Bloodbound

Letters Of Hope

I walked to the dungeon where they kept Heath chained like an animal. He had silver chains which burns him and I know that they have injected him with wolfsbane to stop him from shifting.

“Hi, handsome,” I said, forcing a smile. I tried to sound normal, but my voice cracked. Seeing him like this broke something inside me.

He looked barely human—his sandy blonde hair plastered to his head with blood and sweat, his face bruised and caked with dirt. His eyes fluttered open, and despite everything, he tried to smile.

“Hey. Wrong brother,” he rasped, voice hoarse but laced with dry humor.

“Right brother,” I whispered. “Your parents and Elijah... they would be so proud of you.”

“You think?” He laughed, but it came out as more of a cough. “I don’t have much of a choice. I’m only here to be a warning. With my father dead and Elijah gone... technically, I should be Alpha now. But this?” He gestured weakly to his chains. “This is what happens when someone remembers that.”

He looked scared. Lost. And so damn tired.

“When I get you out of here,” I said, kneeling beside him, “we’re going to make them pay. I swear it.”

"No. You need to get yourself out of here and never look back” He said with desperation in his voice.

I pulled out the bundle Ashley and I had smuggled together. “Here. Food. And Phantom,” I said quietly. “Ashley managed to get pain meds too. You need to eat. You need your strength.”

The guard, Ralphe, barely paid attention to us anymore. As long as we weren’t actively trying to escape, he pretended we didn’t exist. That worked to our advantage.

I gently washed Heath’s face with the damp cloth I’d hidden in my apron. Ashley had packed more food than I expected—something that could last Heath at least a few days. I slipped the painkillers under his thin mattress, then pulled out a folded note and tucked it next to his pillow.

It was risky. But I had no choice.

Heath—

I’m going to try to get us out. Today. Neighboring packs are visiting to assess Darius’s rule. If they suspect mistreatment, the law allows them to challenge him. We’d get a fair hearing before the Council.

I’m praying the Red Willow Pack is here. If Alpha Marcus sees us—sees, you—he won’t stand by. He’ll help. We could be safe tonight.

Please destroy this letter after reading it. If they find it, they’ll kill me. Or worse. Just in case these are my last words… I love you, dear friend. Always. Until the end of time.

— C.C.

After making sure Heath ate, I hugged him tightly, afraid it might be the last time I ever could.

The next time I saw him; it would either be as a free man or on the other side.

I ran back to my makeshift room and packed a small bug-out bag—just in case. A few outfits. Some hygiene items. The spare boots I’d hidden beneath the cot. My hands trembled as I rolled up an old hoodie that still smelled faintly of home—cedar and ash and something else I could never name but always felt like safety. I tucked it at the bottom of the bag and zipped it shut.

If tonight didn’t go as planned and I am able to escape I needed to be ready to disappear. Forever.

Because if Darius or Alexa even suspected what I was planning—if they knew I wasn’t just a kitchen slave—I wouldn’t live to see the moonrise on my birthday.

But I’d rather die fighting for freedom than spend another day crawling beneath their boots.

I slipped the bag under the cot and covered it with the scratchy old blanket I used as a pillow. No one would think to look there. Not yet.

Outside, the sun dipped low, casting long shadows across the compound. The sky bled orange and violet. Twilight always made me nervous—it was when the guards got twitchy. Cruelty sharpened in the dark.

Then came a knock—sharp, urgent.

“Chloe!” Ashley hissed from the hallway. “They’re here. I saw the Red Willow crest. It’s them!”

My heart seized. Ayla. Alpha Marcus. My only chance.

I threw the door open and gripped her arm. “Thank you. You have no idea what this means.”

Ashley gave me a shaky smile. “Just… be careful. Alexa’s watching you like a hawk.”

“I know,” I whispered. “But the Moon Goddess didn’t keep me alive this long to let me die in a cage.”

She nodded, squeezed my arm, and disappeared into the corridor.

I turned to the cracked mirror above my washbasin. My green eyes blazed back at me. My peanut butter-colored hair was braided down my back like always. I looked like a girl. A servant. A nobody.

But inside? I was fire. I was vengeance. I was hope.

I had to get a message to Alpha Marcus. Somehow.

He was the only one who could save Heath.

And maybe... save me too.