Vesta's POVI finished breakfast alone, the taste a distant memory as I returned to the room Lucius confined me in. He was firm about not letting me out of his sight, with multiple omegas flanking me on my way back. I wanted to tell them I wasn't running, but who was I to make them go against their boss' orders?"Anika," I spoke to the omega, "Can we take a walk outside?" I asked gently, even though I knew what the answer would be. They were just omegas, not capable of making decisions like that. Plus, Lucius probably had the whole place surrounded. I would only be putting them in trouble."The alpha's orders. No leaving the room," she replied curtly, and I nodded. There was no need to hate the messenger when I could hate the man himself.I sighed, resigned. "Fine, I'll stay here."Time crawled by, and I decided to take a short nap. There was nothing else for me to do, so I decided to sleep it off. The room's dullness didn't help. It felt like a comfortable dungeon, and it was too sile
I decided to frustrate Lucius with every effort. He'd grow tired of me, and I'd watch out for my escape. I couldn’t give up trying to get out of this hell hole; I couldn’t. For my parents, whose lives he brutally took, and for my own sake, giving up would mean I was a failure. It would mean I had failed them terribly. Since the last time he came and I didn't give him an audience, he hasn’t been in the room since then. My routine still hasn't changed, and Anika and the rest of the omegas still fuss over me. They draw my bath in the morning, I eat by the secluded balcony, and I return to bed, where I do nothing but stare into the ceiling or sleep. I had memorized every stroke of paint on the wall, every cell, and every damn decoration in this bloody room; there was no difference between here and being locked up in a dungeon. Maybe the tiny difference is being waited upon and eating on a balcony with a great view. When I returned from eating an early dinner, I was surprised to find L
Lucius entered the room, his presence heavy with tension. In his hand, he held a delicate necklace, a glimmering chain adorned with a small pendant."What's this?" I asked, eyeing the necklace warily. If he thought he would be able to buy me over with a stupid ass necklace, he has to think again. I wonder if he didn’t have a pack to run with the way he was always here, trying to get me to submit to him. I wish he knew that my mind was made up and there was no going back from this or anything else. "I thought it was yours," he replied, his voice tinged with uncertainty.I took the necklace from him, turning it over in my hands. I wasn’t really a big fan of jewelry, and something about this necklace felt familiar, and it was worn out, too. Like the owner had been wearing it for a while. Recognition dawned on me. "This belonged to Luna," I said slowly, I had a bad feeling about this, how did he get Luna’s necklace? The short time we spent together, she never took it off and I wonder how
ALPHA LUCIUS'S POV I find myself seething with anger, the frustration boiling beneath the surface like molten lava. I shouldn't have let my emotions get the better of me, shouldn't have touched Vesta in anger. And telling her about Luna's death... that was a mistake. There's no way she would believe me if I told her the truth—that Luna poisoned her and they were trying to use her to get to me. The same thing I was trying to avoid. Since I met Vesta, I have been actings in ways that even I can’t explain. I would hate for her to be a weakness and I can’t keep lying to myself that I wasn’t approaching that point already. Locking her in the dungeon as punishment was necessary, but it gnaws at me. She refuses to listen, refuses to yield to me. The way she fights the mate bond, it's exhausting. Not like I ever wanted a mate too, but I couldn’t bear to see her reject me. It was messing with me and I hated it so much. I shouldn’t show emotions, I didn’t get to where I was by having em
I paced the confines of the dungeon, my hunger gnawing at my insides like a ravenous beast. I should have known that Lucius would see this through to the end. He didn’t earn his reputation as a monster for nothing, and I should have reminded myself of that before I reacted. Maybe I shouldn’t have slapped him that hard. It wasn’t my fault that he killed the only person who showed me kindness because she did. He didn’t have to kill her, but he did. To what end? Maybe it was an ego boost for himself, but there’s more to life than killing people for ego boosts and making everyone fear you. I guess the concept of being human was strange to my blind mate. I don’t blame him when all he has known all his life is how to be a fucking monster. Finally, a guard arrived with a food tray, setting it down on the cold stone floor. I scanned the contents hungrily, and my stomach grumbled in response. For a split second, I missed the monotonous life I was living on my secluded floor. I didn’t have
ALPHA LUCIUS’S POV The battle had gone the same way as every other one I have fought in my life. It ended with me clearing them up and reminding them why I was the alpha king and why they couldn’t go against me. It did serve as a temporary distraction from thinking about my unruly mate, but the moment it was over, I found myself going back to thinking about her. It was getting harder to convince myself that I didn’t care about her. Now, I truly believe what they usually say about mate bonds and how they make you feel the worst of things and still crave people no matter what they do to you. I needed more distraction, and I knew exactly how I would get it. Instead of going home, I discharged a few more of my men and left the most trusted ones, and we started our journey to the tiny village up the hills. With a good disguise, most people won’t know it's me. Rose awaited me there, my mistress, a secret I kept well-guarded from prying eyes. She was the only thing that made me sane in
VESTA’S POVThe oppressive heat of my mating cycle intensified, filling every fiber of my being with an unbearable fire. Lila, my wolf, was in a frenzy, her relentless howls echoing through my mind. She hungered for her mate, her desperation driving us both to the brink of madness. I should have known I would enter heat soon with everything between me and Lucius. I had yet to learn how I forgot this stage of the mate bond. Especially when I’ve always heard female wolves rave about it in my pack. Either way, it wasn’t looking good for me.This was the stage when you were utterly useless and all you wanted was to be marked. This was the stage when your body and wolf craved your mate. I retreated deeper into my consciousness, seeking refuge from the madness going on. Lila's instincts surged to the forefront, her primal urges guiding us with an iron grip. She was mainly in charge and I was becoming too weak to be in control. When the guard arrived with my usual meal, I recoiled from hi
I woke up to find myself in a room that smelled unmistakably of Lucius. The darkness enveloped me, pressing in from all sides, and I knew without a doubt that I was in his chambers. But where was he?Groggily, I pushed myself up from the bed, my muscles protesting from the restless night. Lucius was nowhere to be found, and that scared me and relaxed me at the same time. Why the hell did he let me go from the dungeon? I could barely remember the events of the nights before, which alone scared me. Thankfully, my heat period was over, and I wasn’t feeling the urge to jump his bones. Being in a room that smelled like our mate's made Lila feel even more at peace. Feeling a bit better than the previous night, I took a shower. The thought of washing away the lingering traces of captivity and despair filled me with renewed purpose. It was time to approach this from a different perspective, Lucius isn’t a fool. Stepping into the bathroom, I let the warm water cascade over me, washing away t