Chapter 7

Three days. No food. Just one cup of water per day, passed silently through a crack in the heavy door.

They thought they could break me.

The room was cold, no larger than a walk-in closet. The stone walls sweated at night, leaking dampness that soaked through my thin dress and clung to my skin. There was no bed. Just the floor. No light except for the small shaft of moonlight that filtered through a barred slit near the ceiling.

But the worst part wasn’t the cold or the hunger. It was knowing why they were doing this. Not to punish me. Not really. To tame me.

I’d heard stories of how cowboys broke wild horses—how they would tie them up, isolate them, starve them, until the animal's spirit bent just enough to obey. That was what this was. Classic dominance training. And I was the beast they wanted to break.

I curled tighter into myself, my stomach a hollow knot of pain. Every bone in my body ached, muscles cramping from lack of food and constant tension. I hadn't shifted in days. My wolf was silent now, buried deep, conserving what little energy we had left. Even she was wary. Starvation did that to you. It made your instincts louder, more primal. Survival above all.

I hated that they had this power over me. I hated even more that they might be my second chance.

The word mate tasted like ash in my mouth. I had already had one. Adrian. My first love. My first heartbreak. Our bond had never completed, never solidified, but it had been enough to tie part of me to him like an old wound that refused to heal. I still felt it sometimes—the tug of that half-formed connection.

And now… this. These two alpha tyrants. Lucian and Kieran.

Fated mates came once in a lifetime, twice if the moon was cruel. But I didn’t want them. I didn’t want this. If they discovered I was their second chance mate, I might never leave the pack again. They would claim me, mark me, bind me in ways I couldn’t escape.

But I was half-wolf. And half-wolves didn’t get choices. We couldn’t reject a mate—even if we wanted to. The bond would settle whether I said yes or not. All it took was contact. A kiss. A single slip of control.

Adrian had kissed me once, years ago. That one kiss had told him everything.

So I couldn’t let that happen again. Not with Lucian. Not with Kieran. Especially not Kieran.

I’d planned to talk to whoever brought the water today. Maybe plead. Maybe manipulate. Maybe bribe. Anything. But when the door creaked open, it wasn’t a low-ranking pack member with their eyes averted.

It was him. Kieran. He stepped inside like he owned the air itself. No hesitation. No announcement. Just raw, quiet confidence. And hunger.

Not the kind I was feeling, the kind that tore at your stomach with sharp claws. No. His was different. Dangerous. Focused.

He shut the door behind him, and the faint light vanished.I pressed my back against the far wall, every nerve in my body on fire. My knees threatened to buckle, but I locked them. I would not crumple in front of him. Not him.

He stood in silence for a beat too long, watching me. I couldn’t read his expression, but I felt the shift in the air. Something dark and curious pulsed from him like heat.

“You look like hell,” he said, voice low and almost amused.

“Good,” I croaked, my voice dry and cracked. “Then maybe you’ll stop looking at me like I’m dinner.”

He took a slow step closer. “Dinner, no. Something else... maybe.”

My whole body tensed. There it was—that spark. The thing I feared most. His interest. I needed to shut it down. Fast.

I darted to the side, aiming to slip past him toward the door. I wasn’t strong enough for a fight, but I was still quick. Or I had been. My body faltered two steps in, and I stumbled against the wall.

Kieran was on me in a flash. Not rough, not violent. Just… inevitable. His hand caught my arm, spun me gently but firmly, and pressed me back against the stone. I struggled, but it was like trying to wrestle with gravity.

“Don’t,” I hissed, though it sounded more like a plea than a command.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he murmured, his mouth far too close to my ear. His voice dropped another octave. “You don’t need to be afraid.”

“I’m not afraid,” I spat, even though my pulse was a screaming contradiction.

“You should be.”

His nose brushed just behind my ear, and my breath hitched involuntarily. Not because of desire—no, hell no—but because of the threat buried in his nearness. One wrong move. One slip of control. If he kissed me, if our wolves recognized each other…

I’d be his. No chains. No choice.

He inhaled deeply, almost like he was testing the air around me. My entire body broke into goosebumps. I twisted away from him, but my legs gave out. The world swam in dizzy circles. My wolf whimpered, barely present. My vision tunneled.

“You’re starving,” he whispered, catching me before I fell. “You’ll kill yourself before you ever submit.”

His arms were strong and warm around me, and I hated how safe they felt. I didn’t want safety from him. I didn’t want anything from him. But my body had its own rules. It craved what it couldn’t have, what it shouldn’t want. I fought it with every last ounce of willpower.

Then everything went black.