Chapter 7
The hall was silent, but the tension was so thick I could taste it on my tongue. Selene Nightveil glided into the room, her presence sharp and precise, like a blade sliding across skin. She didn't even glance at me. She didn't need to. I already knew why she was here.
Lucien's jaw tightened the moment she stepped closer. I could feel the shift in the air—the pack instinctively stiffening around him, drawn to his power, yet wary of hers. He didn't speak, but the weight of his stare pinned her in place.
"I see the fortress has finally accepted its new occupants," Selene said, her voice silk laced with venom. She turned to me, and I felt the ice in her eyes like a physical shove. "And yet…" she paused, letting her gaze linger on me as though measuring every inch of my worth, "…the problem hasn't disappeared."
I clenched my fists. Every nerve in my body screamed defiance. I didn't kneel. I didn't flinch. Selene wanted me afraid, wanted me broken—but I wouldn't give her the satisfaction. Not here. Not ever.
Lucien's hand dropped to his side, fingers brushing the hilt of his dagger. His body was a wall between me and Selene, every muscle coiled like a spring ready to snap. Yet he didn't move, didn't intervene. That made my skin crawl—knowing he wanted to act but was holding back for reasons I couldn't guess.
"Alpha," Selene whispered now, her tone almost sweet, but I caught the poison underneath. "You could have had her… if you'd wanted. Why choose to humiliate instead?"
Lucien didn't answer.
I did. "Because I'm not yours to choose," I said, my voice shaking, though I tried to make it steady. "And I never will be."
Her lips curved into a slow, cruel smile. "Bold words. Very… amusing. For now." She stepped closer, close enough that I could smell the scent of her perfume, heavy, intoxicating, and poisonous. "But bold words mean nothing when you are trapped."
The mark on my wrist itched. I tried to ignore it, but it pulsed, angry and alive. The bond, the connection I had tried to bury under hatred, flared beneath my skin. Lucien stiffened beside me, as if he could feel every pulse, every flicker.
Kael, who had been lurking in the shadows, didn't move. But I felt the tension in his body—protective, dangerous, and too aware. That attention, that closeness, made Lucien's jaw clench harder. I could see the flash of gold in his eyes, the barest flicker of jealousy hiding behind the storm he was already trying to contain.
"I don't care what you think you are," I said to Selene, stepping forward despite the danger, feeling Lucien tighten his grip on the dagger but not stop me. "You don't scare me. And you never will."
For the first time, Selene's smooth confidence faltered, just slightly. Her eyes narrowed. "We'll see about that," she hissed. "The pack doesn't bow to weakness. And mark my words, little flame—you are in the weakest position of all."
Before I could respond, she pivoted sharply and left, her footsteps echoing against the stone floor. The tension didn't leave with her. The fortress felt smaller, heavier, as though her venom had seeped into the walls themselves.
Lucien finally exhaled, and I could feel the bond twisting tighter in response to his anger. "She'll try," he muttered, almost to himself. Then, turning to me, his tone was low, clipped. "And you—don't think I won't protect what's mine, even if you refuse it."
I swallowed hard, my pulse hammering. The heat in his voice, the storm barely contained behind his eyes, made my chest ache with a strange mix of fear and something I didn't want to name. I wanted to retreat. I wanted to argue. I wanted to run. But the fortress didn't allow it. And neither did he.
I stepped back, trying to regain some semblance of control, but the bond hummed beneath my skin. I realized with a jolt that Selene wasn't the only danger anymore. The danger was here, coiled tightly around my heart—and it was Lucien himself.
And just as I thought the tension might ease, the doors at the end of the hall slammed open. A gust of cold air blew in, carrying a message I didn't want to hear. Kael's eyes widened, and even Lucien's body tensed, the dagger lifting automatically.
A voice, sharp, cold, and commanding, cut through the air. "Alpha Blackfang… the border wolves are moving. They've sensed weakness. They're coming."
The fortress shifted beneath my feet, as though the walls themselves were bracing for impact.
Lucien's eyes, gold and stormy, locked onto mine. His hand hovered over me, protective, possessive, unyielding. The bond screamed between us, demanding, warning, igniting a fire neither of us could control.
And in that instant, I realized something terrifying. The war wasn't coming. It was already here.
I swallowed, fear and adrenaline battling in my veins. "We can't—"
Lucien cut me off with a single word, low, lethal: "Then we fight."
The fortress groaned around us, shadows lengthened unnaturally, and I knew… nothing inside these walls—or outside—would ever be the same again.
And for the first time, I understood the truth: being beside the Beast Alpha didn't mean safety. It meant surviving the storm he carried—and hoping I wasn't crushed beneath it.