Chapter 7
1881 Words
Ivy
The moment I stepped back into the Alpha’s chambers, the fire was still burning in the hearth—but the warmth didn’t touch me.
Leon stood by the window, shirtless, moonlight tracing the lean, brutal lines of his body like a sculpture carved from stone. Except sculptures didn’t breathe. They didn’t look through you the way he did now—like I was nothing more than an inconvenience.
He didn’t turn when I entered. Didn’t speak. Just sipped from a crystal glass, as if he hadn’t just upended everything I believed about my past.
I slammed the door behind me. “You knew.”
His voice was flat. “I told you.”
“Not all of it,” I said, stalking across the room until I was within arm’s reach. “You told me she betrayed me. That she’s alive. That she’s here. But you left out the part where you knew for how long?”
He took another sip, eyes still fixed on the dark woods beyond the window. “Does it matter?”
I felt my nails digging into my palms. “It does when you let me sleep in a house with the woman who helped burn mine to the ground.”
He exhaled through his nose, like he was already bored of this conversation. “You’re not in danger from her. She was dealt with. She’s not my concern anymore.”
“Not your concern—?” I choked, laughter escaping me like a broken thing. “Leon, she was my friend. My sister. And she was here the entire time—protected by your people, eating your food, living in your home—while I was out there believing you murdered my father.”
He finally turned. His face was as cold as the wind outside. “You needed an enemy. I gave you one.”
My breath hitched. I stared at him, stunned. “You gave me one?”
“I did what I had to do to make this alliance happen. You weren’t ready for the truth. You still aren’t.”
My voice dropped into something lethal. “Don’t you dare act like you’re protecting me. You’ve never protected anyone but yourself.”
He looked at me for a long moment, and something flickered in his expression—gone before I could place it. “Are you finished?”
Finished.
As if everything I just said was some sort of tantrum.
“You arrogant, heartless bastard.”
Leon tilted his head slightly. “Careful.”
I stepped closer, rage making me bold. “Or what? You’ll toss me in the dungeon? Break me like a wild horse? Marking me doesn’t mean you own me, Leon.”
He didn’t move. Didn’t flinch. “No. But it does mean you’re mine.”
The words slithered over my skin like ice.
“Then I pity you,” I whispered. “Because if you think this bond makes me yours in any way that matters, you’re more of a fool than I thought.”
I turned, but his voice stopped me.
“You’re angry. I get it. But if you’re expecting sympathy from me—don’t. You agreed to this marriage. You knew what you were walking into.”
I turned slowly. “Did I?”
He said nothing.
I took a step back, and another, trying to ignore the tightness in my throat. “You can’t keep shutting me out like this. You can’t keep holding all the answers and expect me to just… smile and accept it. This isn’t a game, Leon. This is my life.”
Still, he didn’t move. Didn’t speak.
My hands trembled at my sides. “How am I supposed to survive being married to someone like you?”
His silence answered me louder than words ever could.
And gods help me… it made me hate him more.
—
I left the chamber before I shattered something. Before I shattered myself.
I didn’t know where I was going. I just needed air. Space. Distance from the man who was supposed to be my mate.
From the man who had buried the truth with the same hands he used to touch me last night.
But I felt it again, as I crossed the threshold of the door—
That cruel, unforgiving pull of the bond.
A reminder that no matter how far I ran… I would never truly escape him.
Not until something broke.
And I was getting closer to breaking.
~~~
The cold night air bit into my skin as I slipped down the corridor, the echo of Gina’s voice haunting my ears. I didn’t wait to hear more. I didn’t care who was in the room with her.
None of it mattered anymore.
All of this—the lies, the betrayal, the silence—was choking me. I couldn’t breathe in this place, not with Leon’s shadow on every wall and the bond pulling at my insides like a leash I hadn’t agreed to wear.
I needed out.
Now.
I stumbled into the guest chamber near the south wing—one of the few rooms I’d found unlocked during my wandering over the past days. Slamming the door shut behind me, I braced my hands against the wall, trying to hold myself together.
But it was useless.
I screamed.
It tore from my throat like an animal—wild, broken, angry. The fury I’d buried all this time erupted from me in a storm.
I grabbed the nearest vase and hurled it against the wall. It shattered, a satisfying crunch of porcelain and rage.
I knocked over the chair, kicked the table, stripped the bed of its covers like it had insulted me. Every crash, every rip, every crack was a release.
“I won’t be your prisoner!” I screamed at no one. “I won’t die here!”
The mating mark throbbed on my neck, a cruel reminder of the night I’d let my guard down. Of the night I’d allowed him in.
Stupid. So stupid.
I paced the room like a caged wolf. I needed a plan. I needed out.
I could sneak out through the eastern wall. I’d seen the patrols—they changed every four hours, and the last shift just passed. If I moved fast, stuck to the forest line—
I froze.
The forest.
A flicker of memory hit me—those woods beyond the walls, thick and treacherous. No lights. No paths. Just endless darkness. But it was freedom.
And I’d rather take my chances with the wild than die in this golden cage.
I darted to the wardrobe, pulling out the dark clothes I’d hidden there two days ago. A tunic, tight pants, and boots—not enough for winter, but I’d survived worse.
My fingers shook as I dressed.
I tied my hair back. Strapped the tiny dagger I’d stolen from the training yard to my thigh. Just in case.
One deep breath.
Then another.
You can do this.
You have to do this.
I cracked the door open, peering down the corridor. Empty.
Now.
I slipped into the hallway, silent as a shadow. My heart pounded so loud I swore someone would hear it.
Step by step, I made my way through the sleeping stronghold. Past the sleeping guards. Past the rooms where his packmates dreamed easy dreams—because none of them had lost everything.
The final hall opened into the courtyard. I ducked behind the stone column, waiting for the outer patrol to pass.
One guard. Distracted. Leaning against the wall, half-asleep.
I bolted.
The wind cut into me like knives as I reached the edge of the training yard, scaled the fence, and landed hard on the other side. My ankle twisted, but I bit back the cry.
Run.
Run.
RUN.
I reached the tree line just as the clouds parted—and the moonlight struck my skin like a curse.
The mark on my neck flared to life.
And then, I felt him.
Leon.
Somewhere deep in the packhouse, he’d stirred. I didn’t know how I knew it—but I did.
He felt the bond strain. Snap.
He knew I was gone.
And he’d come.
But I didn’t stop.
I ran into the woods.
Into the cold.
Into the silence.
Because I would rather freeze in those trees than ever go back to being his.
~~~
Just as Ivy crests the ridge outside the border, she hears a low growl behind her and it’s not Leon.
Several yellow eyes gleam in the dark. Rogues.
She’s no longer in the Alpha’s territory.
She’s alone.
And hunted.
“Ivy”
The breath caught in my throat as I froze at the edge of the ridge.
They emerged from the shadows like ghosts—five, maybe six of them, tall and lean, eyes glowing yellow in the dark. Not the golden shimmer of a bonded wolf. No. These were wild. Feral. Rogues.
Their scent hit me next—blood, sweat, and rot. Unclaimed. Untamed. Free, but at what cost?
I stepped back instinctively, but my heel crunched on a fallen twig.
They heard it.
Low growls erupted in the silence. One of them stepped forward, lips peeled back, teeth gleaming under the moonlight.
“Well, well,” he said. His voice was guttural, half-shifted. “What’s an Alpha’s pet doing so far from her gilded cage?”
I didn’t answer. My heart thundered, but I kept my chin up. I wouldn’t let them see fear.
Another rogue sniffed the air, his nose twitching. “She reeks of him. The Bloodfang Alpha. That bastard.”
“She’s marked,” the first one growled, pointing at the side of my neck. “That makes her property.”
“I’m not anyone’s property,” I spat.
Wrong move.
The one to my left was on me before I could blink, grabbing my wrists and twisting them behind my back. I kicked and writhed, but they were faster—stronger in this terrain, half-mad from exile.
“You’re trespassing,” he hissed into my ear. “You crossed into rogue lands. That’s a death sentence.”
“Then kill me,” I snapped.
But they didn’t.
The leader laughed—a deep, ugly sound. “Oh, no. You’re worth more alive. A pretty thing like you, mated to the Alpha? You’ll fetch a nice bargain. Or maybe we’ll send him a finger to remember you by.”
The others chuckled, surrounding me like vultures.
I fought.
I fought like hell—clawed, bit, screamed until my throat was raw.
But they shackled my wrists with iron cuffs—silver-laced—and dragged me deeper into the woods.
Each step away from the Bloodfang Packhouse should’ve felt like liberation.
But it didn’t.
This wasn’t escape.
This was capture.
My vision blurred from pain and cold. Still, I kept walking. I wouldn’t beg. I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t show weakness.
Not to them.
Not to anyone.
As the rogue camp came into view—a collection of broken cabins and tents hidden deep in the frostbitten woods—I realized one terrible truth:
I had traded one prison for another.
And this one didn’t have walls.
It had wolves.
Hungry ones.
- Writer
