Shackles of Fire

Amara’s POV

Elias’ lips were hot, the crash of them blazing through every nerve ending in my body. For a split second I forgot where I was. I forgot who I was, the shame, the agony, the betrayal.

And then reality hit me like a thunderclap.

I pushed him away with what little strength I had left.

His emerald eyes grew dark, his breath coming hard. He staggered back, as if he were not only responding to my push but battling something else altogether.

“What the hell, Elias?” His mother asked. “You didn’t just kiss this dumb piece of…”

“Get out of here, mom,” he said.

“Elias…” she argued.

“Now!” He yelled.

She stared angrily at me and then at her son, panting, and exited the room.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, sick twisting in me. How dare he?

“Never touch me again,” I hissed, poison dripping from my every word.

Elias tightened his jaw, and I glanced at his tightened fists. For a heartbeat, he seemed as lost as I was.

He then spun on his heel and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

I leaned against the floor, gasping, my body trembling.

The mate bond was a curse. A cruel, twisted game the Moon Goddess played with idiots like me.

But Elias had rejected me. So why the hell did he kiss me, then?

I wished he would have killed me instead and saved me the torment that has lasted as long as his torment and pallor.

That night, not much sleep was to be had.

I curled up on the cold stone floor, hugging my arms around my belly. Every muscle in my body ached from protein loss from the beatings, the lack of food, the sheer exhaustion pulling me lower.

But it was not only my body that felt battered; my soul did as well.

And then…the dream came.

I found myself in a sprawling, infinite forest. The trees loomed tall and twisted, dying branches reaching into the sky and choking the moonlight. A thick mist swept between the trunks, swirling around my feet as if it had a mind of its own.

A whisper went out into the air. “Amara.”

I wheeled quickly, my heart racing.

A very foggy distance, where you could just see a woman standing. Her golden eyes shone in the dark, long black hair trailing behind her like it was blown by a phantom wind.

I took a step closer. “Who are you?”

The woman tilted her head and watched me. Her lips sounded, and the words were in a language I did not understand.

The mist thickened, crawling up my legs as if trying to pull me down.

I attempted to move but my feet refused to listen.

The woman’s voice became frantic, her golden eyes glowing more intensely. “He is breaking. You must remember. Before it’s too late.”

And then, the forest burst into flames.

I woke up choking, my body soaked in sweat, my heart crashing against the ribs.

The dream was still smouldering behind my eyelids.

And I didn’t know what it meant.

Yeah, of course, the next morning I woke up on the bed.

The guard remained at the door, eyeing me with thinly veiled suspicion.”

“Why am I here?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

The guard didn’t answer.

But I didn’t need him to.

Elias did this.

My hands curled into fists. Did he feel guilty? Was he going to regret how he’d let his men beat me? Did he feel tormented by the mate bond as I was?

I hated him for this.

The door opened and my stomach knotted as I saw her. It was Luna Ingrid. I knew she would not let yesterday slide.

She walked into the room the way a queen strides through her court; they were finely tuned eyes that ran over me like I was mud under her heel.

“You’re getting special treatment,” she said dryly. “But it won’t last.”

I didn’t reply.

She came closer, bending down, her voice lowered to a whisper.

“You are poison, Amara. I resent the fact that my son is still attached to a worthless creature like you.”

There was such cold malice in her tone that it made my blood run cold.

Before I could even react, the door opened again.

Lyra Sinclair walked inside, carrying a tray of food, her face unreadable.

Luna Ingrid took a long look at her then swept out of the room without saying another word.

Lyra placed the tray down and looked at me. “Eat quickly. They’ll come for you soon.”

I hesitated. “Why are you helping me?”

Lyra did not respond right away. She reached for my hands and held it. I recalled the vial she had gifted me and began to seek it out on my body. She smiled and dipped her hand into her jean pocket.

“You should drink it now. It will help heal you faster. I picked it up when I found you unconscious,” she whispered.

“So you were the one who brought me in?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she answered.

She glanced over at the door and back at me. “I have to go. I’ll be back,” she said, and before I had a chance to ask her about the uncle, she vanished.

I kept looking at the vial, I pressed my fingers tightly around it. I glanced at it again and opened it, gulping down the content whole.

What the hell was happening?

There was no time for that to sink in.

********

That night, I awoke to the sensation of someone in the room.

I sat up, listening. Then a blade to my throat.

A dark figure stood over me with his face hidden in the dark.

I was barely able to react before he struck.

I tumbled from the bed, the blade scoring my arm instead of my neck. The pain flared up, but I disregarded it.

The assassin moved fast.

I took hold of the edge of the washbasin and threw it at them. He avoided it easily, lunged again.

I steeled myself for the blow, but it never came. Suddenly the door burst open and a loud roar followed. I closed my eyes and when I opened my eyes I saw it, blood, a lot of it.

The assassin laid dead on the floor.

My breathing hitched at the sight of Elias standing there, his chest rising and falling from exertion, his emerald eyes shining, but not only with the light of his wolf.

Elias looked at me, his face contorted in a manner that sent a chill down my spine.

For the first time since all of this started…

I didn’t know if he had rescued me.

Or if I was going to be his next victim.

Elias growled, his body shaking and shining with an unnatural light. He looked at me, for a moment, and it scared me. He looked hungry.

I trembled as he moved forward in my direction.