ELARA
The chains dragged behind me as I was shoved into the open yard. Morning light bled through the fog, casting pale silver across the fortress walls. This time it wasn't the warriors who waited.
It was the women.
Ironclaw females daughters of warriors, mates of soldiers, wolves who had never tasted chains the way I had. Their eyes glittered with scorn as they surrounded me.
"She reeks of Blackfang," one muttered.
"Her kind killed my brother," another hissed.
"Alpha should have left her to rot."
A bucket of cold water splashed over my head before I could react. The shock stole my breath. Laughter rippled through them as I staggered, my dress clinging to my body, chains biting deeper into raw wrists.
"Clean yourself, slave," a tall one sneered. "Or perhaps you prefer crawling in filth."
My nails dug into my palms, the iron cuffs cutting deeper. The urge to bare my teeth, to let the thing inside me tear free, clawed at my chest.
No.
I heard my mother's voice echo in my mind. Hide her. Bury her. Lock her away.
So I lowered my head, forcing the rage down into the pit of my stomach.
But humiliation burned hotter than fire.
KIERAN
I watched from the shadows of the balcony, unseen.
They thought me absent. They thought I wouldn't notice what my wolves did when their Alpha's eyes weren't on them.
But I noticed everything.
The girl knelt in chains, water dripping from her hair, her shoulders trembling. She should have looked broken. She should have begged.
But she didn't.
Even drenched and humiliated, she kept her spine straight, her chin barely tilted in defiance.
It infuriated me.
And worse it fascinated me.
Kael stood at my side, arms crossed, his gaze sharp. "She will poison us from within," he muttered. "You should put her down before she spreads rot."
Torin, on the other side, was quieter. "Or she'll survive. And if she survives, Alpha… she may prove more useful than you think."
I said nothing. My eyes never left her.
ELARA
By midday, I was left to scrub the floors again, this time under the watch of soldiers who made a sport of tossing their boots into the mud before handing them to me.
Every scrape of the rag was a wound to my pride. My wrists bled freely now, red smearing across the stone. I wanted to scream. I wanted to bite.
Instead, I swallowed the fire and let it simmer.
When the doors slammed open, silence rippled through the hall.
Kieran Ironclaw entered.
The soldiers fell back immediately, their mockery dying on their tongues. His presence filled the room, storm gray eyes sweeping over everything before settling inevitably on me.
My body betrayed me. Heat prickled across my skin where his gaze touched, though his expression remained cold, carved from stone.
He moved closer, each step deliberate.
"Up," he commanded.
I froze, rag in hand. My chains rattled when I obeyed, rising to my feet.
He circled me once, his presence suffocating, then stopped directly in front of me. His hand reached out, fingers brushing the chain that bound my wrists. The touch was nothing and yet everything. A shock lanced through me, sharp and electric, the same as when our eyes had first met.
His voice dropped low, a growl meant only for me.
"You think defiance will keep you alive? You think pride will shield you?"
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to meet his gaze. "I think I've survived worse men than you."
The words slipped before I could stop them.
Gasps rippled through the soldiers.
Kieran's lips curved into something between a smirk and a snarl. His hand shot out, grabbing the chain and yanking me forward until my chest nearly brushed his.
KIERAN
Her breath hitched when I pulled her close. I felt it her defiance, her fury, her fear tangled together like a firestorm.
She should have trembled. She should have cowered.
But she met my eyes instead. Those eyes sharp, burning, refusing to bow.
Every instinct screamed to crush that fire. To bend her until she shattered.
And yet… my grip tightened, not to break her, but to hold her there, caught in the storm between us.
Her scent filled my lungs. Wild. Untamed. Dangerous.
Too dangerous.
ELARA
His grip was unyielding, the chain cutting into my skin as he pulled me closer. His face hovered inches from mine, his breath warm against my cheek.
Heat flooded my chest, unwanted and terrifying.
"This is Ironclaw," he murmured, his voice a razor sliding slow across skin. "Here, you obey. Or you bleed."
I clenched my jaw, refusing to look away. His storm-gray eyes pierced straight through me, pulling at something I couldn't name.
For one reckless heartbeat, I wondered what it would be like if his lips closed the distance.
The thought horrified me.
I jerked my head back, chains rattling. "Then make me bleed."
The soldiers around us stiffened at my defiance.
Kieran's smirk deepened. He released the chain suddenly, and I stumbled back, chest heaving.
"Take her away," he ordered.
But his eyes lingered on me as they dragged me off, and I knew I had not lost that battle.
Nor had I won it.
KIERAN
I should have left her in the dirt. I should have punished her until there was nothing left but obedience.
But when I closed my eyes, all I saw was fire her fire.
And I couldn't decide if I wanted to extinguish it…
…or feed it until it consumed us both.
—End of Chapter 4