years tore from her throat like a cracked whisper.
Shadow’s ears twitched. Tanya stepped forward, standing between him and the blades. Her heart thudded in her ears. She could feel the wolf’s tension. He was ready to die for her.
But they’d both die here if she didn’t act.
A spear lunged forward.
Shadow dodged, teeth flashing, and sank them into a guard’s thigh. Screams erupted.
“Kill it!” someone bellowed.
Tanya grabbed a fallen sword she couldn’t lift properly and swung blindly. “Run, shadow!” she yelled hoarsely.
The wolf hesitated but only for a second. Then he turned, crashed through the stained-glass window at the end of the hallway, and disappeared into the forest beyond.
Tanya turned to run after him, but a rough hand grabbed her by the arm.
“Not so fast, girl.”
She was yanked back, hitting the stone wall hard. Stars burst behind her eyes. She struggled weakly, gasping, but she was no warrior. She was no one.
Until he appeared.
Kael.
He came like a storm, sword drawn, silver eyes blazing.
“Release her,” he commanded.
The guards hesitated. “Your Highness, she aided the creature! It injured your men!”
“I said, release her!”
They obeyed, though reluctantly.
Tanya stumbled to her knees, still shaking.
Kael turned to her, his face hard with confusion and something else, something sharp and burning. “You spoke,” he said quietly.
She looked away.
Then he glanced toward the shattered window.
“That wolf,” he said slowly, “it wasn’t just any beast, was it?”
Tanya opened her mouth. Closed it. Then nodded.
Kael’s voice dropped. “Who is he?”
She hesitated… then placed her hand over her heart and traced a small circle.
Brother.
Kael stiffened. “Impossible. You’re the only surviving member of the Creek Pack. There were no others found.”
Tanya looked him dead in the eyes and gave him the smallest nod.
His breath caught.
“She’s lying,” Velda hissed, storming into the corridor.
“She’s a witch, Kael. That thing…”
Kael raised a hand. “Enough.”
Velda paled but bit her tongue.
“I want her confined. No chains. No harm,” he said. “And no one is to pursue the wolf.”
“Your Highness, that thing attacked our men!”
“I’ll deal with it.”
Kael’s tone left no room for argument.
Tanya was led away, not roughly this time, but watched like a hawk. As the guards closed the heavy door of the old servant quarters behind her, she collapsed against the wall, shaking.
Her voice was back.
Shadow was alive.
And Kael… hadn’t let them kill her.
Later that night, Kael stood alone in the war chamber, staring down at the map of the borderlands. But his mind wasn’t on strategy. It was on the girl with haunted eyes and a voice like broken wind.
The mate bond had chosen her.
A mute slave. A girl from the pack he’d destroyed.
A cursed one.
And yet……..when she’d screamed for the wolf to run, when she’d taken a weapon for him, Kael had seen something he hadn’t expected.
Loyalty. Courage.
Not magic. Not manipulation.
Truth.
He remembered the wolf, too, now. That strange black pup from years ago that had vanished after the raid. Rumors had called it a demon.
But Kael had never believed in demons.
Only vengeance.
His father had told him the Creek Pack was planning a rebellion. That killing them was justice. But something about Tanya made that story feel wrong now.
What if we were the ones who made the monsters?
He turned to the old scribe seated by the fire. “Tell me everything you know about the Creek Pack raid. All of it.”
Tanya sat on the cold floor of the confinement room. It had been a day since the incident with Shadow.
The guards brought food, untouched. Her thoughts were with Shadow.
Was he safe?
Would he come back for her?
The door creaked open. She looked up, ready for another threat, but froze when she saw Kael.
He entered slowly, no guards behind him.
“I owe you answers,” he said.
She blinked, surprised.
He pulled a chair and sat in front of her. “That wolf. He’s your twin, isn’t he?”
She nodded.
Kael exhaled. “They said your mother gave birth to two…one human, one wolf. The wolf was left in the forest.
She looked down. Shame still burned in her chest. Her parents had abandoned shadow. And yet, he’d come back for her.
“I was told your pack betrayed us. That you plotted to assassinate my father.” He paused. “But the scrolls I read last night say otherwise.”
Tanya’s eyes shot to his.
“It was a lie. A setup. My father wanted Creek Pack land. So he used a forged decree to justify the slaughter.”
A tear slipped down Tanya’s cheek.
Kael’s voice was raw. “I was seventeen. I led the charge, thinking I was saving my people. I didn’t know the truth.”
He leaned closer. “I can’t undo what I did. But I swear to you, I will protect you now. Both of you.”
Tanya stared at him, unsure whether to believe him.
Then he whispered, “I don’t want a mate. But the bond chose you. And maybe….. I need to understand why.”
She wiped her tears and nodded.
Not forgiveness.
But perhaps……survival. Healing.
Later that night, Tanya was moved to a small private chamber, no longer a prisoner, but not yet free. She lay on the bed, staring at the stars.
Then, just before midnight, she felt it.
The pull.
The bond surged.
She jumped to her feet and opened the window.
Shadow was there, on the edge of the forest, glowing red eyes locked with hers.
She smiled through the tears.
But behind him, movement.
Figures.
Hunters. Crossbows drawn. Silent.
“No!” she screamed, loud and sharp.
A bolt flew through the air.
Straight at Shadow’s heart.
- Writer
