Caged

Celine POV

The chaos in the room makes my pulse pound, but I can’t move, pinned by Richard’s furious grip on Dolton. Wes and Alex hold him back as he thrashes, their strength barely enough to restrain him. Richard’s voice cuts through the tension like a whip.

“You told her!” Richard snarls, his words dripping with fury. My heart stutters. It’s true. Everything Dolton said—about me, about the wolf I thought I didn’t have—was true.

Richard’s eyes narrow on me, and before I can react, he storms forward and grabs my head in an iron grip. His hands feel like vices clamping down, and I scream as a searing pain blossoms in my skull, blinding and disorienting. My legs give out beneath me, and the only thing keeping me upright is the cruel strength of his hands.

“No! Don’t make her forget!” Dolton’s voice breaks, raw and desperate as he struggles against his brothers. I hear him fighting, shouting, but my vision swims, and my mind feels heavy and hazy, as though submerged underwater.

“Remember, Celine! You’re the Queen Goddess!” Dolton screams, his words cutting through the fog for a fleeting moment before he’s tackled to the ground. His cry of anguish echoes in the room, and I watch helplessly as Wes and Alex pin him, their faces grim.

“Say goodbye,” Richard commands, his tone merciless as he glares down at Dolton. “Or you don’t get to.”

Dolton fights harder, his voice ragged. “I’ll follow and find you, Celine! I swear it!”

“Enough! Lock him in the cells,” Richard orders, his voice cold. “He doesn’t leave until she’s sold and gone!”

Dolton’s screams tear through the room as he’s dragged away, his pleas growing fainter until they disappear entirely. My chest feels like it’s caving in, my heart shattering under the weight of his anguish. I want to protect him, to save him, but I’m powerless.

Richard’s grip tightens on my head, and the burning pain intensifies, spreading like wildfire through my mind. I thrash weakly, desperate to hold on to Dolton’s words. Queen Goddess. I have a wolf. Remember. Fight to feel it.

But the more Richard presses, the more the memories slip away, like grains of sand falling through my fingers. The pain crescendos until everything goes black, and I collapse to the floor in a daze.

“What just happened?” Richard growls, his voice distant and muffled.

I blink up at him, my vision blurry. “Alex and Wes rejected me. Dolton… refused,” I whisper, trying to piece together the fragments of my mind. I frown, struggling to hold on to the faint memory of Dolton’s rejection. “Dolton rejected me,” I say, but the words feel hollow.

“They said goodbye and left,” I murmur, my head hanging. Dolton’s voice lingers at the edges of my consciousness. I’ll find you. Why would he say that? Does he care enough to come for me?

“Get her in a cage,” Richard orders, his voice as cold as steel.

Rough hands grab me, dragging me out of the room. I don’t resist; I don’t have the strength. My eyes flicker to the house as I’m shoved into the cage at the back of a truck. The cold metal bites into my skin, and as the truck pulls away, I catch a glimpse of Dolton.

He’s at a small window in the basement, his hands pounding against the glass as he screams something I can’t hear. His face is a mask of anguish, and my chest tightens. Why is he locked away? Did he defy his father one last time for me?

The house grows smaller in the distance, and I turn my attention to the cage, testing its bars. The metal burns against my palms, forcing me to jerk back with a cry.

“It’s bound,” a voice says, disembodied and cold. “Touch it, and it burns you.”

I glance around, searching for the source, but the cage blocks my view. “Why am I being sold?” I ask, my voice shaking.

“Richard has no use for you. Why wouldn’t he sell you to recoup some of what he wasted?” The words are blunt and cruel, cutting through me like a knife. I don’t respond. There’s nothing to say.