~LEILANI RAVENWOOD~

I had lost track of time.

The days bled into one another until they became indistinguishable. The only constants were the pain, the hunger, and the dark.

My arms had been stretched above my head for so long that I could no longer tell where the ache ended and my body began. The chains held me suspended just enough that my toes barely grazed the cold stone floor, forcing my weight upward into my shoulders in a slow, relentless torment that never fully peaked and never fully stopped. It was the kind of pain designed not to break you quickly but to dismantle you gradually. Piece by piece. Hour by hour.

I had stopped fighting the chains on the third day.

Or the fourth. I wasn't sure anymore.

Sebastian Kol had kept his word. He had come for me exactly as he promised, and when his hand made contact with my skin at the end of the chase, the force of it had detonated through me like something divine and terrible at once. The darkness that followed was immediate and absolute.

When I woke, there was a priest.

An old man with silver etched into his skin and eyes that held too much knowledge for any living thing to carry comfortably. He had circled me, chanting in a language that made my wolf thrash in blind panic behind my ribs. Then he drove a dagger into my back, directly into the mark, and drew blood from it with a deliberateness that told me he had done this before.

The pain had been extraordinary.

When I woke the second time, I was still here.

Hanging. Chained. Alone.

I had tried to reach my wolf every hour since. Desperate, clawing attempts to find the part of me that could shift, that could fight, that could do something other than hang here and wait.

Every time, nothing.

The chains were enchanted. I understood that eventually. It had runes etched into the steel that shimmered faintly when I strained against them. Suppressing not just my strength but my wolf herself, muffling her until she was nothing but a distant and helpless echo somewhere behind my ribs.

I was entirely, completely, devastatingly alone in my own body.

The lock rattled.

My head snapped up, and I heard two sets of footsteps. One female. One male.

The male's scent reached me before his face did and my stomach turned immediately. I had grown up reading scent the way others read expressions. Alpha, beta, omega, the particular signature of each rank as distinct as a fingerprint. But his was wrong. His was twisted. Like power layered over something rotten underneath, like fruit that had been injected with poison and left to ripen.

I had overhead my father's council talking about such creatures which Sebastian had corrupted with his blood. No doubt these two were part of them.

"It's been days." The female said as they came into my view, her voice without warmth. "And you reek like a corpse. Time for your wash."

I didn't have time to respond.

Her fist closed in the fabric at my shoulder and pulled. The dress tore away in one brutal motion, the sound of it obscenely loud in the silence, and cold air hit every inch of me at once. I gasped. Tried to twist away. The chains stopped me immediately, yanking my arms taut above my head and holding me exactly where I was.

Embarrassment clouded me as I stood before them naked. Naked. Chained, shaking and weK. Unable to cover a single inch of myself.

The cold water came next without warning. A full bucket, soapy and ice cold, slamming into my body with enough force to steal every breath from my lungs. I cried out involuntarily, muscles seizing, the shock of it cutting through even the numbness that days of captivity had built.

She scrubbed without mercy or acknowledgment of my sounds.

When she finished I hung there. Soaked. Shaking. Stripped of the last thing that had stood between me and complete exposure.

That was when I felt the male's eyes.

I lifted my head slowly.

He was staring.

His pupils had blown wide, the dark bleeding outward until almost no iris remained, and beneath the skin of his neck and forearms dark veins were spreading like cracks appearing in dry earth. His lips had parted slightly. His breathing had also changed.

"Your scent." The word came out hoarse. Reverent almost. Hungry in a way that had nothing resembling admiration in it. He took one step closer. Then another. "It's different. It's-"

His hand reached for me.

His fingers had barely grazed my skin before my knee found his stomach.

The impact drove the air from him in a sharp grunt. He staggered backward, snarling, and the woman swung the iron bowl at my head. I twisted as far as the chains allowed, felt it graze my temple, and kicked out at hard, using every bit of strength that remained. She met the ground and when she looked back at me, all I could see was death staring at me through the anger in her eyes. They were definitely going to kill me at that point.

But an applause silenced everything.

~LEILANI RAVENWOOD~

Each clap deliberate and unhurried, the sound of someone who had been watching long enough to form an opinion.

I looked up.

Sebastian Kol stood in the doorway.

He was dressed differently from the night in the hall. The ancient, cloaked figure who had dissolved into shadows had been replaced by something that felt almost more dangerous in its modernity. A black suit, cut precisely to the lines of his body. No excess. No ornament. Just the quiet authority of someone who had never needed either.

Power moved with him the way weather moves. Not something he projected. Something he simply was.

His eyes found mine immediately.

And stayed.

I was still naked. Still hanging. Still dripping. Every inch of me exposed to his assessment and entirely unable to do anything about it.

His gaze moved over me once. Slow. Thorough. Then returned to my face with an expression that revealed absolutely nothing. No hunger. No disgust. No satisfaction. He looked at me the way a person looks at something they already own and are simply taking inventory of.

That blankness was worse than anything else he could have shown me.

"Impressive." The word arrived mildly, like a man commenting on the weather. His eyes moved briefly to the two wolves now scrambling upright at his side. "It's rare to see someone knock down my executive. You managed two."

"You." The word tore out of me.

He stepped inside.

I lunged.

The chains caught me immediately, snapping taut and wrenching my arms back with a force that dragged a cry from my throat before I could stop it. Pain pulsed through both shoulders as I swung forward and back, helpless, humiliated and furious.

He watched it happen without moving.

When I stopped swinging he was closer. I hadn't seen him move.

"Enchanted steel." He said. Not explaining. Simply identifying. "The daughters of Ashira forged them at my request." His eyes moved to the runes on the chains with something that might have been appreciation. "There isn't a wolf alive who can break them."

"I'll find a way." My voice shook with rage.

He looked at me for a long moment.

"No." He said simply. "You won't."

He began to circle me. Slowly. "I acquired these chains for myself." He said, his voice unhurried, conversational almost. "For the midnight hours when my beast consumes what little control I maintain." He stopped behind me. I couldn't see him. Could only feel the warmth of him against my bare skin. "But they were useless. My beast, Shael, always managed to break the walls he was chained to apart."

A pause.

"But they hold you beautifully."

My jaw locked. He was in front of me now, his lips curved in a slight smile and it angered me.

"Where is my father?" I demanded. My voice cracked on the last word. "What have you done to pack?"

"I kept my promise." He said. Each word placed with the same careful indifference. "Your father mourns and your friends are guests of mine. As is your betrothed."

Rowan.

The name hit me like cold water.

"Please." The word tore out of me before I could decide whether to say it. "Please, they have nothing to do with this. Let them go. I'm the one you want."

Something shifted in his expression then.

It wasn't softness. It was something sharper than softness. Something that recognised the desperation in my voice and noted it the way a collector notes something of value.

He stepped closer.

Close enough now that I could feel the heat radiating off him despite the cold. My body responded before I could stop it, the mate bond stirring traitorously, warmth coiling through places that had no business warming in the presence of the man responsible for everything that I'd been through in the past few days.

I hated myself for it with every cell I possessed.

"You are a problem." He said quietly. His eyes moved over my face with that same unreadable intensity. "A complication I did not ask for and cannot afford."

His hand lifted.

I went rigid.

His fingers hovered at my jaw. Not touching. Close enough that my skin reacted as though he had, prickling with awareness that had no right to be there.

"Touching you costs me." He said. Something moved behind his eyes. Gone before I could name it. "The bond the goddess placed between us ensures that every point of contact is its own particular punishment." His jaw ticked. "And still."

He let the word sit there.

"And still." He repeated, quieter.

His fingers grazed my jaw. The contact lasted less than a second. In that second the bond detonated between us, a violent electric surge that moved through both of us simultaneously, and he pulled back immediately, something flickering in his expression that he shut down before it became readable.

He turned away from me.

"Your blood turns out to be the only thing that keeps my beast from consuming me at midnight." He said, his back to me now, his voice returning to that particular flatness that I was beginning to understand was not disinterest but control. "My priest will continue drawing it. Regularly. Without your cooperation if necessary."

He stopped at the doorway.

Didn't turn around.

"You are mine now." The words arrived quietly. The quietest thing he had said. "Pray your blood is enough." He continued. "It would be a shame to discover it isn't."

The door closed, the lock turned, and I remained hung in the dark. I tried to hold onto fury instead of fear, humiliation and weakness.

~LEILANI RAVENWOOD~

There was evil in my world.

Men and wolves had always found reasons to fight, spill blood and to claim power over the other. I had grown up knowing violence wore many faces, fangs, claws and crowns. But now, I had come to understand that there was a greater evil. One that slept dormant for decades and awakened only to tear the world apart piece by piece. To tear my world apart, piece by piece.

And the name of this evil of Sebastian Kol.

As promised, he showed me no mercy. I remained hung with the chains for what felt like an eternity, my feet barely grazing the cold stone floor. I was suspended like meat. No food. No water. No one to answer my cries. Thirst burned at my throat until swallowing felt like tearing flesh. The pain felt as though I was being flayed from the inside, as if something was slowly peeling my soul away from my body.

Not even prisoners were treated like this in the western district tribe.

I had begun to wish for death.

The thought came quietly at first, then louder, more persistent. Death would be mercy. Death would be rest. Death would free me from the beast who had claimed me as his spoil. But even that escape was denied to me.

The enchanted chains suppressed my wolf, muffled her voice until she was nothing but a distant echo. I could not shift. I could not heal properly. I could not even muster the strength to slam my head against the wall hard enough to end it.

I was helpless.

That was the cruelest part.

When the iron lock finally rattled, the sound scraped against my nerves like a blade. Footsteps followed. Measured and unhurried. I couldn't tell if hope or dread settled heavier in my chest.

It was the same woman. The one who had come before with the male executive. The one who I fought with.

Her mouth curled up in a smirk when she reached my front, slow and deliberate, like she was savoring the sight.

Another woman stood beside her this time. Broader, stronger, and her presence felt wrong too but it differed from the male. Her scent wasn't as tainted as his was.

"Well," the first woman drawled, circling me. "Look at you."

Her fingers brushed my arm, not gentle, not curious. Mocking. "The great Ravenwood heir. Reduced to a hanging carcass."

I swallowed, my throat raw. My lips cracked when I tried to speak, but no sound came.

She laughed softly. "What's wrong? No fight left in you?"

The second woman didn't wait.

Her fist slammed into my stomach with brutal force.

Pain detonated inside me. I choked, coughing violently as something warm filled my mouth. Blood spilled down my chin, splattering onto the floor beneath me. My vision flashed white, then black, and I sagged against the chains.

Fight back.

The thought screamed inside my head, but my body didn't respond.

Panic surged, hot and suffocating. I tried to draw my knee up, tried to swing, tried anything. Nothing worked. My limbs felt like they no longer belonged to me.

I forced my mouth open. "S-stop... please..."

The first woman clicked her tongue. "Still begging."

The second woman stepped closer, holding a syringe filled with clear liquid. "Hold her still."

I thrashed weakly as the needle was plunged into my shoulder. Fire raced through my veins, followed by a cold that spread too fast, too deep. My muscles locked instantly, every nerve screaming as my body went rigid.

I couldn't move.

Not my arms. Not my legs. Not even my fingers.

The chains loosened.

The sudden release sent a jolt of relief through my shoulders as my arms fell limply to my sides. However, I collapsed instead, my body feeling useless and paralyzed. My face hit the stone floor, cheek scraping painfully.

Tears blurred my vision.

"Please," I whispered, my voice slurred. "I need to speak to your master."

The woman laughed. "The only thing you'll be speaking to is water."

Hands grabbed my hair, forcing my head up and a huge bowl was shoved underneath me. Within mere seconds, my face was shoved into the massive bowl filled with cold water. Panic exploded instantly within me. I tried to scream, but the water rushed into my mouth, my nose and my ears. It burned. It invaded every space, stealing my breath.

I thrashed, but my body wouldn't obey.

I was drowning.

My chest convulsed violently. My wolf howled weakly, trapped and suffocating alongside me.

Darkness began to creep in heavily and my body was mere seconds away from giving up. My struggles slowed as I began to accept my fate. This was the death I had wished for. Finally, I was going to get it.

"She's gone silent." I heard the second woman mutter. "If she dies, the High King will be furious."

My head was yanked up violently, water fallinh from my hair and I was thrown against the wall in one push. Pain flared through my spine, but air rushed into my lungs in a desperate gasp.

I coughed uncontrollably, dragging in breath after breath like it might be taken again at any moment.

My father's council was right. Those that tasted Sebastian's blood couldn't be sated. They were far stronger, ferocious and mad. My experience with this two female and the other male had proven that correct.

I had to do something.

I lifted my head with what little strength I had left. Blood and water dripped from my chin as I met their gazes.

"Tell your master," I rasped, my voice barely holding together, "that I have something he desires."

Both women paused.

I swallowed painfully. "A way to tame the wildlings he's created. The ones he can't control." I finished, referring to their kind.

Silence stretched thick between us.

I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth. The bargain I was offering. The risk I was taking. But my pack was ruined. My friends were captives. And a lifetime of chains awaited me if I did nothing.

Rashidat's voice echoed in my mind, soft and grave.

I could reverse what Sebastian had corrupted. I could undo him.

He was building an army of tainted wolves corrupted by his blood, but they appeared to be out of control. Perharps that was an inconvenience to him.

And if my blood could calm his monster... maybe it could do the same to them.

The women narrowed their eyes, a chuckle escaping their lips. "It appears your time here has driven you mad if you believe that you're in any position to bargain with the High King. You don't set the rules, he does. And just in case you haven't noticed, there is nothing you can offer him to buy your freedom. He owns you now. Everything you have belongs to him, including your precious blood and he will do with it as he pleases." One said to me with a cruel sort of delight.