Chapter Four

Chapter 4: The Trap Tightens

Lucian's POV

The air within my estate was thick as I stood at my study window, looking out as the moon was consumed by thick clouds. It was storming, but I wasn't sure if it was approaching in the sky or in my stomach. My plan was simple-take Elara and force her into this marriage before breaking her piece by piece. It wasn't meant to be difficult. Yet, since I'd set eyes on her, nothing had gone according to plan.

She was different. Where her defiance should have been no more than an empty gesture, it was fire beneath the surface-fire that burned quietly, but burned hotter. Most people went to pieces under my stare, their resolve softened long before I had to raise a hand. But Elara? She didn't break so easily.

I leaned against the frame of the window, exhaled in a slow hiss, trying to shake the thoughts creeping into my mind. Thoughts of her.

She was mine now, my pawn in this macabre game of revenge. I repeated it to myself as often as possible, yet with every passing day, her name would flutter in my mind - with a pang of something foreign. It wasn't a feeling of pity, no. But something about her, the unbroken core, her strength-it clawed at the layers of coldness I'd wrapped myself in for years.

I turned away from the window, clenching my jaw. No room for weakness existed. I couldn't afford it. Not after everything I'd lost.

My office door creaked open, and I didn't need to turn around to know who'd entered. Aric-my Beta-was the only one with the nerve to disturb me without knocking.

"You've been silent tonight, Alpha," he said, his voice measured for caution.

"I have a lot on my mind," I said, my tone sharper than I meant it to be.

"About the girl?"

I turned then, narrowing my eyes at him. Aric had always been loyal, but he knew when to keep his thoughts to himself. Yet the way he said "the girl"—there was something in it, a note of doubt.

"Is there a problem?" I asked, my voice low and steady.

Aric shrugged, but his eyes never left mine. "She's not like the others. I'm just wondering if you're sure about this plan."

I let out a mirthless laugh. "Since when do you question me, Aric?

"I don't question you, Lucian," he said quietly using my name rather than my title. Subtle reminder of our history, of our friendship before the weight of the pack had forced us both into roles neither of us had asked for. "But I've seen you with her. She's getting under your skin."

I curled my fists, and as I did, that tenseness eased in my chest. "She's a tool, nothing more. Darius sold her to me, and she will serve her purpose. That is all there is to it."

Aric nodded, but the doubt clinging to his eyes was crystal clear. "What happens when she has served her purpose? When you have broken her?"

I turned back to the window, my hands on the sill. "Then, she is discarded. Like everyone else.

The hours melted and merged, until the first light of dawn struggled through the veil of dark. It was today-her wedding day.

The estate was a flurry of activity, though it meant little to me. Servants bustled in and out of the hall, preparing the long tables and dressing the room in white and silver-the color of my pack. None of it mattered to me. This was no wedding-this was business, an ice-cold transfer of power.

I saw Elara being escorted down the hall toward chambers where she would prepare. She moved stiffly, her eyes forward, her hands clenched at her sides. No tears. No pleas for mercy. Only that silent, unspoken defiance.

I hadn't realized I was staring until she vanished around a corner, leaving me with an odd emptiness in the absence of her.

It had to be this way, I told myself over and over. She would be mine. I would break her, and then discard her like the others. And I would move on, the hole inside me left unfilled, but bearable. Just like before.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that this time was different.

The ceremony was short-positively painfully so. The elders of the pack stood behind me as witnesses to the binding, their cold eyes watching my every move. Elara's silence was deafening as she stood beside me, her face pale but resolute-looking for all the world like a lamb led willingly to the slaughter. And yet, there was something in those dark eyes, something fierce, as if she knew more than I gave her credit for.

I stared at her-my gaze locking with hers as the final vows were spoken. Her stare was unwavering, unblinking, but beyond that mask, I saw something else-something I hadn't before. It wasn't just fear. It was determination. That fire I'd sensed in her from the start hadn't been doused. It'd only gained in intensity .

What was she planning?

I barely heard the final words from the officiant, the ones that declared us husband and wife, because it was all so surreal-a weird sense of finality that settled over me. I had taken her as my bride, bound her to me in a way that wasn't so easily undone. But instead of satisfaction, all that filled me was unease.

As we turned to face the gathering, the pack members raised their glasses in a half-hearted toast to us, faces blank. They didn't care about this union any more than I did. It was simply a formality. A necessity.

Yet as I looked over at Elara as she stood beside me, I couldn't help the feeling that I'd underestimated her. She wasn't broken, not yet.

That night, the estate lay quiet, save for the soft murmurings of the pack as they drank and made merry in the grand hall. I was alone in my chambers, staring into the fire and its jumping flames, their shadows dancing upon the stone walls. My mind was restless, my thoughts turning to her.

What was it about her that had me so unsettled?

Then I rose from my chair and started down the hall, stopping outside her room. My hand hovering on the handle a moment, then I leaned in and pushed it open.

She stood by the window, her back to me, staring out at the darkened forest beyond. Her posture was tense, her shoulders rigid, as if she had been waiting for me. When she turned, her eyes met mine, and that same defiance shone again, burning brightly despite everything.

"Are you here to gloat?" she asked quietly, her voice steady.

I didn't respond, taking another step further into the room. The air appeared to hum between us, thick with what was not said. She didn't back down under my stare, didn't cringe like the others had. There was something about her that I simply couldn't look away from.

"I'm not here to gloat," I said finally after a few silent moments. "But you should know nothing you do from this point forward will change the end result. You're mine now, Elara."

She stared back at me, impassive. "I am not yours. I will never be yours."

A smile twisted my lips, though the expression didn't reach my eyes. "We shall see."

I turned without another word and left the room, the door swishing shut behind me with a soft click. But even as I was clear down the hall, the weight of her words lingered in my mind, a reminder that she wasn't as easily broken as I'd so wrongly assumed.

And for the first time in years, wasn't sure if I wanted her to be.