CHAPTER 26: CHAPTER 26

My lungs burned like they were on fire. The taste of blood sat bitter on my tongue from breathing too hard. My bare feet pounded against the forest floor, each step stabbing up through my legs as sharp twigs and hidden rocks tore into my skin. The wind whipped through my hair, tangling it across my face, but I didn’t dare slow down to push it away. The trees closed in around me, their trunks tall and skeletal, reaching for me like they wanted to drag me back. Shadows jumped across my path, alive in the pale scraps of moonlight. Every sound the crunch of leaves under my feet, the rustle of branches overhead felt too loud, like I was screaming my location to the world. But the only sound that truly mattered was the one I didn’t hear. The crazy Psycho. No footsteps. No breathing. No movement.

The silence was worse than if he had been crashing through the undergrowth right behind me. It was unnatural, a predator’s silence. The kind that meant he was there, somewhere, and waiting for me to make a mistake. I clung to one thought, chanting it in my head like a prayer: Just keep running. Just keep running. Just keep running. But my legs were slowing. My chest ached with every inhale. My vision blurred at the edges.

And then hand shot out of the darkness and clamped around my wrist. It was like being caught in the jaws of a steel trap. Pain exploded through my arm as my bones ground together under the pressure. I screamed. The sound ripped through the night, bouncing off the trees, but I knew it was useless before the echo died. No one would come for me. Not here. Not in his forest.

"Inner voice: Little toad"

His voice slid into my mind without warning, cold and intimate, curling around my thoughts until I couldn’t tell where mine ended and his began.

"Inner voice: You should know better. The forest belongs to me."

I jerked backward, clawing at his hand, but his grip didn’t loosen. Then the shadows peeled away, and he stepped into the pale light.

Alpha Zach.nHis eyes glowed faintly, like embers in the dark, and his expression was unreadable but I didn’t need to see his face to feel the danger radiating from him.

"Inner Voice: Run all you want," his voice murmured inside my head. "I like it when they run. It makes catching them sweeter."

Before I could wrench free, his arm shot forward, and the world tilted. My stomach dropped as I was yanked off my feet and slung over his shoulder like I weighed nothing. The air punched out of my lungs. My ribs ground against his solid shoulder, the movement jolting me with every step he took.

"Let me go!" My fists pounded against his back, but it was like hitting stone.

He didn’t answer out loud. Instead, his inner voice poured into me like oil, thick and suffocating.

"Inner voice: You’re so warm against me. I can almost feel your heartbeat through your ribs. I wonder... would it still beat if I peeled the skin away slowly?"

A violent shiver racked through me. My throat went dry, my breath catching in short, panicked bursts.

"I could hang you upside down from the ceiling," he continued, his tone almost thoughtful. "Watch you sway while the blood drains into a bucket. I’d keep your bones—clean them until they’re white. Hide them under my bed. My little secret."

Tears burned my eyes, spilling hot against my cheeks. My stomach lurched so hard I thought I might throw up right there on his back.

"Stop it!" My voice cracked, raw with desperation. "Stop talking—"

"But I’m not talking, am I? I’m already inside. You can’t close the door on me."

My nails dug into my palms so hard it stung, anything to distract myself from his words, but they kept coming, slow and deliberate, each one sinking deep into me. The forest passed in a blur of dark trunks and moonlit patches. I tried to keep track of where we were, searching for some landmark, some sign I could use to find my way back—if I ever got the chance. But the forest all looked the same, endless and unyielding. And he walked like a man with all the time in the world.

"I could take your hands first," his voice hummed. "Peel the skin back so you can watch the muscles twitch underneath. Then your arms. Your legs. Save the good parts for last, so you feel every moment."

My breath hitched, my chest tightening.

"Please spare me. I pleaded with him.

A low chuckle rumbled through my head.

"Inner voice: Begging already? I haven’t even started."

I twisted against his hold, but his arm only tightened around my waist until I could barely breathe. My cheek pressed against his back, the heat of him radiating through my skin. It made me feel trapped in more ways than one.

"You smell like fear," he murmured. "It’s sharp. Sweet. Makes me wonder how it would taste cooked into meat."

A sob tore from my throat. I tried to kick, but my legs just flailed uselessly against him.

The trees began to thin, and a pale orange glow bled through the darkness. The pack house. My heart sank like a stone. Every step toward it was another nail in the coffin of my freedom.

"Alpha please i’m sorry. My voice was barely more than a whisper now. "Please, just let me go..."

"No, no, no..." His tone was almost amused. "I caught you. That means you’re mine. And I take care of what’s mine in my own way."

We broke through the last line of trees, and the open clearing stretched out before us. The grass glistened with dew, and the air felt heavier here, as if the forest itself had been a mercy compared to what waited beyond.

"You really shouldn’t have run, little load, his voice coiled tighter around my mind, final and unyielding. "Now I have to make sure you never try again."The clearing felt colder than the forest. The air was still, almost too still, like the whole pack had gone to sleep... or maybe they just knew better than to be awake when he was in this mood. The pack house loomed ahead three stories of shadow and pale light. From here, it almost looked like it was leaning forward, waiting to swallow me whole. My nails scraped uselessly at his back as he carried me up the porch steps. The wood creaked under his boots, but his grip didn’t loosen for a second.

The door was already unlocked. It swung inward on silent hinges, and he stepped inside. The warmth of the house hit me instantly, but it wasn’t comforting. It was stifling, heavy with his scent.

Every nerve in my body screamed at me to fight.

"Put me down please. My voice came out cracked and breathless, more like a plea than a command.

"Not yet," his voice slid into mine, smooth and cold. "I like feeling you shake against me."

I stiffened, but it was impossible to stop trembling.

He crossed the foyer without hesitation, heading for the stairs. His stride was steady, unhurried, like the walk from the forest had only been the first step in whatever he had planned.

"Inner voice: You know I could tie her to the bed. Not to touch you, no, no. Just to watch her. Days, weeks. Until you forget what the outside even looks like."

I bit my lip so hard it split, but I didn’t let go. The faint taste of iron filled my mouth. It grounded me, barely.

"Inner voice: Maybe I’d cover her eyes. Let you guess what I’m going to do next. The not-knowing... that’s what breaks them fastest."

The stairs groaned under our weight. My hands curled into fists, not because I thought I could hurt him, but because I needed something anything to keep from falling apart completely. We reached the second floor. The hallway was dim, lit only by the faint golden glow from the sconces. Doors lined either side, all closed. Silent. I knew exactly where he was taking me. His room. The last place I wanted to be after trying to escape from this godforsaken pack and it’s psycho Alpha. My stomach twisted. My throat felt too tight to swallow. When he reached the end of the hall, he shouldered the door open without breaking stride. The hinges let out a slow, protesting creak, like even they didn’t want to open for him. The room was dark, but I could make out the massive bed against the far wall, the tall dresser, the heavy curtains drawn tight over the windows. It smelled like him. He stepped inside, shut the door with a solid click, and crossed to the bed. I could feel my pulse pounding in my neck. When he finally dropped me onto the mattress, I scrambled backward so fast I nearly fell off the other side. Big the psycho didn’t chase me. He stood at the foot of the bed, watching me. His head tilted slightly, as if I were some strange, fascinating creature he’d caught.

"Do you know what happens to prey that runs from me, Elie?"

I shook my head before I could stop myself. Then he smiled not with his mouth, but in my mind.

"They don’t run twice."

My breath caught. He moved closer, slow and deliberate, his boots soundless on the carpet. I pressed my back against the headboard. My knees pulled up to my chest, arms wrapped tight around them, as if I could make myself smaller, less noticeable.

"Inner voice: You looked good in the forest,""Hair wild, eyes wide, breathing like you were about to break. I could see every muscle in your legs straining. Do you know how beautiful prey is right before it’s caught?"

"Alpha please I promise I won’t run again. Please.

"Inner voice: If I peeled her skin," he continued, ignoring me completely, "I’d start at her shoulder. Make a slow, clean cut. Pull it down inch by inch. She will feel the air hit the muscle. The sting would be sharp at first then it would burn. And i will watch every twitch."

A sob tore free before I could swallow it.

"You think that’s bad?" His tone darkened, the edges of his voice curling like smoke. "I could boil the bones when I’m done. Keep them in a box. Take them out when I want to remember how warm you used to be."

I shook my head violently, pressing my palms over my ears, even though it was useless. His voice wasn’t something I could block out it came from inside, wrapping around my thoughts like chains.

"Why are you doing this?" My words came out muffled behind my hands.

"Because I can’t and you are my personal omega. How dare you try to run again?"

His mental voice turned almost playful, and that was worse than the cruelty.

I slid sideways along the bed, my eyes darting toward the door, but his gaze followed me like a physical touch.

"A-A-Alpha You can’t keep me here forever," I whispered, even though I didn’t believe it.

"Forever?" His voice purred. "Oh, no. You will last a while. Then you’ll break. Then you’ll disappear. That’s how it always goes."

My heart hammered so hard my vision blurred. He took another step forward, and the air in the room seemed to shrink.

"But maybe I won’t kill you. Maybe I will keep you in pieces. Enough to remind me of you... without the inconvenience of you running again."

I curled tighter into myself, my nails digging crescents into my arms. He stopped at the edge of the bed, looking down at me.

"Sleep now little omega.

I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t. I lay frozen, every muscle aching from tension, listening to the sound of his breathing in the dark until I couldn’t tell if it was real, or just another trick in my head. What have I gotten myself into? How do I go back to my original world and my life?"