Chapter Five
804 Words
Nia woke to the sound of a zipper.
She blinked, disoriented, the unfamiliar cabin coming into focus as sunlight streamed through the curtains. Then she saw him—Kai, already dressed in dark jeans and a fitted henley, the fabric straining over his shoulders as he shoved a few items into a duffel.
Oh. Right.
The wedding. The binding. The spectral wolf trying to rip her throat out.
Fantastic.
She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What time is it?"
"Late enough." Kai didn’t even glance at her. "We need to go."
"Go?" Nia frowned, still half-drunk with sleep. "Go where?"
Kai finally turned, his golden eyes glinting with something between irritation and disbelief. "You’re moving into my house today."
Nia’s brain short-circuited.
"What?"
He crossed his arms. "You didn’t know?"
"No, I didn’t know," she snapped, shoving the blankets off. "I was under the impression last night was the end of it."
Kai scoffed. "You’re the witch. Shouldn’t you know how your own magic works?"
Nia’s jaw clenched. "The binding was last night. The marriage was the requirement. No one said anything about—"
"The final seal requires us to live together on my ancestral land," Kai cut in, his voice sharp. "Or did your coven forget to mention that part?"
Nia’s stomach dropped.
No.
She had a life. A home she loved—her cozy apartment with its spellbooks stacked in haphazard towers, her balcony garden of rare herbs, her freedom.
"I can’t just—"
"You can," Kai said, already heading for the door. "And you will. Unless you want the pack’s sick to stay that way. Or worse."
Nia’s hands curled into fists.
This wasn’t happening.
But the hard set of Kai’s shoulders told her arguing was pointless.
She yanked open the closet, grabbing the first coat she saw and the stupid bag Leah had packed—lingerie and all.
Kai watched her, unimpressed. "Ready?"
Nia glared at him. "Thrilled."
He didn’t react. Just turned and walked out, leaving her to follow.
The door slammed behind her like a punctuation mark.
Kai’s house was not what she expected.
From the outside, it looked like something out of a luxury ski lodge—wood and stone, nestled against the backdrop of towering pines and jagged mountain peaks. The kind of place that belonged on the cover of a high-end travel magazine, not in the middle of cursed wolf territory.
Inside, it was warm. Almost too warm. The air smelled of cedar and something faintly smoky, like a fire had been burning recently. The decor was minimal but deliberate—rich leather furniture, woven rugs, a few pieces of art that looked tribal, ancient. It suited him, she supposed. Cold, controlled, but with an undercurrent of something wild.
Kai didn’t give her a tour.
He just led her up the stairs, his boots heavy on the wooden steps, and stopped at the end of a long hallway.
"You can take this room," he said, gesturing to a door before promptly disappearing into his own.
No make yourself at home. No let me know if you need anything.
Just—dismissal.
Nia exhaled sharply and pushed open the door.
The room was... nice.
Too nice.
A king-sized bed with crisp white linens, a sleek wooden desk, a closet big enough to fit half her wardrobe. And the bathroom—her breath caught. A sunken tub, a shower with what looked like a rainfall head, marble counters. It was bigger than the entire bathroom in her apartment.
Prison with a view, I guess.
She dropped her bag on the bed and pulled out her phone, wincing as the screen lit up with notifications. Missed calls. Texts. Emails.
Most were from Leah, ranging from "DID YOU SURVIVE THE NIGHT??" to "CALL ME BEFORE I SEND A SEARCH PARTY." There were a few from clients, too—polite well-wishes, inquiries about her sudden "leave of absence."
Nia rubbed her temples.
At least she’d had the foresight to tell her online consulting business—Okoro Strategic Solutions, her pride and joy—that she’d be taking a brief hiatus. "Family obligations," she’d called it. Not "I’ve been forcibly married off to a wolf shifter and now I’m a prisoner in his stupidly gorgeous house."
Small mercies.
She could still work remotely. Still keep some part of her life intact.
A knock at the door startled her.
Kai stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable. "Dinner’s in an hour," he said. "Don’t be late."
Then he was gone again.
Nia flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.
This was her life now.
Trapped in a gilded cage.
Bound to a man who couldn’t stand her.
And somehow, she had to find a way to survive it.
- Writer
