Chapter 5
They don't take me back to the cell.
That's the first thing that tells me this is worse.
The guards march me deeper into the fortress, past halls I haven't seen, past doors etched with old runes and claw marks worn smooth by time. The air grows colder the farther we go. Not damp-cold like a dungeon—sharp, clean, intentional.
Controlled.
My humiliation still clings to me like smoke. Every whisper from the courtyard replays in my head. Rejected. Insult. Half-blood. Threat.
I lift my chin anyway.
I won't give them the satisfaction of seeing me break twice in one morning.
We stop before massive double doors carved with the Blackfang crest. A wolf snarling beneath a fractured crown.
One guard knocks once. Opens them without waiting.
Lucien is already inside.
He stands near the tall windows, back to us, hands clasped behind him. Morning light cuts his silhouette into sharp angles—broad shoulders, rigid spine, the posture of someone who refuses to bend even when the world demands it.
"Leave us," he says.
The guards hesitate.
Lucien turns his head just enough that they see his eyes.
They leave.
The doors close with a heavy thud that echoes through my bones.
I'm alone with him.
Again.
"This isn't a cell," I say, scanning the room. A bed. A desk. Bookshelves carved into the stone walls. A fireplace already lit. No bars. No chains.
"A guest room," Lucien replies flatly. "In my wing."
My stomach twists. "You expect me to thank you?"
"No." He finally turns to face me. "I expect you to obey."
Anger flares hot and fast. "After what you did out there?"
"You embarrassed me."
A laugh tears out of me before I can stop it. "I embarrassed you?"
"Yes."
The bond pulses, sharp and resentful, like it agrees with him—and that makes me even angrier.
"You rejected me," I say, voice shaking despite my effort to steady it. "You let them laugh at me. You let your father call me an insult."
Lucien's jaw tightens. "I stopped it from going further."
"How generous."
He steps closer, stopping just out of reach. The air between us hums—tight, volatile. "You don't understand pack politics."
"I understand cruelty," I shoot back. "You wield it like a weapon."
Silence stretches.
Then he says quietly, "So do you."
That lands harder than I expect.
Lucien looks… tired. Not weak. Never that. But burdened in a way that presses deep lines into his expression. "The pack sensed your power," he continues. "That outburst—whatever it was—it destabilised them."
"I didn't do it on purpose."
"That's the problem."
My fingers curl at my sides. "Then let me go."
He shakes his head once. "I can't."
"Won't," I correct.
"Both."
The bond tightens, like a rope drawn too fast. I inhale sharply, pressing a hand to my chest.
Lucien notices. Always notices.
"You're staying here," he says. "Until I decide how to neutralise this."
"Neutralise me?"
"You're not listening." His voice sharpens. "This fortress is warded. The safest place for you—and everyone else."
"Safe for whom?" I demand. "Because it feels like a cage."
He doesn't deny it.
Instead, he turns and gestures to the room. "You'll have food. Water. Freedom to move within this wing."
"And guards at every door."
"Yes."
My throat tightens. "So that's it. I'm your secret shame, locked away where no one has to look at me."
Something flickers in his eyes.
"You are not a shame," he says stiffly. "You are a liability."
I flinch despite myself.
Lucien exhales, slow and controlled. "Alpha law requires I take responsibility for threats born in my territory."
"Funny," I say bitterly. "Because it didn't require you to protect me out there."
His gaze snaps to mine. "I did protect you."
"By rejecting me?"
"By rejecting the bond publicly," he says sharply. "I stopped them from demanding your execution."
The room goes very still.
My breath catches. "Execution?"
"Yes."
The word settles like lead in my stomach.
Selene's smile flashes in my memory. Magnus's cold eyes. The way the pack had leaned forward, hungry for something to tear apart.
Lucien continues, quieter now. "An unclaimed mate with power is considered a destabilising force. Dangerous. Especially one who doesn't bow."
"So you humiliated me to keep me alive," I whisper.
"Yes."
The bond pulses—confused, aching.
I swallow. "You could've told me."
"No," he says. "I couldn't."
"Why?"
"Because you would've fought harder."
I laugh weakly. "You really don't know me at all."
His gaze softens just a fraction. "I know enough."
He moves toward the door. "There will be rules."
"Of course there will."
He stops, hand on the doorframe. "Break them, and I won't be able to protect you."
I lift my chin. "You're not protecting me now."
Lucien looks back at me.
For the first time since the courtyard, something raw slips through his control.
"Stay alive," he says quietly. "That's protection."
The door closes behind him.
The lock clicks.
I stand there long after he's gone, the fire crackling softly, the room too large and too quiet.
Thrown into his fortress.
Not a prisoner.
Not a guest.
Something worse.
I walk to the window and peer out. The height makes my stomach drop. Far below, wolves move like shadows across the grounds.
No escape.
The bond stirs again—uneasy, restless.
And then, faint but unmistakable, I feel it—
Lucien's presence pulling away… and stopping.
Right outside the door.
Guarding it.
My breath catches.
Because if he's stationed himself there—
Then he doesn't trust the pack.
Or himself.
And that means whatever I unleashed in the courtyard?
It scared the Beast Alpha enough to lock me at the heart of his power.
With nowhere left to run.