The Hybrid Alpha's Mate

Chapter 3: Prisoner

Kael carries me through the massive front doors like I weigh nothing. The inside of the house is warm, dimly lit, and impossibly huge. High ceilings, dark wood beams, stone walls that look ancient and solid. I barely have time to take it in before he’s climbing stairs.

A lot of stairs.

By the time we reach the third floor, my heart is pounding again. From the wolves I saw outside. From the fact that I’m in the middle of their territory. From the fact that I have no idea what he plans to do with me.

He pushes open a door with his shoulder and steps into a large room. A bedroom. My stomach drops.

“No…” I whisper, panic rising fast. “Please don’t…”

He doesn’t even look at me. He just walks to the bed and gently lowers me onto the mattress. The blankets are soft, the room warm, but none of that matters. My hands shake as I scramble back, pressing myself against the headboard.

Kael straightens, watching me with that unreadable expression.

“I’ll be right back,” he says quietly. “Don’t go anywhere.”

My breath catches. “Why did you bring me here? When can I go home?” I shiver. "W-what are you going to do with me?"

He pauses in the doorway, his silhouette framed by the hall light.

“You’re safe,” he says again. “That’s all you need to know.”

Then he steps out and closes the door behind him.

The moment he’s gone, my fear explodes.

I push off the bed and rush to the doors leading to the balcony in the room. It’s huge, overlooking the forest, and impossibly far from the ground. Three stories up. No chance.

There’s an open door leading to a huge marble-encompassed bathroom, with a big waterfall shower and a separate clawfoot bathtub. Definitely no way out that way, but it almost makes it tempting to stay here.

I turn to the door he brought me through. Locked? I don't know, and I don't try it. Cause even if I got out, there were wolves everywhere. Wolves that bowed to him. Wolves that would tear me apart before I made it ten steps.

My chest tightens. My throat closes. I feel the panic rising like a wave I can’t stop.

“I’m done for,” I whisper. “I’m actually done for.”

My legs give out and I sink to the floor, pressing my hands to my face. I don’t know where I am. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know why he saved me or what he wants. I’m trapped in a house full of wolves with a man who kills them like they’re nothing.

I curl my knees to my chest, trying to breathe, trying not to fall apart completely.

That’s when I hear voices outside the door.

A man’s voice - sharp, irritated.

“Kael, what were you thinking bringing a human here?”

A woman’s voice next, softer but tense.

“She’s terrified. I could smell it from downstairs.”

My heart stops.

Kael’s voice joins theirs, low and controlled.

“Kiana… she’s my mate.”

Silence.

A heavy, stunned silence.

Then Kael continues, voice quieter now.

“She was running from rogues in the woods. I had to intervene. I know bringing her here was reckless… but I didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t going to let her die.”

The woman - Kiana - speaks again, barely above a whisper.

“Does she know?”

“No,” Kael says. “And she won’t. Not yet.”

My breath catches.

Not yet?

What does that even mean?

"This should be impossible. We are going to have to be very careful about how we handle this, Kael." I hear the other man say sternly.

"I'm handling it, Talon."

Footsteps approach the door. I scramble back onto the bed, wiping my face, trying to look like I’m not falling apart.

The door opens.

Kael steps inside and closes it behind him, shutting out the voices of the two people lingering in the hall. His expression is unreadable - calm, steady, but with something simmering underneath.

He looks at me for a long moment before speaking.

“Jasmine,” he says softly, “I know you’re scared.”

I press myself back against the headboard. “You think?”

He doesn’t react to the edge in my voice. He just steps closer, slow and deliberate.

“I didn’t expect to bring you here tonight,” he says. “But circumstances changed.”

My pulse spikes. “What circumstances?”

His jaw tightens. “I’ll explain when it’s safe.”

“I want to leave,” I whisper.

“You can’t.”

His voice is gentle, but final.

“There are wolves outside. Rogues in the woods. And my pack is on edge. If you walk out that door right now, you won’t make it two steps.”

My stomach twists...

“For now,” he says quietly, “you stay in this room. I’ll keep you safe. But you don’t leave. Not until I say so.”

His eyes glow faintly in the dim light — not threatening, but intense.

Secretive.

Guarded.

“I’ll be back soon,” he adds. “Don’t try to run.”

Then he steps out, closing the door behind him.

And I’m left alone in a room I can’t escape…

with a man who could be capable of literally anything.