CHAPTER 44: HIS WORD IS THE LAW

This man was insane. I was convinced of it.

"Obviously, he’s got some loose screws on his head. But don’t act impulsively, Vien," Leika warned me.

Of course I knew better than that.

Rion was a big predator who was used to getting what he wanted. He wouldn’t accept a no easily, I even doubted his pride could handle a refusal.

Every word that spilled from his mouth felt like a trap, a twisted half-truth. I wanted to know everything – if the bargain between him and father was real, what his motives were... everything. But I knew I couldn’t force it out of him. Not if I still wanted to see the sun rise another day.

If I let myself believe him blindly, I would be the fool, and fools didn’t survive long around men like him.

"What if I still decide not to be your mate?" My voice dropped lower, a little cautious now. "What will be the consequence?"

His head tilted, his dark silver hair glinting in the lamplight. He looked so lethal and majestic at the same time it almost hurt my eyes to stare at him this long.

The corner of his mouth curved, not in humor, but in mischief. "What do you think?"

The answer was there, heavy on the tip of my tongue.

Death.

But I didn’t dare say the word aloud.

There was silence between us for a moment.

My heart thudded painfully as I tried to force my breathing into something steady, something that didn’t betray the truth: that I didn’t know what to do, what to believe, where to turn.

He had left me with no illusions. He was right. I had nowhere else to go.

If I offended him here, what would happen?

He might look playful now, amused even, but I had seen the darkness in his eyes. The shadows that clung to him weren’t natural, they curled like living things, whispering of death and otherworldly nightmares.

He wore danger like a cloak.

And he was right about Finn.

Finn would never spare me. He would hunt me until my bones were dust. The other packs, especially the neighboring packs of Levian wouldn’t take me either.

To them, I was already tainted, a traitor who had slipped from Finn’s claim during the Rite. I could try go farther, see if the packs in the farther parts of the region would accept me, but how far could I go?

But wasn’t the Undercity the worst place I could have ended up?

I dared a glance past Rion’s broad, shadow-draped frame, my eyes sweeping the grand hall beyond the balcony.

The party buzzed with life—laughter rising in bursts, the clink of glasses, music lilting through the air.

It looked like any other celebration. Normal.

I had expected the Undercity to be different. Darker. A den of monsters.

I had braced myself for scandalous sights, for blood spilling across marble floors, for screams woven into the revelry. Instead, there were jewels and silk, nobles and warriors alike smiling as if nothing monstrous lurked in their Alpha’s shadow.

The sight unsettled me more than blood ever could.

Nothing here could be taken at face value.

No, I couldn’t be careless. Not now. The year’s end was still months away. If Rion truly intended to keep me until then, then I had time. Time to survive. Time to bide my strength. Time to pry apart his secrets and uncover his true motives.

And, perhaps, time to find a way out.

I returned my gaze to him. "If I get proper treatment from you and your people, I might think about it."

It was a gamble. Laying down terms before him might be foolish. But I needed to carve some semblance of control, even if it was a fragile illusion.

His gaze sharpened, the shadows around him shifting. His answer was immediate, dark.

"They won’t touch you."

The certainty in his voice made me shiver. It didn’t sound like a promise. He spoke as though it was law. As though his word could bend the will of everyone in this place.

I parted my lips to press another question, to demand more answers from him, but he was quick to cut me off.

"Spare me another question tonight," he said, a faint smile tugging at his mouth. "It’s my birthday."

I froze, blinking at him. "Your... birthday?"

He chuckled, a low and amused sound that seemed to whisper on my ears.

"Why not?" He lifted his wine glass in mock salute. "Or perhaps you’ve heard that my way of celebrating is killing a whole town?"

His laughter rang cruel, lighthearted in a way that curdled my blood.

I couldn’t help it. I glowered at him, subtle but sharp.

Didn’t he just burn Finn’s lands? Did he think it a jest, an anecdote to toy with? The image of the flames flashed in my mind, the acrid smoke, the screams I could only imagine.

How could he stand here, smiling, drinking wine, as if the ashes of what he had destroyed weren’t still smoldering in the night?

My wolf wanted to spit at him. To scream. To demand if this was his idea of a joke.

But I tamed myself. I had to. Recklessness would only hand him my throat.

I reminded myself of the promise burning in my chest, the one thing keeping me sane: killing Finn.

My mother’s death, the blood I had seen, the chains Finn had tried to bind me with... it all demanded justice.

Until that justice was done, I could not allow myself to fall.

So I swallowed my rage, pressing it down into the pit of my stomach where it burned like acid. I let silence answer his laughter, even as it clawed at me.

His gaze lingered on me then, observant, as though peeling back layers I hadn’t realized I showed.

Then, softly, he said, "You look marvelous, by the way."

The words startled me.

My breath caught, but before I could utter any word, his form dissolved into the shadows.

The night itself seemed to swallow him whole.