The hunt ends
Elira ran.
Blood in her mouth. Fire in her lungs.
Branches clawed at her skin, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t. Behind her, the howls of the Nightbane wolves shattered the silence, each one closer than the last. She had killed three of them. Wounded more. But she was outnumbered—and finally, out of time.
She broke through the treeline—
And slammed into a wall of muscle and shadow.
A hand closed around her throat. Not tight. Just enough to make her freeze.
“I was told you were fast,” a voice rumbled, deep as thunder. “But not foolish enough to run straight into your death.”
Her heart pounded.
She looked up—into glowing amber eyes.
Xander Nightbane. The Alpha King. Her enemy. Her captor.
“Kill me,” she spat, fire in her gaze. “Or regret letting me breathe.”
His smirk was slow. Dangerous.
“Oh, I won’t kill you, little warrior,” he said, brushing a bloodied strand of hair from her face.
“I’m going to break you”
His smirk was slow. Dangerous.
Elira didn’t flinch. She met his eyes like a flame meeting wind—fierce, untamed, ready to burn. But inside, something cold uncoiled in her stomach. Not fear.
Hate.
Two soldiers appeared from the trees, their steps cautious, eyes downcast in the presence of their king. Xander didn’t even look at them.
“Chain her.”
Elira struggled as iron clamped around her wrists. “Cowards. You think these chains will hold me?
The march back to the fortress was brutal.
Elira’s wounds screamed with every step, her pride even louder. She refused to limp. Refused to fall. The Nightbane wolves flanked her, but none dared come too close. She’d made them bleed. They remembered that.
But nothing—nothing—could prepare her for what waited behind the obsidian gates of the Nightbane stronghold.
The fortress was carved into the mountainside, jagged black stone rising like the ribs of a dead god. Fires burned in braziers made of bone. Shadows moved behind every corner, watching.
Xander’s den. His kingdom. His cage.
And now—her prison.
The dungeon was cold. Not the kind that chilled the skin—but the kind that reached inside you, dug into your bones, and reminded you you were alone.
The cell door clanged shut behind her, the echo cruel and final.
Still chained, Elira sank to her knees—only for a moment.
“Leave us,” Xander ordered the guards.
They obeyed without hesitation.
He stepped into the cell. Closed the distance. Towered.
Her voice was hoarse but steady. “What now? Interrogation? Torture?”
His head tilted slightly. “You think too small.”
“Then what?” she spat.
He knelt before her, so close she could see the flecks of gold in his eyes. “I don’t want your pain, Elira.”
She blinked.
“I want your submission.”
Her laugh was bitter and sharp. “Then you’ll die waiting.”
Xander’s gaze flickered, something dark glinting beneath it. “Maybe. Or maybe you’ll find this cage isn’t the prison you fear.”
She met his stare, unbroken. “I’ve survived worse than you.”
His smile was slow. Sinister. “But I’m not like the others, little wolf. I don’t kill what fascinates me.”
He stood and turned away. Before leaving, he said without looking back—
“Rest. Tomorrow, you’ll learn what it means to belong to the Nightbane.”
