Anger
980 Words
Blake POV
The little wolf slept against me.
Finally.
Her breathing had softened, losing the ragged tremble it held earlier. Her wrists—bound loosely in front of her—rested just above my stomach. Even blind, she’d curled toward my warmth instinctively, trusting the very thing she should fear most.
Blaze purred in the back of my mind, a low, satisfied rumble.
She seeks us, even without sight.
It shouldn’t have pleased me as much as it did.
I shifted only enough to pull the blanket higher around her shoulders. The small sound she made—soft, almost questioning—sent a sharp ache through my chest.
Fragile thing.
Breakable.
Mine.
The room was quiet.
Too quiet.
The curse simmered under my skin, but being near her—holding her—dulled the sharpest edges. The madness didn’t claw the way it did before. It paced. Watched. Waited.
But it wasn’t gone.
“And you know why,” Blaze growled softly. “She’s ours.”
I ignored him.
Just as I ignored the way my arm refused to move from around her. How my hand refused to leave her waist. How the heat of her body lulled the curse into something dangerously close to hunger.
I forced my breathing steady.
She needed sleep.
Not the monster.
Not the mate.
The protector.
A faint vibration tickled the scales beneath my skin.
Not the curse.
A warning.
My head snapped toward the door.
Another vibration.
A misstep.
Someone outside.
Someone close.
My muscles coiled.
Again.
A low growl vibrated up my throat before I could stop it.
Elle stirred.
Her fingers twitched.
I pressed my hand gently against her back, grounding her. She relaxed almost immediately, settling into the mattress. Blind, exhausted, trusting.
She trusted me.
The door handle clicked.
My vision blurred with sudden, explosive fury.
I was out of the bed before I realized I’d moved—silent, fast, predatory. The air around me heated, the curse responding to my rage. Sparks flared beneath my skin.
As the handle turned again—
I was already there.
The door opened a fraction.
And my hand slammed against it with enough force to rattle the stone walls.
A sharp gasp from the other side.
Then a voice I recognized but cared nothing for:
“Prince Blake—”
I flung the door open.
A young dragon guard—barely past his shift into adulthood—stumbled back, eyes widening at the sight of me. My aura must have hit him like a physical blow; he dropped to one knee out of instinct, head bowed.
Smart.
Not smart enough.
“What,” I snarled, “do you think you’re doing at my door?”
“My—my prince—”
His voice shook.
He should fear me.
They all should.
“I was sent to check—”
“By who?”
“Nitras,” he whispered.
My brother.
Of course.
Blaze roared in my mind, flames licking against the edges of my thoughts.
He is trying to see her. Trying to smell her. Trying to learn what is ours.
I stepped closer, forcing the guard back until his spine hit the corridor wall. He flinched, trembling. The scent of his fear was sharp, acrid.
“Does my brother think I cannot handle my own rooms?”
“N-no, my prince—”
“Does he think I need monitoring?”
“Never, Prince Blake—”
“Then why,” I hissed, leaning in close, “are you at my door?”
His heart pounded so loudly I could hear it.
“I… heard movement… and I—”
“You heard nothing.”
A lie, but a useful one.
“I did, sir—something sounded like—”
“You heard. Nothing.”
The heat radiating off me made him sweat.
His throat bobbed as he swallowed.
“Yes, my prince.”
“Good.”
I lowered my voice to a deadly whisper.
“If you return to this hallway tonight—
if you linger within thirty paces of this door—
if you so much as breathe in the direction of this room—
I will burn the skin from your bones myself.”
He collapsed fully to his knees.
“Y-yes—yes, my prince—understood—”
“And if Nitras asks,” I added, stepping back, “you tell him I nearly tore your head off for waking me.”
The guard nodded frantically.
“And if he asks why—”
I leaned in one last time.
“Tell him,” I growled, “that what is in this room is mine, and he will lose more than his title if he sends someone near her again.”
The guard’s breath hitched.
Then—he ran.
Cowardly.
Fast.
Good.
The hallway went silent.
Only then did I re-enter the room.
The moment I closed the door, the curse eased slightly.
Because her scent drifted toward me.
Because in the bed, wrapped in blankets and shadows—
She stirred.
“Blake?” she whispered.
Blind.
Bound.
Afraid.
And yet—
Reaching for me.
I crossed the room in three strides, returning to her side. Her hand lifted uncertainly, searching.
I caught it gently.
“I’m here,” I murmured, settling beside her, my fury cooling as her presence washed over me.
Her breath steadied.
She relaxed.
The monster eased.
Blaze hummed, satisfied.
“No one,” I said, voice low and firm as I pulled her back against my chest, “will ever cross that threshold again.”
She exhaled, small and trusting, and my grip tightened—
Protective.
Possessive.
Unspoken.
I kissed the top of her head, letting the darkness settle around us.
“You’re safe,” I whispered.
With me.
And for the first time in years…
I almost believed it.
- Writer
