CHAPTER 21: BRING HER BACK

"How dare you talk to your Alpha like that! You insolent bitch!"

The slap cracked through the night like a whip.

My head snapped to the side, pain exploding across my cheek.

The metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth, and for a heartbeat, everything inside me screamed to cower, to bow, to stay silent like I always had.

But something broke inside me instead. Something that had been festering, choking me for far too long.

I turned my face back toward him, my eyes sharp with venom. My voice was raw, laced with hate so sharp the very air seemed to carry it away.

"You knew."

His brows furrowed, the first flicker of hesitation in those golden eyes.

I took that single crack and drove my blade into it.

"You knew it wasn’t Stella’s doing. But you turned a blind eye because she was nothing to you. Because you do not value a lowborn like her. It was Esther’s plot, wasn’t it? Everyone knows, even if they don’t say it aloud. But you—" I spat the word as though it burned me. "You can’t afford to punish her because she’s the Chief Beta’s daughter."

The warrior holding me shifted uneasily, but I pressed on, words spilling out like wildfire, too fierce to contain.

"I am a member of this pack, Finn. Whether you see me as prisoner or not, I have the right to question my Alpha’s actions."

My voice trembled, not from fear, but from fury. From the truth I had swallowed for far too long.

It was the first time I had spoken to him like this.

When my father died, I kept my mouth shut. I let the grief swallow me whole and didn’t confront him, didn’t confront the lies, the cruelty.

I acted as if I didn’t know him at all, as if that would protect me. I had buried every word I wanted to scream and let silence choke me instead.

But not tonight.

Tonight, something had shifted. A fire sparked in my chest, hot and unrelenting, and it demanded to be heard. If no one else would tell Finn that he wasn’t sane, that he was leading us down a path carved from blood and fear, then I would.

Even if it meant burning myself alive in the process.

He didn’t answer. Not at first. He only stood there, his jaw tight, his chest rising and falling like the growl building in his lungs.

"Bring her back," he said at last, voice like stone grinding against stone.

Then his next words came, "To my chambers."

My blood went cold.

My eyes widened, and for the first time that night, true fear sliced through me. What did he mean by that?

I expected him to tell the warrior to bring me to the manor’s dungeon, not his chambers.

Before I could demand an answer, before I could spit another word at him, the warrior jerked me forward, dragging me through the trees.

The river faded behind me, the forest closing in. My heart pounded in my ears, wild and desperate, but there was no escape now.

***

I stumbled forward as the warrior’s shove sent me sprawling into the Alpha’s chambers.

My palms scraped against the polished floor.

When I turned back, the door was already sealed, the iron lock clicking in place like the sound of a trap snapping shut.

I was caged.

The room was large, opulent even, but it felt suffocating. A massive bed loomed against the far wall, draped in dark furs and silks that whispered of power, of dominance.

The fire in the hearth crackled, throwing long shadows across the stone walls, each one seeming to stretch like claws toward me.

I hugged my arms around myself, trying to steady the shaking in my limbs, when the door opened again.

Five women entered.

Not ordinary maids—their scent gave them away instantly. But females with wolves. All of them. Their eyes gleamed with quiet authority.

My stomach sank. I was nothing compared to them. Not with my wolf bound, strangled beneath the cursed band locked around my wrist. I couldn’t fight, couldn’t even claw my way free.

They surrounded me like vultures circling prey. I stiffened when the first of them reached for me.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, my voice sharp, though my insides twisted with dread.

None of them answered. Instead, skilled fingers began tugging at the ties of my clothes, prying fabric from my shoulders.

Panic flared hot in my chest, and I shoved at them weakly, my protests falling against their unyielding strength.

"What are you doing?" I repeated, louder this time, but one of them silenced me with a flat, chilling tone.

"You are not to ask any questions. You will be prepared to spend the night with the Alpha."

The words dropped into my stomach like a stone, cold and suffocating.

Prepared.

Spend the night.

I froze, breath leaving me in a broken gasp. No... no, that couldn’t be right.

That wasn’t how it worked. My mind raced, clawing for reason.

"The Alpha cannot—" My voice cracked. "He cannot spend a night with the breeder before the Heirbind Rite is done. That’s the law! That’s the tradition—"

The Heirbind Rite. The sacred rite of blessing from the Moon Goddess, the assurance that the Alpha’s bloodline would be honored, that the breeder’s womb would be prepared to bear his heir. It was the tradition of every pack. To bypass it was unthinkable.

And it wasn’t supposed to take place for a few more days.

"This isn’t right!" I shouted, thrashing against their grip as my garments slipped from my shoulders. "There’s still the Heirbind Rite—"

A sharp sting lit across my cheek before I could finish.

The slap sent me staggering, my knees buckling as stars burst behind my eyes.

"You don’t get to question the Alpha’s intention, breeder," one of them hissed, her gaze flat, merciless.

I clenched my fists, trembling from head to toe, fighting back tears as fabric tore from my body.