Chapter 2 Trapped
Lena’s POV
The mark on my neck burned, but it wasn’t just pain, it felt like something more.
I stood there, frozen, as the Blackwood wolves watched me like I was nothing. Like I was just a thing their Alpha had claimed. My father was already walking away, not even looking back. My mother, who hadn’t fought for me, didn’t meet my eyes.
They were leaving me here. Leaving me with him.
I wanted to scream, to run, but my legs wouldn’t move. The moment Asher’s teeth had pierced my skin, something inside me changed. My body felt different, like there was a chain I couldn’t see, one that now connected me to him.
I hated it. I hated him.
"Move."
His deep voice came from ahead, cold. He was already walking toward the doors of the packhouse, not even looking at me. Not even acknowledging what he had just done. That he had just marked me.
Like I was nothing.
I swallowed back the lump in my throat and forced my feet to move, following him through the massive doors. The Blackwood packhouse was nothing like home. The air felt heavy, like the walls were soaked in all the bloodshed that had happened here. Pack members stood around, watching me, some whispering, some smirking.
"She’s so small."
"The Alpha must be desperate for a Luna."
"Poor thing. She won’t last a week."
Their words should have made me angry, but anger felt useless here. I kept my head down, biting my lip so hard I tasted blood.
Asher didn’t stop walking. He didn’t introduce me. He didn’t tell me where we were going. He just expected me to follow.
Because that’s all I was to him.
An expectation. A deal. A thing.
I was the sister of the wolf he had killed.
A memory surged forward, hitting me like a knife to the chest.
Two years ago
I could still hear the screams.
I had been in the woods, hiding behind a thick tree, my breath coming in short gasps. The night was too quiet, the kind of silence that came after blood had been spilled.
And then I saw them.
My brother, Nathaniel, stood in the clearing, his face bruised, his hands clenched into fists. He had always been the strongest in our pack, always protecting me, always smiling, even when things were falling apart. But that night, he wasn’t smiling. He was facing him. Asher.
The moonlight made Asher’s dark eyes seem colder, his broad frame towering over Nathaniel. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t even breathing hard.
He was calm.
"You should have surrendered," Asher had said.
Nathaniel spat blood onto the ground. "We don’t bow to murderers. Today I will show you strength."
Asher had moved so fast I almost didn’t see it. One second he was standing there, the next his claws were buried deep in my brother’s chest with his heart in his hand.
Nathaniel gasped, his body jerking, and then he was gone. Just like that. No hesitation. No regret. Just death.
I had clamped my hand over my mouth, biting back the scream that wanted to tear from my throat. Tears blurred my vision as I watched Nathaniel’s body collapse, his lifeless eyes still open.
Asher stood there for a moment, then simply turned away. Like it didn’t mattered. Like Nathaniel was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
And now, I was bound to that same monster.
Back to reality
I didn’t realize I had stopped walking until Asher’s deep voice cut through my thoughts.
"Keep up," he said.
I looked up, my hands trembling at my sides. He was already halfway up the grand staircase as he looked down at me with a frown on his face.
I clenched my jaw and forced myself to move.
The mate bond was already messing with me, trying to pull me toward him, trying to make me feel things I didn’t want to feel. My neck still throbbed where he had bitten me, but worse than the pain was the warmth spreading through my chest.
I hated it. I hated that my body wanted to be near him, even after what he had done.
We reached the second floor, and Asher pushed open a door. The room was large, dimly lit, with a massive bed in the center.
I stiffened.
"You’ll sleep here," he simply said.
"With you?" I gritted my teeth.
"I don’t care where you sleep, Lena. Just don’t leave this room." His expression didn’t change.
And with that, he walked to the far end of the room, unbuttoning his shirt like I wasn’t even standing there.
I felt my nails dig into my palms.
That was it? No explanation? No acknowledgment that he had just claimed me? That I had no choice? At that point I really wanted to laugh at how funny life was. I was damned. Married; Mated to my brother's murder. The moon goddess must have been laughing at me.
This monster killed my brother. He forced this bond on me. And now, he was acting like I wasn’t even worth a second glance.
I wanted to scream.
But I didn't.
Instead, I walked stiffly to the other side of the room, as far from him as possible, and sat on the edge of the bed.
At this point I wanted revenge.
My hands curled into the blanket. This wasn’t my home. This wasn’t my pack. This wasn’t my life.
And no matter what this bond did to me, I would never be his. But I swore I was going to see him lay on that bed. Dead.
I could feel his presence even when I wasn’t looking at him. My body was too aware of him, the way his scent filled the room. I hated it. I hated that I wanted to turn and look at him.
“No.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing the tears back.
I would never forgive him. I would never belong to him. I would make him regret ever marking me.
That was my promise brother.