THE BROKEN BOND

THE KING'S PRIZE

I wake to pain and paranoia.

My eyes snap open to stone walls and firelight, and for a moment I can't remember where I am or why my body feels like it's been through a meat grinder. Then the memories crash back—the hunters, the cave, the alpha with gold-flecked eyes who touched me like he owned me.

I'm in a bed that's too soft for someone like me. A room that's too clean. Too safe. Which means everything about this situation is wrong.

I try to sit up. My ribs scream in protest. My left leg won't move. I'm trapped, and that realization hits me harder than the fall did.

The door opens.

"Don't." A man enters—older, maybe fifty, kind eyes and dark hair shot through with silver. He's holding a tray. "You need to stay still. Your injuries are severe."

"Where am I?" My voice comes out as a snarl.

"Safe," he says, moving closer.

"That's not an answer."

"No, it's not." He sets the tray down. "I'm Elias. I'm Kael's doctor. And before you ask—yes, you're a prisoner. No, we don't intend to hurt you. Yes, you should absolutely be terrified."

At least he's honest.

"What do you want from me?" I ask.

"Information," Elias says simply. "About your bloodwork. About your bloodline. About the ability you have to sense broken paranormal bonds."

My entire body goes rigid.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You absolutely do." He pulls up a chair, sits down like we're about to have tea and not a hostage negotiation. "Your genetic markers are unlike anything I've seen before. Old paranormal blood. Rare. Valuable." He pauses. "Hunted."

"So what? You're just going to keep me here? Study me?"

"No," a voice says from the doorway. "We're going to make you a deal."

Kael enters, and I feel my wolf wake up in a way that makes my stomach turn. He's wearing all black, and there's blood on his hands—not fresh, but not old either. He looks like he's done something terrible. He looks like someone I should be afraid of.

I should be afraid of him.

So why isn't my wolf trying to run?

"You're going to help us understand the broken bonds," he says, not bothering with pleasantries. "In exchange, I will protect you from the people hunting you. No chains. No experiments. Just information for safety."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you leave," Kael says flatly. "And you die. Probably within forty-eight hours. Maybe less."

"f**k you," I say.

"Fair enough." He turns to leave.

"Wait." The word is out before I can stop it. "What's the catch?"

Kael turns back. "The catch is that the people hunting you are professionals. They have resources I can only guess at. They have paranormal backing from someone powerful. And they want you for reasons that go way beyond casual curiosity."

"Why should I believe you?"

"You shouldn't," Kael says coldly. "But you will, because your alternative is death. And despite everything your seven years of isolation have taught you, you're not quite ready to die."

He's right. Damn him, he's right.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Kael Ravenswood. Alpha King of the Northern territories."

Of course he is. Of course I've managed to fall into the territory of paranormal royalty who could crush me with a thought.

"And what exactly do you want me to tell you?" I ask.

"Start with the hunters. Who sent them? What do they want? Why are they so desperate to capture you specifically?"

I close my eyes. "I don't know. I've been running for three days. I don't know who they are or what they want beyond the obvious—they want me."

"Why do you think that is?"

"Because I'm different." I open my eyes and look directly at him. "Because I can feel things that other paranormals can't. Broken things. Connections that have fractured. Bonds that shouldn't break but are breaking everywhere." I pause. "And I have no idea why that matters, or why anyone would kill for that information."

Kael is very still.

"You can sense broken bonds," he says quietly.

"Apparently, I can. I thought I was just broken."

"You're not broken," Elias says. "You're rare."

"Rare is just another word for valuable," I say bitterly. "Valuable is just another word for hunted."

Kael moves closer, and every instinct tells me to fight, to run, to do something. But I'm broken, literally and figuratively, and he knows it.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he says.

"Everyone says that."

"I know." He stops at the edge of my bed, maintaining distance like he understands that proximity right now feels like a threat. "But I mean it. You have my word as alpha king that your safety is my priority."

"The word of an alpha king is just manipulation dressed up as honor," I say flatly. "That's what paranormal society teaches. That's what my mother taught me."

"Your mother," Kael says. "Tell me about her."

"No."

"Fair enough." He turns to Elias. "Give her pain medication and rest. She needs to heal before we can move to the next phase."

"Next phase of what?" I demand.

"Of finding out exactly what you're capable of," Kael says, and there's something in his voice that makes my wolf pay attention. "And of stopping whoever's trying to kill you."

He leaves without another word, and I'm left alone with Elias and a million questions and the terrifying realization that I might have just traded one kind of trap for another.

But at least this trap keeps me alive.

At least this trap has someone in it who seems to actually want answers instead of just my corpse.