Mate's Wrath

Pain flared through my wrists as the silver cuffs tightened, burning my skin with each pulse of my racing heart. The scent of Bloodfang's warriors clogged my nose, thick with aggression, drowning out the cold night air I had relied on for comfort. I had spent years avoiding this moment, slipping through shadows and ghosting through the wilds. Yet here I was, kneeling on the hard stone floor of the Bloodfang Pack's throne room, my body aching from the fight that had ended with my capture.

And in front of me stood Cassian Voss.

Alpha Cassian Voss. My fated mate.

The mate bond slammed into me with brutal force, tightening like a noose around my throat. My lungs forgot how to work. My stomach twisted, caught between the primal need to submit and the overwhelming urge to run. But the worst part wasn't my reaction—it was his.

Cassian looked at me like I was filth.

His golden eyes, the color of molten fire, burned with a hatred so thick I could taste it in the air. He stepped forward, slow and deliberate, the weight of his authority pressing down like an iron hand. My wolf whimpered at the sheer power radiating from him, but I clenched my teeth, shoving it down. I would not bow. Not to him.

"You," Cassian growled, voice like gravel. His sharp canines flashed as his lips curled back. "You dare set foot in my land?"

I forced a smirk, even as my body trembled from the intensity of the bond. "Didn't realize it was still yours."

His hand shot out, fingers wrapping around my throat before I could react. He yanked me up effortlessly, forcing me to my feet. The heat of his skin against mine sent sparks through my nerves, but I ignored them, meeting his glare with one of my own.

Cassian's grip tightened. "You're a traitor."

I sucked in a sharp breath, his words slicing deeper than they should have. "Funny, I don't remember betraying anyone."

A growl ripped through the air. "Lies."

The warriors behind me shifted, their unease growing. They had expected their Alpha to kill me on sight. Instead, he hesitated, nostrils flaring as the mate bond wrapped its cursed strings around him, just as it had me. No matter how much he wanted me dead, fate had other plans.

Cassian shoved me backward. I stumbled but refused to fall. I would not show weakness. Not here. Not now.

"Put him in the cells," he commanded. "He's not leaving until I get answers."

The warriors grabbed my arms, dragging me toward the dungeons. I didn't fight them—not yet. I needed a plan. I needed to get out before Cassian decided answers weren't worth keeping me alive.

********

The cell was damp and cold, the scent of mold clinging to the walls. Chains hung from the stone, rusted with age, but I wasn't bound. Cassian wanted me alive—for now.

I paced, my body restless, the mate bond thrumming under my skin like a second heartbeat. My pulse had yet to settle since I saw him. My mind screamed at me to run, to escape before things got worse, but my wolf... my wolf howled for its mate.

The door creaked open. Heavy footsteps echoed off the walls. I didn't have to look to know who it was.

Cassian.

He didn't speak at first. He just watched me, his gaze a mixture of disgust and something he clearly didn't want to name. The silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.

Finally, I broke it. "What? No grand speech about how you're going to kill me?"

His jaw tensed. "Why are you here?"

I shrugged, feigning indifference. "Needed something."

"Lies," he snarled, stepping closer. The small space made his presence overwhelming. "You've been a ghost for years. You should've stayed that way."

I leaned against the wall, crossing my arms. "Maybe I got tired of running."

The scent of him is suffocating.

Even in the cold, damp walls of this prison, with iron bars separating us, I can still feel the weight of Cassian's presence pressing against my chest like an unbearable force. The mate bond crackles in the air, a cruel trick of fate that neither of us can escape.

He paces outside the cell, his golden eyes sharp and venomous as they glare at me. "You expect me to believe that after all these years, after everything you did, you're my mate?" His voice is thick with fury, low and dangerous.

I meet his gaze, my jaw clenched. "I don't expect you to believe anything, because I don't want this bond any more than you do."

A muscle ticks in his jaw. He slams his hand against the bars, the sound ringing through the empty dungeon. "Liar! The moment our eyes met, you felt it. Deny it all you want, but your body knows the truth."

My hands tighten into fists. The bond is a constant hum beneath my skin, a fire threatening to consume me from the inside out, but I refuse to let it control me. I refuse to let him control me.

"Feelings don't change the past, Cassian," I spit out. "You can be as angry as you want, but I'm not the enemy here. You made me a ghost, and now you want to stand there and act like I should just accept this? Accept you?"

He snarls, stepping closer. "You are the enemy. You betrayed your pack. You ran like a coward. And now you're back, sneaking around like a damn thief—what exactly were you hoping to accomplish?"

I bite my tongue before I say something reckless. I won't tell him about the herb. I won't tell him about the strange energy threatening to tear through my body, the pain I've been suppressing for months. He doesn't deserve the truth.

Cassian exhales sharply, dragging a hand through his dark hair. "I should kill you for what you did. But I won't. Not yet. You're going to tell me why you're really here. And you're going to tell me everything you've been hiding."

I scoff. "And what if I don't?"

His lips curl into something cruel. "Then I will make you."

********

The dungeon is eerily quiet after he leaves, but my mind is loud, filled with a storm of emotions I refuse to acknowledge. The mate bond tugs at me mercilessly, an invisible thread trying to pull me toward the one person I swore I'd never see again.

I sit on the hard stone floor, rubbing at my wrists where the iron shackles had bitten into my skin. I need to get out of here. Now.

The moment I hear the guards change shifts, I move. I've spent years on the run; breaking out of a cell like this is almost too easy. With a swift motion, I dislocate my thumb, slipping my hand free from the crude restraints. My body aches as I push myself up, but I ignore it. I won't be caught. I can't be caught.

Slipping into the shadows, I creep through the hall, my heartbeat steady despite the thrill of the escape. Just a little further—

Damn it.

A heavy force slams into me from behind, knocking the air from my lungs. I hit the ground hard, my vision blurring for a second before I feel the heat of a body caging me in.

Cassian.

His hands grip my wrists, pinning me down with an effortless strength. His chest rises and falls above me, his breath hot against my skin. "Did you really think you could escape me?"

I struggle beneath him, thrashing wildly, but it's no use. His grip is ironclad, his weight pressing me into the cold stone floor. "Let me go," I growl, my voice sharp.

Cassian leans in, his scent overwhelming, his eyes glowing with something raw, something primal. "Why? So you can run again? So you can betray me all over again?"

The accusation burns. "I never betrayed you."

"Liar!" His voice is a snarl, thick with rage. "You left, Kieran. You vanished without a word. And now you're here, sneaking around my pack like a damn criminal. Give me one reason why I shouldn't rip your throat out right now."

His fangs elongate, glinting under the dim torchlight, and for the first time, real fear creeps into my veins. He's serious. If I don't do something, he might actually—

No.

Something in me snaps.

A strange warmth spreads through my chest, different from the heat of the mate bond. It burns, deep and wild, surging through my limbs like liquid fire. Cassian's grip falters just for a second, and in that moment, my eyes meet his.

His body jerks violently. His hands fly off me as if burned, and then he's flying back, crashing into the wall with a force that sends dust and stone crumbling around him.

I scramble to my feet, my breath ragged, my hands trembling as I stare down at them. A faint glow lingers in my fingertips before fading into nothing.

Cassian groans, pushing himself up from the rubble, his expression dark with something between fury and shock. "What the hell was that?"

I don't answer. I can't. Because I don't know either.

All I know is that something inside me has awoken, and Cassian just learned the hard way that I'm not the same omega he once knew.