IMPRISONED by the ALPHA

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Elara opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

The crack spread like a spider's web. The pale eyes did not blink. The paw pressed harder, and the whole window groaned.

"My lord," she finally croaked. "Wake up!"

The curtains didn't move.

"Kaelen!"

The glass exploded.

She threw her arms over her face as shards rained across the floor. A great shadow burst through the window, huge and black, with a mouth full of teeth. It landed without a sound. It was a wolf, but wrong: its fur rippled like smoke, and its eyes glowed like two cold stars.

"Please," Elara whispered, backing away. "Please, no."

The shadow wolf lowered its head and crept toward her.

Something huge slammed into it from the side. The two bodies crashed into the desk, and scrolls flew everywhere. A growl shook the room, and Elara looked up to see Kaelen half-changed, shirt torn, hands become claws, eyes blazing gold.

"Get behind the bed!"

"I can't move!"

"Now!"

She crawled. Behind her came snarling, a crack of bone, and the crash of the wardrobe going over. She pressed against the bedpost and squeezed her eyes shut.

Then everything went quiet.

Kaelen stood alone in the ruined room, breathing hard, blood running down his arm. The shadow wolf was gone. The balcony doors hung open, and cold wind swept the curtains inward.

"It ran," he said, staring at the window. "It didn't even fight me."

"Then it will come back."

"Perhaps." His claws shrank back into hands, and the gold in his eyes faded to gray. "Are you hurt?"The question was so unexpected that she just stared. "No, my lord. Only scared."

"Good. Fear is useful."

"Is that all you have to say? Maybe you're glad I'm alive."

"I'm not. I saved my prisoner from a wild beast in my own chambers. I would have done the same for a dog."

"A dog would have been thanked."He opened his mouth. Then, to her surprise, he closed it again.

The door burst open. Marek rushed in with his sword drawn and four guards behind him. "We heard the glass!"

"A shadow creature," said Kaelen.

"Those are nursery tales."

"Do the broken windows look like a nursery tale? It went straight to her side of the room and ignored my bed."

"Because I was nearest the window!" Elara said.

"Or because it knew you."

Her stomach turned cold. "You think I called it here?"

"I think a girl found beside a dead man, with no memory and a strange story, is an odd target for a monster."

"Somebody wants me dead," she said, her voice cracking. "Somebody wanted me dead before the council even met. The tea. Seraphine gave me tea before I went to the lake. Right after I drank it, I got dizzy. I didn't tell the council, because she begged me not to."

"The healer?" Marek frowned.

"I think she was just scared. I don't believe she'd harm me. But the tea might have been tampered with, by anyone."

Silence stretched through the room. Kaelen's face gave nothing away, but his eyes had sharpened.

"Marek," he said. "Bring the healer here in the morning. Search the kitchen and the lake path. If there was a flask, I want it found."

"I dropped it when I fell. It should still be by the water."

Kaelen sent the guards to check the walls and the roofs. Marek lingered. "She's a prisoner, Kaelen. We don't know what she is."

"I know exactly what she is. A suspect." His eyes never left her. "But a suspect with an enemy is worth more alive than dead. For now."

Marek nodded. "I'll post two men outside your door."

"Make it four."

Marek glanced at Elara, and his expression softened. "Try to rest, girl."

The door shut, and the room felt much smaller. Kaelen walked through the broken glass to the window and studied the claw marks scored deep into the stone.

"You didn't scream when it came in."

"I tried. I couldn't."

"Most would have run."

"Where? You said I can't leave without a guard."

A short breath escaped him, almost a laugh. "So I did. Go to sleep, Voss."

"After that?"

"I am always serious. Lie down."

She dragged her blanket to the floor and lay with her eyes open, listening to the wind whistle through the empty window frame. Every creak of the keep made her flinch. At last Kaelen sat on the edge of his bed and stayed there with his elbows on his knees, staring into nothing. He did not lie down. He did not move at all.

He's afraid, she realized. Not of the wolf. Of what it means.

At dawn the guards returned to report: nothing on the roofs, nothing on the walls, no tracks in the garden, not even blood.

"No blood?" Kaelen said. "I wounded it."

"Nothing, my lord," said the tallest guard, a broad man with a scar through his eyebrow. "The creature vanished completely."

"Then it was not an ordinary animal. Thank you, Captain. You may go."

The captain bowed and turned toward the door. As he passed Elara's blanket, his boot came within an inch of her hand.

And in that moment, a voice spoke inside her head.

She should be dead by now.

Elara froze.

It was a man's voice, low and clear, as though whispered into her ear. But the captain's lips were closed, his face perfectly calm.

The Alpha was never supposed to wake up in time.

She stared at him, heart hammering. The captain glanced down. His eyes met hers.

Why is she looking at me?Then, ever so slightly, his hand dropped to the hilt of his knife.