“Please, help me! I can’t do this anymore! I'll take it back!” I screamed at the shaman.
They locked me inside this cursed castle—a week of solitary confinement to “calm the beast” with my presence.
“I won’t tell anyone about this! Just please!”
The shaman turned to me.
“There’s no turning back. Your lives are bound now. You’re married to him.”
Before I could argue, the man who had escorted her shifted his form, his body melting into the shadows as they both disappeared, leaving me alone.
I turned to the man lying unconscious on the cold stone floor—a beast in a man’s skin. My heart clenched with regret. I should have never accepted the offer. I knew death awaited me on my birthday, but at least it would’ve been a clean death, not something horrifying like this.
If I died here, no one would even know. My body would likely be torn apart and scattered across this tower.
I’d learned something in my time here.
The women who had come before me didn’t disobey the rules because they lacked willpower. They obeyed because they couldn’t resist. Alaric was a predator designed to seduce his prey. The bond between us made me crave him in ways I didn’t want to admit.
I shuddered painfully. I wanted him to touch me, to hold me, and that thought terrified me.
Now, on my sixth day in the tower, I woke drenched in sweat, my mind fogged with the remnants of a vivid dream. He had been there, faceless but relentless, his touch burning into my skin. His whispers echoed in my mind.
“Come to me, mate,” his deep voice purred. “Wake me up. You know you want to.”
“No,” I muttered.
I wasn’t his. I couldn’t be.
I thought of August, the man I had once wanted to marry, and Aidan, the one I had foolishly loved. Either of them would have been better than this. But those feelings were long buried beneath betrayal and pain.
“Those names again.” His voice sharpened in my mind. “I will kill them the moment I awaken.”
A sharp pain stabbed through my skull, and I felt warm blood trickle from my nose. His anger fed my suffering, his hunger consuming me from the inside out.
“But you can’t disobey the rules, Rain,” I whispered to myself.
“Yes, you can,” he countered. “Don’t fight it. We’ll both enjoy this.”
I pressed myself into the corner of the room, trying to block him out. But his voice was relentless.
“Those people you loved—they abandoned you. But I won’t. I’ll keep you safe, mate.”
His words pierced through me, stirring memories I had tried to bury.
I thought of Janna, her bloodied body standing on the cliff edge. She had attacked me that day, and when I fought back, she slipped and nearly fell. Aidan and August had seen the scene, but they believed her over me. They believed I had tried to kill her.
They didn’t listen when I tried to explain.
Their betrayal had driven me into the delta’s trap. That man offered me an escape from their wrath, but it came with a price I was now paying with my very soul.
Tears streamed down my face. I’d been hunted, cast out, and left to fend for myself. And now, I’m married to a monster.
“Feel this, mate,” the beast whispered.
A searing heat erupted in my chest, spreading through my body like wildfire. I gasped, clutching at my throat as the pain overwhelmed me.
I stumbled through the room, desperate for water, for anything to soothe the fire burning inside me. My vision blurred, and I tripped, falling against something solid and warm.
My hands trembled as I felt the contours of a muscular chest.
“No,” I whispered, dread pooling in my stomach.
Laughter rumbled in my mind, turning into a deep, guttural growl that filled the room. I forced my eyes open and froze.
Before me stood the beast. His fangs glistened, his eyes glowing with hues of red and gold. His gaze pinned me in place, predatory and hungry.
“Mate…”
My heart pounded as I realized what I had done. I had touched him. I had broken the one rule I was supposed to follow. I had awakened him.
“Now,” he growled, a wicked smile spreading across his face, “let’s take care of our needs.”
The walls shuddered as his laughter echoed through the tower, but the sound was interrupted by two powerful growls from the staircase.
The beast stepped in front of me, shielding me as two figures emerged from the shadows. My breath caught in my throat.
Aidan and August.
The brothers shifted back into human form, their golden eyes blazing with fury.
“She’s ours,” they snarled in unison.
I staggered back, my mind reeling. How could they claim me after everything they’d done—after they had hunted me, imprisoned me, and left me to rot?
The beast’s laughter thundered again.
“She is my mate. You cannot take her from me.”
“Let her choose,” August snapped. “She’ll come to us. She belongs with us.”
The beast turned to me, his gaze challenging. “Is that true?”
I hesitated, my heart caught between fear and despair. Despite everything, I couldn’t deny the small, fragile hope that they could still save me.
“Y-yes,” I whispered,
“Then let me kill you before I hand you to them,” he snarled, his fangs bared as he lunged.
