Bound by poison

Bound by poison
Aeron’s POV

I woke to darkness and the metallic taste of panic. My arms and legs were useless, heavy as if wrapped in stone. For a breathless moment I thought I dreamed it — then sensation flooded back in a hot, cruel rush as my fingers strained against cold iron. Chains bit into my wrists and ankles. My chest hammered; the room tilted.

“Do you think you can escape now, Aeron?” The Luna’s voice cut through the shadows like a blade.

Light flared as she entered, followed by Amera and two black-guard wolves. Their boots made no sound on the stone; their presence filled the small chamber until it felt narrower than a coffin. One of the guards unlocked the chains with a soft click, then held me down while the Luna leaned close, her face luminous with triumph.

“You—” My voice came out raw. I tried to push at the bonds, to lever myself free, but my limbs answered like a distant stranger’s. “Who did this to me? Why—?”

The guard forced something cold and sharp against my neck — an injection — and the world tilted again. The warmth that had been my strength ebbed away like smoke. My lungs wanted to roar. I felt hollowed, flayed inside. When the Luna laughed, the sound crawled into my skull.

“Well?” I rasped, fury sparking through the fog. “Why, Luna?”

She smirked, as if I was the one who’d stepped into a trap. “Because,” she said, slow and patient, “we cannot have you interfering when the Blood Moon comes. You cannot protect the cursed girl if you are not here to guard your pack.”

My tongue stuck to my teeth. “What do you mean? Selene—” The name stuck in my throat, a prayer and a curse.

“You had your chances to save her,” she said, amusement curling around the words. “Now you will prove your loyalty. Mark Amera as your Luna before the Blood Moon, and we will allow you to breathe. Refuse…” Her voice dropped, coiled with menace, “and your pack will be made to suffer for your defiance.”

My mind reared, groping for something to grab hold of. Images crashed through me — Moonshine’s fields, our children laughing, the old stones of the council hall. My pack. My duty. The Luna’s smile widened when she saw my hesitation.

“You have no mercy!” I croaked, anger flaring despite the poison. “Why would you do this? Selene is one of us. Her visions—your visions—told the truth about her!”

She snorted like she’d heard the most ludicrous jest. “You were fooled, Alpha Aeron. The vision was a lie, a tool. Her blood will serve a purpose far greater than any mere prophecy. Eleazar will be rewarded. His wolf will be awakened with her blood.” She let the name hang like a bell. “Think of what power that will bring.”

Eleazar. The name sent a cold knife through me;

“Eleazar?” I spat the word, disbelief and disgust curdling together. “That… that priest? He’s a wolf?” The sound of my own incredulity was a small thing in the cavernous room. I felt smaller than the chain around my wrist.

“Yes,” the Luna said. Her eyes shone now with naked hunger. “He is exactly what we need. His wolf has been dormant. Her blood will awaken him, and with him and my daughter at the Alpha’s side, our packs will rule.”

My hands tightened into fists and the chains creaked. The injection’s fury numbed the strength that had always been mine — the particular thunder that had once rolled under my skin and steadied my limbs. I tried again to struggle free, to call on the animal inside, but the wolfsbane burned like winter and the room blurred.

“You can’t do this,” I said, voice low but hot enough to sting. “She is not—she’s not a tool for your gain. She’s a person. She’s—” My throat closed. The image of Selene training in the dawn light flashed behind my eyes: the way her jaw set when she’d missed an arrow, the stubborn flame in her stare. I would not let them touch her.

Amera stepped forward, fury and betrayal flaring across her face when my words did not bow to fear. “How dare you reject me!” she hissed, striking me hard across the cheek. The blow thudded not just against skin but against the thin hope that had sustained me this far. Pain flared, then dulled.

“Do it then,” I said through clenched teeth. “Command whatever you need. But you are not my judge.” My voice sounded small even to me.

The Luna’s lips peeled back in a smile that was almost affection. “You will mark her,” she declared. “You will do it before the Blood Moon. Or I will wipe your pack from the earth.”

The threat landed like a stone. I tried to reason with the clarity that remained. “If you kill them, all you’ll do is turn them into martyrs. You’ll bring war upon your own heads.”

“Perhaps,” she said, untroubled. “Yet a few sacrifices secure a throne. Power is not built on sentiment, Alpha. It is built on calculated choices.”

Her words were poison dressed as policy. I could feel the wolfsbane sapping thought, leaving panic like a thin wind at my skull. My vision tunneled at the edges.

“I will not mark Amera,” I said, my voice steady because I forced it to be. “I will not betray my people.”

Amera’s hand struck me again — this time harder — and I tasted copper in my mouth. “Then watch them die,” she spat, fury ripping through her. “Watch the pack you swore to protect crumble because of your weakness. She was your choice and you let her be the cause—”

The Luna cut her off with a cruel laugh, and in that sound I heard the cold machinery of the plan grinding into motion. They had designs that left no room for honor.

The fear for Selene and for my pack gnawed at me, weakening resolve with every heartbeat. The wolfsbane pulled at me like an undertow, erasing the edges of my will. Still, beneath it all, a spark refused to die. 

I forced my jaw, tasting iron and grit. Even weakened I could think. Even chained my mind could move. There would be a way — a way to warn Selene, to break this web before the Blood Moon claimed her.

“Listen to me,” I rasped, forcing words past the fog. “You think you can silence me with poison and threats, but you’ve only given me the one thing I will not surrender — time. And I will use it.”

The Luna’s smile tightened. “We shall see, Alpha.”

They left me with the chains clinking, the room closing in, the wolfsbane humming cold and slow through my veins. 

If they wanted her blood, I thought through gritted teeth, they’ll have to come through me first.