Bound to my Awakening

The High-Rise Gate

The heavy brakes of the SUV hissed as the armored vehicle came to a halt inside the bay. Above us, the iron security gates of the Ashen Ridge Citadel clanged shut, locking out the damp morning mist and sealing us inside a tomb of concrete and polished chrome.

I didn't wait for the engine to cut. I grabbed the inner door handle and yanked it with all my weight.

Nothing moved.

"The child-locks are reinforced steel, Kaela," Draven said, his voice terrifyingly calm as he unbuttoned his dark suit jacket. "Save your fingernails."

"Let me out of this car!" I turned on him, my hands shaking as the lingering hum of that unnatural heat under my skin tried to betray my anger.

"You shattered a private homestead! You dragged me out of my home!"

"I retrieved my mate from a human farm," Draven corrected, his eyes cold and unreadable as he glanced sideways at me. "There is a massive distinction."

"I am not your anything!" I spat, pulling myself as close to the far door as the leather seats allowed. "I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care about your pack laws or your corporate title."

"You will," Draven said. He leaned in slightly, his broad shoulders blocking out the ambient light of the garage. "Because the second we step out of this vehicle, my board of directors won't see a girl. They will see a weakness."

"Then drop me off at the nearest crossroads," I snapped. "Problem solved."

"And let butchers harvest you from a ditch?" A dark sneer touched his jaw. "Your energy signature was spiking so hard back at the farm that it almost set off my lead truck’s scanners from two miles out. You aren't just an unranked outcast, Kaela. You're a bloody flare in the dark."

I froze, my throat going dry. "How do you know my name?"

"The human screamed it at the top of his lungs while my unit was securing his arms," Draven said, unlatching his door.

"He's alive because you bargained for him. Don't make me regret granting you that favor."

"If you harm Liam—"

"His breathing depends entirely on how quiet you keep your mouth when this door opens," Draven cut in, his tone dropping into a lethal register.

Before I could hurl another insult, a sharp, metallic knock echoed against my side of the glass.

Outside stood a woman in a tailored cream suit. Her raven hair was pinned back in a sharp, merciless cut, and her ice-blue eyes were fixed directly on me through the tinted window. Power rolled off her in heavy, suffocating waves—an Alpha, purebred and hostile.

Draven exhaled a low, frustrated breath through his nose.

"Lyssandra," he muttered under his breath. "Right on cue."

"Who is she?" I asked, pulling back as the woman's eyes narrowed through the glass.

"The woman expecting to merge her family's energy with mine by the end of the quarter," Draven said, grabbing my wrist before I could pull away.

The instant his skin touched mine, that sickening, electric pull snapped back into place, pinning me to the seat.

"Adjust your posture, Kaela. She executes trespassers for fun."

He shoved his door open and stepped out into the bay, pulling me behind him in one fluid motion.

"Draven," the woman spoke, her voice smooth, precise, and dripping with venom. She didn't look at him; her eyes stayed glued to where his fingers were wrapped tightly around my arm.

"Care to explain why my security team logged an unauthorized tactical convoy heading toward the border an hour before our quarterly summit?"

"My border business is private, Lyssandra," Draven said smoothly, shifting his body just enough to place himself between us.

"Private?" Lyssandra took a slow step forward, her nostrils flaring as she caught the scent clinging to the air. Her eyes snapped to mine, bright with sudden, murderous realization. "You brought an unsanctioned stray into the central Citadel? And she reeks of ancient blood."

"She is under my personal protection," Draven warned, his voice dropping into a dangerous rumble that vibrated through the floor of the garage.

"She is an unranked threat to our territory's purity!" Lyssandra barked, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. "Look at her! She’s unbranded, unvetted, and carrying the stench of human settlement! The council will order her execution the moment she sets foot in the upper levels."

"The council answers to me," Draven said coldly, stepping right up into her space, his Alpha aura flaring so violently that even Lyssandra had to take a half-step back.

"And if anyone on your board touches a single hair on her head, I will tear down the Vire corporate alliance before the market opens tomorrow morning."

Lyssandra’s face went pale with rage, her gaze sliding past Draven to glare at me with absolute hatred. "You're risking the entire empire for a stray you found in the dirt?"

"Get out of my way," Draven commanded softly.

Lyssandra held his gaze for three agonizing seconds before flashing me a dark, promise-filled smile.

"Enjoy the penthouse, little stray. The higher you climb, the harder the fall." She turned on her heel, her heels clicking sharp against the concrete as she marched toward the elevators.

I stood there shivering, my wrists bruised where Draven had held me. The reality of where he had brought me slammed into my chest like an anvil.

"She wants me dead," I whispered, looking up at his dark, unreadable profile.

"Everyone in this building wants you dead," Draven replied, grabbing my elbow and pulling me toward the private lift.

"Which is why you stay by my side.”