The voice came from behind them. Deep and cold and unmistakable.
The mate bond thrummed. He’d been hiding it. Keeping his presence muted so I wouldn’t feel him approach. But now I could feel everything. His rage was a living thing. Hot and violent and sharp.
I wondered if that rage was for me. Or for them.
The three omegas spun around. Their faces went pale. They dropped into bows so fast I heard one of their knees crack against the stone.
“Alpha Cian,” the first one stammered. “We apologize. She was just making our job very hard and we – “
“Silence.”
They shut up immediately.
Cian stepped into view. I could see him properly now. He looked intimidating. Dangerous. The way he had at the wedding and shortly after he found out that I was not Hazel. All that sharp edge and barely contained fury. I found I liked it better when he was poisoned. When he’d looked vulnerable and mortal and not like something that could tear me apart without breaking a sweat.
His eyes swept over them. Over the spilled food on the floor. Over me now pressed against the back wall of my cell.
“I understand you think you’re doing this on my behalf,” he said. His voice was quiet. That made it worse somehow. “But the next time any of you do this again, there will be blood. Lots of it.”
“We’re sorry, Alpha,” they whispered in unison.
“Scram.”
They ran. I heard their footsteps echoing back up the stairs. Fast and frantic and scared.
Then it was just him and me. And the bond between us that I couldn’t escape no matter how hard I tried.
He turned to look at me. Really look at me. His gaze moved over my face. My dirty clothes. The bruises on my wrists where the silver cuffs had been.
“How has prison life been going?” he asked.
I blinked. “Did I just watch you do a good deed on my behalf?”
“Well.” He shifted his weight. “If you give lower life forms the gift of trampling on what should belong to you, it won’t be long until that disrespect finds you.”
“You call your servants lower life forms?”
“Are they not?” He tilted his head. “But I actually mean omegas. If they don’t know their place, it can be quite catastrophic. You would know what I mean given how high you flew to the sun. Given the audacity you had to trap in this union.”
The words stung. I turned my face away from him.
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” I said. “Leave.”
He cleared his throat then. “But you did save my life. And I for one know how to be grateful. So… thank you.”
My heart fluttered. I hated that it did. Hated that those simple words could affect me when I knew they meant nothing. When I knew he’d keep me back in this cell the second I pissed him off again.
I forced myself to look at him. To meet his eyes.
“If you want to be grateful,” I said carefully, “there are two things you can do. Release me and reject me.”
He chuckled. The sound was low and dark and sent shivers down my spine.
Then he moved. His hand went to the cell door. I heard the lock click. Heard the iron swing open.
I moved back. My shoulders hit the wall. There was nowhere else to go.
He kept coming. One step. Then another. Until he was right in front of me. Until I could feel the heat coming off his body. Until I had to crane my neck to keep looking at his face.
“I’m not paying a debt,” he said softly. “I’m simply being kind. So I will do none of that. And we both know, no matter how much you want to pretend that is the case, you do not want me to reject you.”
His hand came up. I thought he was going to touch my face. Instead, he braced it against the wall next to my head. Caging me in.
He leaned down. His lips brushed my ear.
“But I will do you one better. How about… No one will torment you but me, omega.”
His voice was sultry. Dark. It slid over my skin like silk and made wetness pool between my thighs. I wanted to shove him away. Wanted to scream at him. Wanted to do anything except stand there feeling my body betray me.
I shook my head. Forced myself to meet his eyes again.
“And what exactly do you want,” I said, “since you’re here? We both know you didn’t suddenly grow a heart.”
He studied me. His gaze moved over my face like he was trying to read something written there. Then he reached behind his back and pulled out papers. Printed pages that had been folded.
He placed them on the floor. Right in front of my feet.
I looked down. Saw the words printed across the top. Contract. Agreement. Terms and conditions.
“This is the contract?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He straightened up. Put some distance between us. “You came back to me after all.”
“I was poisoned and dragged here.”
“Yeah. Saved by me, my people and my drugs. You owe me your life.”
His voice changed. Went cold. Ice cold. The kind of cold that made frost patterns on glass.
“And if you want any semblance of freedom here, sign it. Refuse, and you’ll remain locked in this room until you break.” He paused. Let the words sink in. “And trust me, I will make you break.”
I stared at him. At the papers on the floor. At the choice he was giving me that wasn’t really a choice at all.
My hands were shaking. I curled them into fists to hide it.
“Can I read it first?” I asked.
“Of course.” He smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes. “Take all the time you need, omega. I’m not going anywhere.”
FIA
I read the contract slowly. Every word felt like a punch to the gut.
The first clause said I had to conceive within six months. That I would be provided with his seed in sterile containers. That I was expected to inseminate myself according to a schedule his physicians would provide. Clinical. Cold. Like I was livestock being bred.
The second clause outlined my duties. I would wear the clothes Cian had intended for Hazel. I would attend pack functions on his arm. I would smile and nod and never speak unless spoken to. I would play the part of the Luna without actually having any of the power.
The third clause was about obedience. I would not question his authority. I would not challenge his decisions. I would defer to him in all things. The word “submit” appeared seven times in that section alone.
I kept reading. My hands weren’t shaking anymore. They’d gone numb.
There were clauses about my movements. Where I could and couldn’t go. Who I could and couldn’t speak to. What parts of the compound were off limits. I would essentially be a prisoner with better accommodations than this cell.
The final clause said that any breach of the contract would result in immediate punishment at his discretion. No appeals. No second chances.
I looked up at him. He was leaning against the wall near the door. Watching me with that cold expression he wore so well.
“Would my sister have become a traditional wife if she had actually married you in my place?” I asked. My voice came out steadier than I expected. “She was always outspoken. Independent. She would have hated this.”
He tilted his head. Something flickered across his face. Annoyance maybe.
“No,” he said. “Because she was someone I actually wanted to get married to.”
The words landed exactly how he meant them to. Sharp and precise and designed to hurt.
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