Seraphine's POV
The moment Avery's footsteps faded, I knew I had to try.
My body screamed in protest as I pushed myself up from the dungeon floor. Days of stale bread and dirty water had left me weak, but desperation gave me strength.
The lock on my cell was old, the metal corroded. I'd noticed it during my endless hours staring at the bars. Maybe, just maybe...
I wrapped my thin shirt around my hands and grabbed the rusty metal. It cut through the fabric, biting into my palms, but I kept working. Blood made my grip slippery, but I didn't stop.
Please, I begged silently. Just this once, let something go my way.
After what felt like hours, I heard it – a soft click. The lock gave way.
My heart hammered as I pushed the cell door open. The hinges creaked, the sound echoing through the empty corridor like a scream.
I froze, waiting for guards to come running. But only silence answered.
Barefoot and bleeding, I crept through the dungeon passages. Every shadow looked like a threat. Every sound made me want to curl up and hide.
But I kept moving. The alternative was Alpha Theodore and certain death.
I made it halfway to the exit before she found me.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Avery's voice cut through the darkness like a blade. I spun around to find her blocking my path, her eyes gleaming with cruel satisfaction.
"Please," I whispered. "I won't cause trouble. I'll just disappear—"
"You stupid little bitch." She grabbed my hair, yanking my head back. "Did you really think we wouldn't notice?"
I tried to pull away, but she was stronger. Her fist connected with my stomach, doubling me over.
"Tiara told me to keep you healthy for the trade," Avery snarled. "But she didn't say anything about keeping you comfortable."
Her next blow caught me in the ribs. Something cracked, sending white-hot pain through my chest. I collapsed, gasping.
"That's for making me chase you down here." She kicked me again, this time in the back. "And that's for being such a pathetic waste of space."
Two warriors appeared behind her, drawn by the noise. They hauled me up by my arms, ignoring my cries of pain.
"Put her in the holding room," Avery ordered. "And this time, use the room without windows. Can't have our precious cargo escaping again."
They dragged me through corridors I'd scrubbed clean for years. Past rooms where I'd served meals and endured humiliation. Everything looked different through the haze of pain and despair.
The holding room was barely larger than a closet. No windows, no furniture, just four walls and a locked door. They threw me inside like garbage and slammed the door shut.
I curled up in the corner, cradling my injured ribs. Every breath sent sharp pains through my chest.
Seina? I called to my wolf.
But she was still hiding deep inside, too hurt to respond. The silence in my head felt like another kind of death.
Hours passed. Maybe days. Without windows, time became meaningless.
When the door finally opened, it wasn't Avery who entered.
It was Nash.
My mate stood in the doorway, his amber eyes cold as winter stone. He'd never looked more handsome – or more distant.
"Get up," he commanded.
I struggled to my feet, my ribs screaming in protest. "Nash, please. We need to talk—"
"There's nothing to discuss." His voice was flat, emotionless. "I came to make this official."
My heart stopped. "What do you mean?"
He stepped closer, and for a moment, I hoped. Maybe seeing me broken and bleeding would awaken something in him. Maybe the mate bond would finally matter.
"I, Alpha Nash Wesley of the Storm Peak Pack," he began formally, "reject you, Seraphine Ida, as my mate and Luna."
The words hit me like physical blows. Each syllable carved itself into my soul, leaving wounds that would never heal.
"Do you accept this rejection?" he continued, as if we were discussing the weather.
I couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe. The bond between us – that golden thread I'd treasured despite everything – began to unravel.
"Nash..." I gasped. "Please don't do this."
"Do you accept?" he repeated impatiently.
The pain was overwhelming. It felt like my chest was being torn open, my heart ripped from my body. Seina howled somewhere deep inside, the sound filled with such anguish it made me want to die.
"I..." I collapsed to my knees, agony washing over me in waves. "I accept."
The bond snapped.
I screamed. The sound tore from my throat without permission, raw and broken. It felt like every cell in my body was being ripped apart and rebuilt wrong.
Nash watched my collapse with complete indifference. He felt nothing. The rejection that was destroying me left him utterly unaffected.
"Good," he said when my screams finally stopped. "Alpha Theodore arrives tomorrow. Try not to embarrass the pack more than you already have."
He left me writhing on the floor, broken beyond repair.
When I woke, pale morning light filtered under the door. My throat was raw from screaming. My ribs throbbed with every breath.
But the worst pain was the emptiness where my mate bond used to be. I felt hollow, like someone had scooped out everything that made me who I was.
The door burst open. Avery stood there with a bucket of water and a bundle of clothes.
"Rise and shine, little breeder," she sang. "Time to make you pretty for your new Alpha."
She hauled me to my feet, ignoring my whimpers of pain. "First, we need to wash the stench of rejection off you."
She dragged me to a small bathroom and turned on the shower. The water was ice cold.
"Strip," she ordered.
With shaking hands, I peeled off my filthy clothes. Avery shoved me under the freezing spray, scrubbing my skin with a rough cloth until it was raw.
"Can't have you looking like the worthless omega you are," she muttered. "Alpha Theodore paid good money for a breeder, not a corpse."
She forced me into an old gray dress that had seen better years. The fabric was rough against my bruised skin, the fit loose and unflattering.
"There," she said, stepping back to admire her work. "Perfect. You look exactly like what you are – a broken thing being passed from one Alpha to another."
My reflection in the cracked mirror confirmed her words. Hollow gray eyes stared back at me from a face too pale and thin. I looked like a ghost of myself.
"Time to go," Avery announced. "Your new master is waiting."
She marched me through the packhouse corridors toward the main hall. Pack members stopped to stare as we passed. Some looked curious, others disgusted. A few seemed almost pitying.
But no one tried to help.
The main hall doors loomed ahead, massive and imposing. Through them waited my fate – marriage to the cursed Alpha who would be my death.
Avery pushed the doors open.
And there he was.
Alpha Theodore Zain stood near the fireplace, his back to us. Even from behind, he was overwhelming – easily over six feet tall with impossibly broad shoulders. His midnight-black hair caught the morning light.
When he turned around, I gasped.
He was terrifyingly beautiful.
Dark eyes like soul-deep pools met mine across the room. His face was carved from marble – sharp cheekbones, a strong jaw, lips that looked like they'd never smiled. Intricate tattoos of vines and thorns wound around his powerful arms, disappearing beneath his black shirt.
He was death incarnate. A predator in human form.
So why was I blushing?