Chapter 10 Chapter 10
The room didn't feel like a cell anymore. Maybe it was the sunlight streaming in through the high windows, or the way the soft rugs muffled my steps. Or maybe it was just the smallest bit of safety my bones hadn't known in days. Either way, I'd stopped flinching at every knock, every footfall outside the door.
I didn't trust them not even a little but I was learning the patterns of this place. How the guards rotated. When the kitchen bustled. Where people tended to avoid me and where the stares lingered. And despite the unease, something in me was settling. Not comfort, not quite... but a quiet between storms.
The servant girl who'd showed me my room the first time Lina, she'd said her name was returned again the next day. And again, the day after. She was young, maybe eighteen, with warm brown skin and a wide smile that came too easily, but didn't feel fake. She'd talk to fill the silence, not out of pity, but as if I were just another girl, not a rogue with blood in her past. I was weary of her at the beginning but as days went by I began to be comfortable with her. At least, she was a means for me not to be alone in this new place and the way the servants stared at me was making me uncomfortable.
"You've got the whole pack watching" she said, brushing out my tangled hair one morning with slow, careful strokes.
"Some of them don't like it. Some of them don't know what to think. And then there's the ones who just want to see you fall."
"Which one are you?" I met her eyes
" I like stories. And you? You're definitely a story" she smiled, her smile a little crooked.
I wanted to hate her for her optimism. But I didn't. Her hands were kind. Her chatter distracted me from the burn of the bond twisting through my chest like a vine. Still, not everyone was Lina.
It started in the dining hall, during the midday meal. I hadn't planned on eating with the pack. I usually waited until the rush died down to take what I could quietly and avoid the states of everyone but Lucian or the Alpha, as they all insisted on calling him—had made it clear I was to "integrate."
Another test. Another silent command. So I showed up.And the room went quiet.
Conversations died. Forks paused midair. Every head turned as I walked in, dressed in borrowed clothes that fit too well, like someone had measured me while I slept. I didn't let myself shrink. I'd walked into dens of worse beasts than this. But then I saw her.
She sat at the center of a group of well-dressed, polished women, all laughing too loudly and glancing at me from the corners of their eyes. The one in red stood out, not just for her beauty though she was stunning but for the scent she carried.
Lucian's.
Maybe she was his mate or not? But he couldn't have a mate right? I am supposed to be his mate. I pushed the thoughts away because as I thought about it, I was feeling something I hadn't felt since I left my old pack.....jealousy and anger.
It clung to her skin like oil and smoke. I knew that scent now, too well. My wolf went rigid. I begged my wolf silently not to do anything stupid. She rose with the grace of someone used to owning attention. Her shoes clicked against the marble floors as she walked toward me, hips swaying.
"Must be strange," she said sweetly, "not having a collar on" I arched a brow.
"Must be strange thinking I need one"
As soon as the words left my mouth I regretted it but now I couldn't take it back. I just wanted to remain silent while she spoke whatever she had in mind.
The girls behind her tittered, like hyenas circling meat.
"You think this is permanent? That Lucian is just toying with you before tossing you back to the dungeons. Let me make it clear, you're a rogue. You don't belong here" She stepped closer, her voice dipping. So she was on first name basis with the alpha? She must really mean something to him.
"And you do?" Her smile faltered for half a second. Then she leaned in, breath hot at my ear.
"I'm not just someone he fucks, little stray. I'm someone he trusts. I'm going to be the next Luna. The pack sees me as one of their own. You? You'll always be a threat" she said with a smirk.
My wolf growled low in my chest, but I bit it back. No claws. No teeth. Not here. Not if I wanted to build a life here quietly.
"I'll enjoy watching you fall" she smirked.
"Then keep watching. You might learn something" I held her gaze, unblinking.
I turned on my heel and walked away, but the damage was done. Whispers followed me like a scent trail, and the weight of their judgment clung to my skin the rest of the day. I couldn't even eat again not with everyone there and I made a promise to myself to wait until after everyone has finished eating before I could eat.
By evening, the tension had curled around my spine like a second skin. I went for air, out to the edge of the training fields where the moonlight made the world silver and sharp. The view was beautiful and I enjoyed sitting alone. I thought I was alone but I wasn't. I could feel someone in the shadows and I turned to the direction. The person stepped out from the shadows with barely a sound. It was a male.
Tall, lean, watchful but it was not the alpha. The Beta.
I'd seen him the day I was in the dungeon and I've also seen him few times I cleaned around, he had dark blond hair, steady hazel eyes, and a silence that always felt intentional. Where Lucian's presence demanded attention, this one... he studied. Measured.
"Didn't expect you out here" he said calmly. I didn't answer.
"You've made quite the impression" He stopped a few feet away, arms folded.
"Not looking to impress" I said slowly.
"Good. You're not. You should be as quiet as you can be before you get yourself killed" I rolled my eyes and turned away, but his next words froze me.
"You're hiding something" he said it like he could read my soul.
"Aren't we all?" Slowly, I looked back.
He stepped closer, the air shifting around us. He wasn't trying to intimidate m not exactly but his power thrummed beneath his skin like coiled steel.
"I'm not here to play mind games, rogue. I've watched you. You're trained. You look calculative. You look like you're waiting for the perfect moment to strike. That's not how rogues move. That's how spies move. Assassins" I tensed.
He saw it. His expression didn't change, but his tone dropped lower.
"If you're here to hurt anyone especially him you'll go through me first." Something cold settled in my chest.
"Is that a threat?"
"It's a promise."
His eyes burned into mind not with hatred, but something fiercer. Loyalty. Fierce, absolute loyalty to Lucian. I could respect that, even if it scared me.
"I'm not here to hurt him" I said quietly.
"Even if I wanted to... I couldn't" my tone had changed from defensive to something I couldn't say.
"Why not?" His eyes narrowed.
Because of the bond, I wanted to say. Because my wolf would tear herself apart before letting me raise a hand against him. But I wouldn't give him that. I couldn't tell him what those stealing glances meant.
"I'm tired" I said instead.
"Of what?"
"Of running. Of bleeding. Of being hunted"
"Where were you going to when you were caught?" This was the first time I was asked that question.
"I had nowhere in mind. I was just wandering"
He studied me for a long moment. Then, to my surprise, he nodded.
"I believe you, for now. But I'll be watching. And if you're lying..." he didn't need to finish it for me to know what he intended.
"I know" I whispered "You'll be first in line to rip me apart" He didn't confirm it. He didn't need to.
He turned and walked away, leaving me alone beneath the moonlight, the weight of his words lingering like frost on my skin. And for the first time since I arrived, I wondered how long I could truly keep my secrets buried.
'My secrets won't hurt anyone right?' I asked my wolf.