Selene's POV
My wrists still throbbed, the skin around them red and blistered from the silver, but that pain was nothing compared to the storm raging inside me. Every second he stood there watching me, I felt it… the bond. Pulling. Twisting. Demanding.
He was too close.
And not close enough.
I exhaled shakily, glaring at him. "You've made your point. You've restrained me, humiliated me, told me I'm some kind of weapon. What now? You wait until I break?"
His jaw ticked, but he didn't answer.
Instead, he moved.
One step. Two. And then he was at the side of the bed, towering over me, every muscle taut like he was holding himself together by will alone.
"You already broke," he said lowly. "The moment our bond snapped into place."
My breath caught.
"You don't even know me."
"I don't have to," he replied. "My wolf does. And yours? She's been screaming since you opened your eyes."
My lips parted, fury colliding with something far more dangerous.
Desire.
"You chained me with silver, you beast" I said through clenched teeth. "And now you think you get to talk to me about instincts?"
"The name is Kaiden," he replied. "Not beast."
"Kaiden…"
His name slipped out before I could stop it, and his eyes darkened in response.
"Say it again."
I blinked. "What?"
"My name," he murmured, gaze flickering to my lips. "Say it again."
"No."
He chuckled deep, dark and low. "Then stop looking at me like that."
"I'm not…"
He leaned closer.
"You're looking at me like you want to tear into me and ride me until the bond burns itself out."
A shiver tore through me.
I hated him.
Goddess help me, I wanted him.
"You're insane."
Kaiden reached down slowly, his fingers brushing against the silver cuffs still dangling from the headboard. Then, without a word, he unlatched them, one by one, and let them fall to the floor with a soft clink.
My hands were free.
But I didn't run.
"You should be afraid of me," I whispered.
"I am," he replied, voice quiet. "But not the way you think."
Then he kissed me.
There was no warning. No hesitation. Just heat. I gasped as his fingers tangled in my hair, pulling just enough to make my head tip back.
"Kaiden…"
He growled against my throat. "You feel it. Don't lie."
I should have slapped him. Should have pushed him off and run like hell.
Instead, I dragged him down to me.
"I hate you," I muttered as I yanked at his shirt, tearing it open.
"You will," he grunted, lips moving down my jaw, my neck, over the scars he hadn't even asked about. "But not tonight."
We were fire and thunder. Claw and fang. Everything too raw to be soft.
His hands explored like he was memorizing me. My hips, thighs, stomach until I was writhing beneath him, drunk on the scent of our bond, on the feel of his skin against mine.
"I'm going to ruin you," he murmured against my breast, his breath sending a tingly feeling over me.
"You already did," I whispered, eyes shut tight.
Clothes disappeared, time slipped away, and when he finally entered me, I broke.
The bond exploded and I screamed as the light pulsed from within again, flooding the room in a silent shockwave that made the air vibrate.
Kaiden groaned, burying his face in my neck, moving with me like we were made for this, for each other, even as everything inside me screamed that we weren't.
But at that moment, I didn't care.
I needed him like air. Like blood.
And when we finally collapsed together, tangled in sweat and shadows and heat, I laid there trembling, gasping, cursing every part of me that gave in.
He didn't speak.
Not until my breathing slowed and silence reclaimed the room.
Then, softly, he said it, barely above a whisper.
"I'll never let them take you."
I turned my head toward him, searching his face in the firelight.
"They?"
His jaw clenched. "The ones who sent you here."
My blood turned cold as I remembered the one person that could make Kaiden fall to his knees.
"No.. no… no," I protested pushing Kaiden away. "What have I done? She'll kill you."
Confused, he raised a brow. "Who?"
"My foster mother…" I replied. "She told me never to smell an Alpha, talk less of sleeping with one."
Kaiden moved closer, placing his hands at the back of my head like I was a baby.
"No one can kill me."
The way he said it, so cool and casual, I would have believed him…. If only I didn't know how powerful my foster mother was.
"She's a Witchborn, she'll kill you," I said, my voice firm. "Rip every piece of your bone and empire away."
Kaiden didn't reply, which actually scared me since he always had something to say.
He stood up, slowly and without haste, like a god stretching after a war well-won. He pulled his shirt over his head, the light from the fireplace painting his scars and muscle in gold and shadow. When he finally turned to face me, something in him had shifted.
He was no longer Kaiden, the man who kissed me like I was oxygen.
He was something far older. Far darker.
"Who do you think I am, wolf?"
The question cracked through the silence, laced with so much contempt I flinched.
He took a step forward, his voice deep and thunderous now, edged with the kind of power that vibrated in my bones.
"You think your little Witchborn foster mother scares me?" He tilted his head, a cruel smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You think I haven't faced worse than some hex-blooded hag whispering curses into the dark?"
My heart thundered in my chest.
He moved closer still, each word a blow meant to shatter whatever illusions I had left.
"I am Kaiden Veyr," he said, the name rolling out like a prophecy. "Born under the Burn Moon — the moon of warriors. The blood moon. The killing moon."
I couldn't breathe.
"I've conquered alphas and broken packs. I carved the Duskfang territory from the bones of my enemies and bathed it in fire. I have never bowed, never begged, and never bled in vain."
He leaned down, voice so low it made my skin crawl.
"And you think some Witchborn witch with old bones and older tricks will stop me?"
I wanted to deny it. To scream at him to shut up. But I couldn't.
Because every word he said pulsed with truth.
"You're mine now," he said, eyes glowing with that same burn I'd seen before the light exploded from my body. "And no one takes what's mine."
He turned toward the door, voice cold and merciless.
"Guards."
The door opened instantly, as if they'd been standing there all along.
Kaiden didn't look at me.
"Take her to the dungeons. Let her sit with her shame until she remembers who her mate is."
"Kaiden…" I gasped, reaching for him.
He didn't e
ven flinch.
"Alpha Kaiden Veyr," he corrected without turning. "And you'll learn to kneel before me."
Then he walked out.
Leaving me naked, trembling, and dragged into the dark.