Chapter Sixty-Eight - The Binding Ritual

Ella

Fear clawed at my throat as the guards dragged me from my cell into a torch-lit chamber. Strange symbols decorated the stone walls and ceiling, emanating a sinister reddish glow. My sore body aching all over

In the room's centre lay a granite altar etched with more strange runes. Terror turned my blood to ice realising it could only be for dark magic.

My struggles went ignored as the guards dumped me on that altar, tearing away my soiled dress and securing me spread-eagled to the cold stone with black iron shackles.

Utterly exposed and helpless, my pulse hammered wildly in my throat. What fresh hell was this?

The guards wordlessly departed, their task complete. I was left alone, trembling and fighting back tears as the minutes crawled by.

Until heavy footsteps echoed, heralding the approach of my living nightmare. Alpha River strode in, a cruel smile twisting his ruined face when he saw my vulnerable state.

"At last, after long years of waiting, you are mine," he growled in fer