A Misadventure

The silver cuffs felt cold against my burning skin. My first heat had hit hard. Sweat soaked my tunic, fever blurred the stone ceiling, and my body ached for a touch I could not name. Fiona, my adoptive mother and the pack's Luna, had carried me to the sacred altar in the middle of the great hall. “This will keep you safe, sweet girl.” She laid me on the slab and closed silver cuffs around my wrists and ankles. When she turned the old mechanism, the altar lifted my hips, spread my legs, and locked every joint in place. I stared at the ceiling so I would not have to look at myself. “The incense will settle you.” Fiona lit a bronze burner in the corner. Sweet, cloying smoke reached the altar. Within minutes, my head swam, and my limbs sank against the stone. The fever kept raging in my blood. She shut the iron doors and left me there to wait it out. Pain and smoke dragged me in and out of sleep. A crash woke me. The reinforced side door hung broken from its hinges, though the pack claimed it had been welded shut for centuries. A broad man stumbled through the gap and nearly fell. Moonlight caught matted fur, dried blood, and a fresh wound along his side. I yanked at the chains. Alpha power rolled through the hall with the smell of wet forest and old blood. He braced one hand on the splintered doorframe and pressed the other to his side. Even wounded, he crowded the cavernous room. His eyes stayed on the altar. Kael. The exile who had challenged Fiona's authority and been banished for treason. Whenever the elders told that story, they called him feral. Tonight, hunger showed in his face. The cuffs bit into my wrists as I fought them. My heat pulled me toward the Alpha while the clear part of my mind screamed at me to get away. The altar left me open between those urges, displayed like an offering. Kael limped closer. His power made my fever spike. I bit my lip until I tasted blood and tried not to move toward him. “A sacrifice?” His words came out rough. Up close, I could see the gash along his side and the fever in his eyes. His fingers touched my bare thigh. I flinched and swallowed a sob. My body answered the Alpha before my mind could. I pulled harder against the cuffs. A guard shouted outside. “He went this way! Search the great hall!” Boots struck the corridor floor. Kael looked toward the doors, his hand still on my leg. If the guards found a banished Alpha beside me with his scent on my skin, they would kill him on sight. I would be named a traitor before I ever left the altar. Fiona would not need a trial. “Behind the altar,” I managed. “Hide.” He studied my face. The boots were already at the doors, so he let go and disappeared behind the stone altar before the hinges began to move. I held my breath and tried to keep the chains from rattling. Behind the altar, Kael stared past the opening doors at the bronze burner. He drew one careful breath. His whole body tightened, and the fever left his face. The guards were almost inside. He kept watching the smoke. Fiona entered between two of her most trusted guards, her skirts sweeping the floor. She looked at me, then at the broken side door. Her jaw tightened for a second. When she rushed forward with both hands raised, her eyes were already wet. “Elara! My child, are you hurt?” I watched the darkness behind her. Kael met my eyes. The hunger was gone from his face. He formed one word with his lips. *Poison.* Torchlight reached the back of the hall. Kael slipped through the broken door and vanished into the night. Fiona checked every chain before she looked at the bruises beneath them. “That beast didn't touch you, did he?” I kept seeing Kael's mouth shape the warning. Poison. The smoke was still sweet, thick enough to taste. It coated the back of my throat. The heaviness that had dragged me under crept through my limbs again. I stopped breathing through my nose.