The windows were tall and narrow, shaped like arrow slits in a castle. I pushed one open slowly, quietly. The mountain wind cut through my thin dress and made my skin ripple with goosebumps.
But I didn't care.
Freedom was cold, anyway.
The palace was quiet. Too quiet. As if Lucien had ordered silence just for me. No guards in the hallway. No growls. No whispers.
Just guilt.
And instinct.
I shouldn't have stayed the night.
Shouldn't have let him help me bathe, shouldn't have taken the clothes, the food, the bed. I should have run the moment I could stand.
Now, it was almost dawn again. And I had no idea what day it even was.
I slid through the narrow hallway, my feet silent on the polished stone. My heart thumped. My wolf twitched beneath my skin, uneasy.
Don't go, she whispered.
But I had to.
I couldn't be someone's kept secret. Not again.
---
I reached the back wing — the servant's exit. A long corridor with lower ceilings and torch-lit walls. I could smell bread baking somewhere. Ash. Blood.
Then I heard the voice.
"Trying to escape?"
I froze.
A man stepped from the shadows. Tall, lean, with dark blond hair tied at the back and a long scar down his jaw.
He wasn't human. Not quite wolf either. His energy was sharper. Tighter.
"I—who are you?" I asked.
He grinned. "Call me Cain. Beta of this fortress. Right hand of Lucien Drax."
I stepped back.
"Relax," he said. "He figured you'd try something. Said if you did, to let you."
I narrowed my eyes. "Let me?"
Cain shrugged. "King's orders. You don't trap someone like you. Not unless you want blood."
My wolf stirred at the word — you. Like I was something more than a rejected omega.
"I just want to leave," I muttered.
"Right. And go where? Back to the alpha who locked you in a dungeon? To the rogues who'll gut you for fun? Or to the Council, who'll auction your baby to the highest bidder?"
I said nothing.
Cain leaned closer, his voice lowering.
"You don't know what you carry, do you?"
My heart skipped. "What are you talking about?"
He studied me — not my body, but my scent. My aura. His gaze lingered on my belly.
"That child isn't just Lucien's," he said. "It's royal. It's rare. And it's more powerful than anyone realizes. That's why Damien wanted it bred."
"I didn't ask for this," I whispered.
"No one asks," he said. "But now you're in it."
---
I didn't go back to my room.
I went to the southern balcony — the highest point of the fortress. Wind howled through the stone arches. The valley below was fogged over, endless forests stretching toward the mountains.
I stood there for a long time.
Trying to breathe.
Trying to imagine a future I hadn't asked for.
That's when I felt him.
Lucien.
I didn't turn. I didn't have to. The air changed when he entered, charged and slow.
"You found the exit," he said.
"Cain stopped me."
"No, he didn't," Lucien replied. "You stopped yourself."
I turned to him. "You think this is some noble test? Keep me here until I fall into your arms and forget everything that happened?"
His jaw flexed. "I think you're angry. Scared. And right to be."
"You don't get to decide where I go."
"I'm not stopping you, Celia. I'm asking you to think."
I stepped closer, defiant. "Think about what?"
"That maybe this isn't a cage," he said. "Maybe it's the only safe place left for you."
My breath caught.
Because I could feel it — in the way he looked at me, in the way he didn't reach for me even though I could feel the restraint in every inch of his body.
His control.
His hunger.
He wanted to touch me.
And I hated that I wanted it too.
Our wolves stood at the edge of something neither of us understood. The bond wasn't clear — not like fated mates — but it was something. Something primal.
"You're not my mate," I whispered.
"No," he said. "But your soul doesn't seem to know that."
I closed my eyes.
He stepped closer — not touching, just breathing the same air.
"You don't trust me yet," he said.
"I don't trust anyone."
"Good. That might keep you alive."
---
He turned to leave, then stopped at the doorway.
"Tomorrow, you'll see the Council scroll. They know you're missing. The bounty's out. Damien's hunters are already moving."
I opened my mouth, but no words came.
Lucien looked at me once more. This time, there was no dominance in his stare. Only something that almost looked like sorrow.
"Sleep if you can," he said.
Then he was gone.