Chapter Three: Waking In The Monster's Bed
1504 Words
I woke to warmth.
That was the first strange thing.
My whole life, I had woken to cold. Cold stone floors beneath my bare feet. Cold water splashed on my face to wake me. Cold words from Seraphina's lips.
But this bed was soft.
So soft I thought I was dreaming.
The blankets smelled like pine and rain and something darker beneath it.
Something masculine.
Something that made my stomach clench and my wolf stir.
I opened my eyes slowly.
The room was massive. Larger than the entire servant's quarters where I had lived my whole life.
Dark stone walls. Golden candlelight flickering from a dozen candles. Heavy silk curtains the color of blood billowed by an open window, letting in the cool night air.
A fire crackled in a stone hearth.
Real wood. Real fire.
Not the tiny, dying flames I had been allowed to warm my hands over in the kitchen.
Where am I?
I sat up too fast.
Pain shot through my back like lightning. I gasped and gripped the sheets.
My vision blurred. My head spun.
The whip marks.
The bath.
The sale.
The storm.
The word, MINE.
It all came flooding back like ice water.
Alpha Kael. The Blood Moon Butcher. The monster they warned me about. The man who killed his own Luna. The beast who ate hearts.
He had claimed me.
He had carried me into the storm.
And now I was here. In his home. In his bed.
I looked around the room wildly. My heart pounded. My throat tightened.
I was alone.
But I wasn't.
I felt it. A presence. A pull. Something deep in my chest that tugged toward the door. Toward him.
Like an invisible thread tied to my ribs, pulling me toward something I couldn't see.
My wolf.
My wolf.
She was there. I could feel her now.
Not fully awake. Not fully formed. But not gone either.
She was like a shadow at the edge of my mind.
Waiting. Watching. Hungry.
'You're real,' I whispered inside my head. My voice trembled even in my thoughts.
'Of course I am,' she whispered back.
Her voice was cold. Like moonlight on frozen water. Like a blade sliding from its sheath.
'I've always been here,' she continued. 'They just buried me.'
I pressed my hand to my chest. My heart was beating so fast.
'Where were you?' I asked. 'All those years. All those nights I begged for you. Where were you?'
Silence.
Then: 'Trapped. Locked. Screaming in a cage made of darkness.' Her voice sharpened. 'But now... now I can feel the cracks. The seal is breaking. He is breaking it.'
Before I could respond, the door opened.
I flinched.
My whole body tensed. My hands gripped the sheets. My eyes snapped to the doorway, ready for danger. Ready for pain. Ready for anything.
But it wasn't him.
A woman entered. Older. Maybe forty. Gray hair pulled back in a tight bun. Sharp eyes that missed nothing. She carried a tray of food.
Real food.
The smell hit me first.
Warm bread. Roasted meat. Something sweet.
Something I had only smelled through the kitchen walls while I scrubbed floors for scraps.
Bread. Meat. Fruit I had only seen in pictures. Steam rose from a bowl of soup. A small pitcher of water. A cup of tea.
My stomach screamed. My mouth watered.
"You're awake," the woman said.
Her voice was not cruel. Not kind either. Just neutral. Like she was stating a fact.
"Where am I?" I asked. My voice cracked. My throat was raw from screaming in the storm.
"Blood Moon Pack House. Alpha Kael's private wing." She set the tray on the bed beside me. "He ordered you be fed. Bathed. Treated."
I looked down at my arms.
The bruises were fading. The cuts were closed. Someone had applied medicine while I slept. Someone had cleaned my wounds and wrapped the worst of them in soft bandages.
I hadn't felt it. I hadn't woken.
I had been so exhausted, so broken, that I hadn't felt strange hands on my body.
I shuddered.
"Why?" I whispered.
She looked at me strangely. Like I had asked why the sun rose.
"Because you're his mate."
Mate.
The word hit me like a physical blow.
"No," I shook my head. The tears came before I could stop them. "No, that's impossible. I'm wolfless. I can't have a mate. The Moon Goddess doesn't give mates to—"
"To what?" She raised an eyebrow. "To the broken? To the worthless?"
I said nothing. My throat closed.
"I've served Alpha Kael for twenty years," she said. Her voice softened, just slightly. "I've seen him kill men with his bare hands. I've seen him burn packs to the ground for betraying him. I've seen things that would make grown warriors weep."
She paused.
"I've never seen him look at anyone the way he looked at you."
I stared at her. My heart pounded.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," she said slowly, "that when he carried you through that door, he was not looking at you like a burden. Or a prize. Or a political tool."
She walked to the door.
"He was looking at you like you were the answer to a question he had been asking his whole life."
She opened the door.
"Eat. Rest. He will come for you tonight."
The door closed behind her.
I stared at the food. My stomach screamed. My body begged. I was so hungry I could have cried.
But my mind screamed louder.
Mate.
Alpha Kael's mate.
The Blood Moon Butcher's mate.
A wolfless freak has a mate.
This had to be a mistake. A cruel joke.
Any moment, he would walk in and laugh.
Reject me. Kill me.
I waited.
I ate.
I waited more.
---
He came at sunset.
I heard his footsteps before I saw him.
Heavy. Deliberate. Each step made the floor vibrate beneath me.
Each step made my heart pound harder.
The door opened.
And there he was.
Alpha Kael.
He filled the doorway. Seven feet of muscle and darkness.
His black fur coat was gone. Now he wore a simple black shirt that stretched across his massive chest.
His scar was stark against his pale skin.
His golden eyes found me immediately.
I was sitting on the bed, knees pulled to my chest. The tray of food was half empty. I had eaten everything I could stomach.
He didn't move. He just stood there. Watching me.
The silence stretched. I couldn't breathe.
"You're afraid," he said finally.
His voice was low. Rough. It made my skin tingle. It made my wolf stir.
"Yes," I whispered.
"Good."
He stepped inside. The door closed behind him with a soft click.
I pressed myself against the headboard.
He stopped at the foot of the bed.
So close. Too close.
I could smell him now. Pine and rain and something darker.
Something that made my head spin.
"You should be afraid," he said. "Everyone is afraid of me."
He tilted his head. His eyes traced over my face.
My hair. My neck.
Like he was memorizing every inch of me.
"But you're not afraid of me because of what I am," he continued. "You're afraid because you don't understand what's happening to you."
I swallowed. "I don't have a wolf. I can't be your mate. It's a mistake."
He moved.
One second he was at the foot of the bed. The next, he was right in front of me.
His hand grabbed my chin. Gentle. But firm.
His touch burned.
"Your wolf is not gone," he said.
Sealed?
"What?" I breathed.
"Someone put a lock on your beast. A dark lock. A powerful one." His jaw tightened. "I can feel her. She's there. She's screaming to get out."
Tears filled my eyes. "I don't understand."
"You will." He released my chin. His fingers trailed down my neck. Right over my pulse. "When I mark you, the seal will break."
My heart stopped.
"Mark me?"
"You are my fated mate. The Moon Goddess chose you for me." His eyes darkened to black. "And I will not reject what is mine."
He leaned closer. His breath was warm against my ear.
"Rest tonight, little wolf. Tomorrow, I will claim you. And then..."
He pulled back. His golden eyes burned into mine.
"...then we will find the ones who did this to you. And we will make them pay."
He turned toward the door.
But then he stopped.
His whole body went rigid. His claws shot out. A growl ripped from his chest — low, vicious, deadly.
I froze. "What? What is it?"
He didn't answer. He was staring at the window. At the open window.
At the figure standing there in the moonlight.
A man. Dressed in black. A silver blade in his hand. His eyes locked on me.
"Alpha Marcus sends his regards, little Luna," the man hissed.
And then he lunged straight for my throat.
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