Chapter 183: Ashes and Chains

Seraphine's POV

I woke to chaos.

The sound hit me first—screams, metal clashing against metal, the roar of flames devouring wood. Orange light flickered through the narrow window slit above my head, painting violent shadows across the stone walls of my cell.

My body jerked upright on instinct, and immediately I regretted it. Pain exploded through every nerve ending, sharp and relentless. The silver collar around my neck burned like a brand pressed into raw flesh, and I could feel the wetness where it had torn through skin that refused to heal. My wrists were rubbed raw from the shackles. Blood crusted on my ankles. Everything hurt.

But then I felt it—that pull.

My chest tightened, not from pain but from something deeper, something that lived beneath my ribs and pulsed in rhythm with a heart that wasn't mine.

The bond. Faint, strained, like a thread stretched too thin, but there. My breath caught. I pressed my palm flat against my sternum, fingers trembling, and felt the bond hum in response. Weak. Fragile. But undeniably his.

Kaelen.

The collar had been a wall for days now, blocking everything—cutting me off from him like a knife through the soul. But this... this was different. The pull was forcing its way through the silver's barrier, raw and aggressive, like he was close enough that nothing could keep him out. Not even this cursed metal around my neck.

I should have felt relief. Joy. Something other than the crushing weight of guilt that slammed into me so hard I almost doubled over. Instead, all I could think about was Orion—his body crumpled in the dirt, chest torn open, eyes staring at nothing.

The memory was vivid, too vivid. I could still see the words carved into his chest, crude and hateful, meant to humiliate even in death. He died protecting me. And I couldn't even bury him properly. I couldn't do anything.

I looked down at myself. My feet were caked in dried blood, some of it mine, some of it... I didn't know. My jeans—if I could even call them that anymore—hung in tatters, filthy and reeking of sweat and worse. The skin around my neck was blistered and weeping where the silver had burned deepest. I was a mess. A broken, disgusting mess.

I'm a prisoner, I thought numbly. My parents are dead. My sister is gone. I'm rotting in an enemy's dungeon, and he— I swallowed hard, throat aching. He's an Alpha.

The wrongness of it all crashed over me like a wave. I wasn't supposed to be here. I wasn't supposed to drag him into this nightmare. He had responsibilities, a pack, a life, and here I was—useless, powerless, a liability he didn't need. The thought made my stomach twist. I don't deserve to be saved, I realized. I don't deserve him risking everything for me.

Tears slipped down my cheeks before I could stop them. I didn't bother wiping them away.

Then my chest clenched again, harder this time. I gasped, brows furrowing in confusion. Heat surged through me, sudden and fierce, like embers reigniting in my core. It was the kind of warmth that only came when Kaelen was close—too close. My pulse quickened. My skin prickled. The bond thrummed louder now, insistent, and I felt his presence like a physical weight pressing against my ribs.

He's here.

The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the cold stone floor, hands splayed out in front of me to catch myself. The bond pulsed again, stronger now, carrying with it a wave of raw emotion—fury, determination, and something so fierce it burned. Kaelen wasn't just nearby. He was coming for me.

A distant alarm bell began to ring, sharp and shrill, cutting through the chaos outside. It was the kind of sound that only went off when the fortress was under attack. Screams erupted somewhere beyond my cell, high-pitched and terrified, and I heard boots pounding against stone, voices shouting orders that got swallowed by the growing roar of fire and violence. The bond flared again, and this time I felt Kaelen's rage like a living thing, hot and uncontrollable, bleeding into me through the connection we shared.

My legs gave out completely. I sank onto my knees, chest heaving, tears streaming freely now. He came. Despite everything—despite Vespera's lies, despite the risk, despite the fact that Damien could rip away my mark and sever the bond forever—Kaelen had come anyway. He hadn't believed her. He was here to take me home.

A sob tore out of me, rough and broken, and I pressed my forehead against the cold floor, shoulders shaking. The guilt was suffocating. He knew what Damien planned to do. He knew the bond could break. And still, he came. The heat in my chest intensified, spreading through my limbs, mixing with the crushing ache of unworthiness until I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.

The door to my cell exploded inward with a deafening crash.

I flinched violently, jerking my head up just in time to see Damien storm through the doorway. He was covered in blood—fresh, wet, dripping from his hands and splattered across his face and chest. In one fist he gripped a length of heavy iron chain, the kind used to drag prisoners who couldn't walk on their own. His eyes locked onto mine, wild and burning with hatred.

"That fucking monster's here to save you!" he snarled, voice dripping with venom. "He's tearing through my wolves like they're fucking nothing!"

Before I could react, he lunged forward and snapped the chain onto the loop at the base of my collar. The metal bit into already raw skin, and I bit back a cry as he yanked me upright with brutal force. My legs nearly gave out again, weak from days of captivity and starvation, but he didn't care. He dragged me toward the door like I was a sack of grain.

"That bitch Vespera failed me," he spat, voice rising to a roar. "Useless fucking whore couldn't even seduce her man! Now I have to deal with this mess myself!"

I stumbled, barely catching myself before hitting the ground. My bare feet scraped against the rough stone as he hauled me forward, and I could feel blood smearing beneath my soles with every step.

The corridor outside was chaos. Fire licked at the walls, casting everything in hellish orange light. The air was thick with smoke and the coppery stench of blood. Bodies—so many bodies—littered the floor, twisted and broken, some still twitching. I tried not to look, but it was impossible. Blood pooled around them, seeping into cracks in the stone.

"Let go of me," I whispered, voice hoarse and barely audible over the noise.

Damien laughed—a harsh, bitter sound. "Not a fucking chance."

He dragged me faster, yanking the chain so hard I choked. My knees hit something soft and warm, and I glanced down just long enough to see a guard's body, throat slashed open, eyes wide and glassy. Bile rose in my throat. The screams outside grew louder, joined now by the clash of steel and the sickening crunch of bones breaking. We turned a corner, and suddenly we were outside.