Chapter 3: I'm His Fourth Wife?
Lena’s POV
I was up early, barely able to sleep after everything that had happened last night. The packhouse felt different in the daylight, but not in a good way. It felt like I was being isolated.
After breakfast I decided to take a walk.
Eyes followed me as I walked through the corridor, but it wasn’t curiosity. It was pity.
“She’s the fourth one.” Some of the she-wolves didn’t even bother lowering their voices.
“She won’t last.”
“I give her a month before she’s dead too.”
The words slammed into me.
Fourth? I wasn’t Asher’s first wife, was Am I even his fated mate?
I felt something I never felt before. Something new, jealousy.
I stopped walking, my fingers tightening into fists. I shouldn’t have listened. I should have kept moving. But I stood there, heart pounding, as the two she-wolves near the staircase kept talking.
“The first one lasted the longest, but even she couldn’t survive him.”
“The second one tried to run. We all know how that ended.”
The other girl shuddered. “They found pieces of her in the woods.” I couldn't breathe and my stomach twisted.
“And the third?”
“Drowned in the river. Whether she jumped or was pushed, no one knows.”
There was a pause, then one of them sighed.
“Poor thing. This one’s pretty, but she won’t make it.”
The world felt too small all of a sudden. The walls were closing in, my breath coming too fast. I turned around, my legs became shaky as I walked away before they could see me listening.
Asher had been married before. Three times and all of them were dead.
My whole body felt cold. Was this why my father had given me away so easily? Because he knew I wouldn’t survive?
Because I was expendable? I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t stay here and wait for death.
I wanted revenge but I was too scared. I have never been brave, I have always been the scared little bunny.
My feet were moving before I had fully decided to run. My heart pounded against my chest as I turned to a corner and found an exit at the side of the packhouse. No one was watching. No one was stopping me. It felt too easy but who cares?
The door swung open and I ran.
The cold air hit my skin, but I didn’t stop. My body burned, my legs screamed, but I had to get away.
I could still hear their words ringing in my head. “She won’t last.”
“She won’t make it.”
They were wrong. I wasn’t going to wait to become another body in the river.
I made it past the training grounds, past the edge of the trees. “Lena, we should go back.” Lora, my wolf said.
I could see her pace back and forth in the back of my head.
“We need to leave, Lora, we can not stay here.” I muttered not stopping.
I could feel it. Lora was restless inside me, “The bond is stretching, Asher must have felt it by now.” She said.
“I am almost there, Lora, we are almost free.” Then it happened.
A searing pain shot through my chest, so sharp I crashed to the ground.
I gasped clutching at my ribs, but it wasn’t something I could touch. It was inside me, twisting, punishing me. I couldn’t breathe.
It felt like I was being burned alive from the inside out.
No. No, no, no…
The mate bond.
Some wolves could go miles from their mate and feel nothing. Others, the ones with stronger bonds, couldn’t go more than a few miles without being dragged back by pain or die if they are too strong willed.
I was one of the second. “I guess my hatred made the bond even stronger.” I laughed.
Tears filled my eyes as my body trembled violently. My fingers clawed at the dirt, trying to pull myself forward, but the more I fought it, the worse agony became.
I barely registered the sound of footsteps behind me and then a pair of strong hands gripped my arms, lifting me like I weighed nothing. The warmth of his skin made me shudder. “Asher,” I gasped, my voice was weak.
He didn’t say anything, but his hands were tight on me, almost like he was afraid I’d vanish.
His scent surrounded me, filling my lungs, and just like that the pain started to fade.
I hated it. I hated how easily he could take away my suffering.
He pulled me against him, my back against his chest, his breath fanning against my ear.
“You stupid, stupid girl.” His voice was hoarse, he had labored breath. He was angry.
Did he run here?
“Do you know what would have happened if I hadn’t found you in time?”
He asked with his arms tightened around me, his fingers digging into my waist.
“I would have died? Like the others?” I forced out those words.
His whole body tensed behind me.
For the first time, I saw him hesitate. I saw an emotion.
A laugh escaped me. “That’s right, isn’t it? I’m just the next in line. The fourth wife. The next corpse to be buried.”
“Asher.”
He turned me around so fast I barely had time to react. His eyes were darker, wilder than before.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“Then tell me I’m wrong.”
I glared at him, my chest rising and falling rapidly, but he didn’t. Of course he couldn't.
His jaw clenched, his grip still firm on me, but he didn’t deny it.
“Let me go.”
I shoved at his chest, but he didn’t budge.
His fingers curled deeper into my waist.
“Never.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but before I could, he crushed his lips against mine.
It wasn’t soft. It was possessive.
Heat exploded through me, knocking the breath from my lungs. The bond flared to life, pulling me deeper, making me want to melt into him even when I knew I shouldn’t.
I hated him. I despised him.
But my body didn’t care.
My hands fisted in his shirt and before I knew it, I was kissing him back.
Something growled deep in his chest, his hands lifting me off the ground, pressing me against him like he couldn’t stand the space between us.
We were fire and ice, burning and freezing at the same time.
He carried me, moving fast, and before I knew it, we were back in the room.
He kicked the door shut behind him, his lips never leaving mine. His hands roamed my body, rough, desperate, like he needed me as much as I needed air.
I didn’t fight him.
I should have. But the moment his fingers brushed the hem of my top, I arched into him, craving more.
I barely noticed when he ripped it over my head, his lips trailing down my jaw, my neck… And then, just as suddenly as it started he stopped.
His whole body went rigid, his breath harsh. I blinked up at him, dazed. “Asher…”
Before I could go any further he had already pulled away. His hands dropped from my skin, his face the usual, unreadable. And then without a word he turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him.
I sat there, my chest rising and falling rapidly, my lips still tingling from his kiss.
There and then I realized something horrifying. I wanted more.
Even though I hated him, even though I swore I would never belong to him… I wanted more.
And that terrified me more than anything else.
Was I finally lost?