Chapter 74: A Caged Wolf

Pain.

It was the first thing Bella felt when she woke up.

Her body was heavy, sluggish, her limbs numb, her wolf silent.

Something was wrong.

The bond—the tether between her and Dante—was still there.

But it was distant. Muffled.

Like she had been ripped from his reach.

Bella's breath came in sharp, uneven gasps as she forced her eyes open.

The room around her was dimly lit, cold, unfamiliar.

Chains rattled as she tried to move.

Silver.

Her wrists were bound in thick silver cuffs, attached to the wall behind her.

Her ankles, too.

Her skin burned where the metal touched, sending waves of pain through her veins, weakening her.

She wasn't just trapped.

She was caged.

A low chuckle echoed from the shadows.

"Awake already, little wolf?"

Bella's breath hitched.

That voice.

She knew that voice.

Gabriel.

He stepped forward from the darkness, tall, broad, his gray eyes gleaming with amusement.

His suit was immaculate, his demeanor calm, collected.

Like he hadn't just abducted her.

Like he wasn't planning to tear her life apart.

"You bastard," Bella snarled, pulling against the chains, ignoring the pain.

Gabriel sighed, shaking his head. "Is that any way to greet your Alpha?"

Bella's wolf snapped inside her.

"You're not my Alpha."

Gabriel tilted his head. "But I was. And now?"

He crouched before her, his fingers brushing over the mark on her throat.

Dante's mark.

His touch burned.

Not from silver.

From disgust.

"Now, I'm here to correct a mistake."

Bella's stomach turned.

"What mistake?" she spat.

Gabriel smirked.

"Letting you think you were ever free."