I ran with everything I had left.
I didn't need to look back to know who chased me.
He had already found me.
Three days hadn't passed, yet he knew the second I had run. He knew I meant to flee all along, or he never intended to keep his word.
He was gaining on me.
I could feel him like a weight behind me. If he had wanted to, he could have already caught me. He was chasing because he wanted to, because it was fun for him. The sick bastard!
The sudden burst of activity was too much for me to take. I cried out in agony, my chest felt like it was splitting in two. I collapsed into the snow, hunched in on myself. The world spun, and I knew I had gone too far.
A cold, wet nose probed the side of my cheek, nuzzling me with a whine. I tried to push him away, but I was in too much pain to care anymore.
"Shh, I got you," a deep, steady voice said, before I was scooped up, wrapped tightly in something warm and soft.
The pain in my chest started to ease, and an unnatural calm spread through me. His forehead was pressed to mine, eyes closed in concentration. My heart sank as I realized he was controlling the gift when I couldn't. The thought was infuriating. How dare it listen to him and not me!
"Let me go," I snarled, headbutting him with all my might.
It was a mistake. Why was his damn head so hard? He held on to me as I thrashed.
"That is enough," he said with calm, cold authority. There was power behind the words, and I was unable to keep fighting even if I found the strength to continue. "What in the hells are you doing? Running around out here, half-naked, in the snow? Why didn't you shift?"
"I don't know how!" I screamed at him. "This is all your fault, you…you… big, stupid, lint ball!"
I wasn't making sense, and I didn't care. All the fury I had held on to was bursting out of me at once.
"I was just fine until you showed up. I was a nobody with no wolf magic, no powers, no...anything! Life was simple, just how I liked it!"
He stared down at me, one brow raised. His usual frown deepened.
"You've never shifted?" he asked, tilting his head at me like a dog.
"No! I have never shifted!" I snarled, struggling in earnest again.
He nodded, apparently finally catching on to what was happening. "I can help you with that."
I froze mid-thrash, staring at him. "Wait, you can?"
"Yes," he said with a shrug, starting to walk back the way we had come.
"How?"
"Well, not now, we'll need to wait til the moon is full and Selunea is the strongest in the sky. Then I will call your wolf out, and it will obey."
"Just like that?" I asked, dumbfounded.
He smirked at me, nuzzling my hair, "Just like that."
I sat in stunned silence for a minute, my brain trying to catch up to what he just said.
Then I realized two things. One, he was naked as a newborn, and two that I was caught. Panic sprang back up, and I twisted suddenly in his arms, catching him off guard. He grabbed the back of my dress and wrapped the coat around me tighter than he swung me up over his shoulder like an inconvenient sack of potatoes.
"I said that is enough," he said firmly. "You will hurt yourself if you keep doing that."
"Aren't you cold?" I scoffed, closing my eyes so I didn't have to stare down at his bare backside. I may have snuck a peek once or twice, unable to help myself.
"A bit, one second," he said, and I could feel his muscles ripple and shift beneath me. Fur coated his body, soft and dark. His tail swished behind him with every step.
My mouth hung open. I had never seen anyone do anything like this. A partial shift? What kind of control did this man have over his own body? I was equal parts fascinated and terrified.
"Impressive," I huffed, trying to hide my amazement.
He didn't even dignify me with a response.
Just kept walking at a slow, steady, annoyingly calm pace—like we had all the time in the world, now that I was caught.
"Now what?" I grumbled, uneasy in the silence that stretched between us.
"Now we go home."
"My home?" I asked hopefully.
"Your new home," he corrected, chuckling.
"You know, kidnapping women isn't a great look for a leader," I huffed, trying to get more comfortable on his shoulder, "Surely you have enough eager women to warm your bed."
"You are my mate. There are no other women," he said simply. "Why do you have other men?"
My mind jumped to Cinder. I wondered if he was alright. "Oh, sure loads. I am super popular. Have to beat them off with a stick."
He snorted, tightening his grip around my waist. "The scared man seemed to be desperate to find you."
My heart sank. Fear coiling in my stomach like a snake, "Did…did you?"
"No, I didn't have time to waste on him," he said with a shrug.
"You aren't going to hurt him?"
"No, why should I? Did he hurt you?"
"No, he would never!" I exclaimed, trying to tell if he was lying or not.
"Then I don't see any reason to hurt him. He did beat up one of my men, but considering the circumstances, I think I can forgive him this once."
I frowned, trying to peer around at his face, but I couldn't. "What about the others, are they alright?"
"They are fine. I will release them once we are back," he said with a sigh.
"What do you mean, release them?"
"I was put in a difficult position. You were in danger. They blocked my path. I didn't want them to hurt my men, nor did I want to hurt them, so I left them under my dominion."
"What?" I asked, frantically, nearly shouting the word.
"Look, they're fine. No harm done."
I opened my mouth to ask more questions, but he beat me to it. "The healing magic, did you not have it before we bonded?"
"I wouldn't say bonded…"
"Answer the question," he sighed in frustration.
"No, I didn't."
"I see, is that why you can't control it now?"
"How the hell would I know?" I grumbled, more irritated by the second.
He just chuckled in response as the sound of rushing water filled my ears.
He moved with the same irritating calm that he had through the trees, not even pausing to consider how we were going to get across.
Wait.
How had he gotten across in the first place?!
My stomach dropped as he backed up, muscles coiling.
"Oh no, you don't!" I hissed, lifting my head enough to see the churning water, "You are not thinking of doing what I think you are, are you?"
He didn't answer.
Which was, frankly, answer enough.
He stepped out onto the snowy bank, tail swishing behind him, muscles tensing beneath me.
"Don't move," he ordered firmly, and I felt the disconcerting feeling of not being able to move an inch.
"Don't you dare!" I shrieked, too late.
He was already sprinting forward at a dizzying speed.
The ground vanished beneath us as he launched forward with all his strength. I screamed—unable to help myself—as icy wind and white water blurred beneath us.
For one horrible moment, we were weightless, airborne, over a death trap.
Then he slammed down on the opposite bank hard enough to knock the wind out of me. He absorbed most of the impact, but it still left me wheezing in pain and fear.
Before I could recover, he swung me off his shoulders and into his arms, looking far too pleased with himself.
"Are you insane?" I gasped, still trying to relearn how to breathe.
"Only a little," he chuckled.
Movement caught his eye, and his wolfish head jerked up, teeth bared, in an instant.
Cinder stalked out of the trees, his eyes locked on me, his lips pulled back in a snarl.
"You little idiot. What in the hell were you thinking?" he snapped.
The Alpha relaxed slightly, but shifted me in his arms so he had one arm free, claws ready.
I glared at Cinder, losing my temper.
"That dying was better than being served up like a sacrifice or you idiots dying for my sake," I snapped, "Thought I'd take my chances."
The Alpha stiffened his eyes, rolling down to me, fury burning in them.
I glared up at him defiantly. Baring my teeth, a snarl pulled from my throat.
He huffed and looked away, looking back at Cinder.
I felt a momentary thrill of victory before I was unceremoniously hefted back over his shoulder, left dangling once more.
Cinder's snarl ripped through the trees.
I twisted, trying to see around the Alpha, but I couldn't see a damned thing at that angle.
"Easy," the Alpha said, shifting subtly, placing himself between Cinder and me.
The air crackled with tension. The power between them crept along my skin, raising the hairs at the back of my neck. Cinder had always carried himself like an Alpha, but I'd never felt it like this. It was heavy and commanding, pushing down on me like a hand between my shoulder blades. I knew if he ever directed that power at me, I wouldn't stand a chance.
The Alpha sighed, sounding almost bored, "Last chance, pup. Step aside."
Cinder charged.
The Alpha barely moved. With one effortless twist, he sent Cinder flying, using his momentum against him. Cinder crashed into the shallow water, snarling as he turned to attack again.
"Be still," the Alpha commanded, power slapping into Cinder like a wall.
He crumbled, his body going limp.
"Cinder!" I cried out, thrashing with all my might, panic ripping through me.
"He is alive. If he wishes to stay that way, he will stay down," the Alpha snarled, starting to walk away.
"Let me check on him! Please, he's hurt."
"He will live. Don't test my patience."
"He isn't getting up, please!" I cried, struggling uselessly.
A sob of frustration clawed through me as Cinder faded from sight, still lying like a broken doll on the sand.
The Alpha didn't answer, ignoring my pleas.
I fought him until my strength was completely gone. My limbs felt like water, and I sagged over his shoulder, unable to lift my head. At some point, the world went dim. It was hard to tell if I had blacked out or simply given up.
The next thing I knew, we were back in the Outskirts.
Whispered voices pulled me from the edge of sleep. I blinked groggily, lifting my head, and froze.
Thousands of people knelt in the streets.
Their eyes were hard, hostile, every glare fixed on the Alpha.
My stomach dropped.
So this was what he meant by leaving them "under his dominion."
Fury boiled up like acid. These were my people. My responsibility. And he'd reduced them to animals bowing on command.
"Let them go," I rasped, my voice sounding strange and raw even to me.
He paused, grip tightening around me, then glanced back as if only now remembering they existed. "Once we are gone."
"Now," I bellowed, the word cracking through the silent street like a whip.
He ignored me, swinging up onto a horse, pulling me into his lap, one arm snug around my waist to keep me from slipping. He didn't look back, didn't acknowledge the kneeling crowd—just rode forward with cold, absolute certainty.
Once we passed through the outer gate, I felt it: a shift, a softening, his power lifting from the people.
"There. It is done," he said, as if that made any of this remotely acceptable.
I trembled—anger, shock, helplessness twisting in the pit of my stomach.
There was nothing I could do—no way to fight him.
I couldn't focus on where he was taking me. The murmurs and stares of the people around us felt like a distant hum.
All I could see was the tower rising ahead of us. Its black spires cut into the sky, gleaming with a cold light, growing like a monster before us with every step.
"I will give you everything you need," he murmured gently. "You have no reason to be afraid."
"I just want to go home," I sobbed, folding forward as the truth crashed over me.
My home was gone.
I had no way of knowing if he would keep his word or leave my people worse than before. I had no way to stop him if he decided they were a threat, no way to protect them.
The faces of everyone I loved flickered through my mind—Mira, my father, my brother, even Cinder.
Would I ever see them again?
Somehow, I didn't think so.
He would keep me locked away like a pet. This monster had never once cared for us. Why would my being his mate matter when we had been treated like less than trash for decades?
Despair warred with determination, and I made a vow to myself as we entered the gates of the Obsidian Tower.
Even if it killed me, I would be free of this man.