Chapter 199 199

Chapter 199 199
The nights were the hardest.
During the day, Alyna could distract herself by observing the camp, studying the guards, and searching for weaknesses in her captivity. But when darkness settled over the rogue camp and the noise gradually faded, she was left alone with her thoughts.
And her thoughts always returned to Leo.
She curled up on the narrow bed inside the tent and hugged her knees tightly against her chest.
She missed him.
More than anything.
More than freedom.
More than her own safety.
She missed the way he laughed when Asher carried him on his shoulders. She missed his tiny hands reaching for her. She missed the way he would run across the pack with absolutely no fear in the world because he believed his parents could protect him from anything.
Tears slipped silently down her cheeks.
Would she ever see him again?
That question haunted her.
Ever since regaining her powers, she had seen countless futures. She had witnessed the lives of strangers, friends, and loved ones.
Yet every road seemed to lead toward the same terrifying conclusion.
Her death.
The certainty of it had slowly settled into her heart.
And now, trapped in Sarmon's camp, it felt closer than ever.
Alyna wiped her eyes and forced herself to look around the tent.
The rogue camp was unlike any place she had ever seen.
The men were ruthless.
Brutal.
Many looked more like wild beasts than wolves.
They obeyed only one law.
Sarmon's law.
The rogues cared little about honor or morality. They followed orders without question and killed whoever stood in their Alpha's way.
Most of them looked hardened by countless battles.
Scarred faces. Broken noses. Cold eyes.
They lived for war.
And that made them dangerous.
Only a handful of women were present in the camp, and even they seemed hardened by the cruel lifestyle around them.
Nothing about this place felt normal.
Everything felt dark. Oppression.
And at the center of it all stood Sarmon.
Alyna still couldn't understand him.
He wasn't reckless.
He wasn't driven by rage.
In fact, he was far more calculating than both Asher and Xander.
The previous night she had noticed something unusual.
A branch had snapped somewhere beyond the camp.
It had been a faint sound.
So faint that Alyna barely heard it.
But Sarmon had immediately risen from his bed.
Within seconds he had left the tent and personally inspected the perimeter.
That alone told her everything she needed to know.
He survived for centuries because he never relaxed.
Never trusted.
Never underestimated danger.
He was constantly watching.
Constantly calculating.
Constantly preparing.
That was what made him truly frightening.
Not his strength. Not his army. His mind.
Alyna sighed heavily.
She had tried countless times to mind-link Asher.
Nothing worked. The bond between her and Vivi remained severed.
Every attempt ended in silence.
It felt as though part of her soul had been cut away.
Without her wolf, she felt vulnerable.
Alone and trapped.
The worst part was that none of this made sense.
Sarmon had crossed oceans.
Destroyed territories.
Built an army capable of terrifying entire regions.
All because of a dream.
A dream about her. The thought still sounded absurd.
He believed she held the key to extending his life.
But even he didn't seem entirely certain why.
He had followed instincts and visions until they led him here.
And now she was trapped because of it.
"Why me?" Alyna whispered.
The question escaped before she realized it.
Why was she always at the center of everything?
Why had she been born with these powers?
Why had fate chosen her?
Why couldn't she simply live peacefully with her son and Asher?
Every answer seemed buried somewhere beyond her reach.
Exhaustion eventually settled over her.
The camp outside gradually quieted.
One by one the voices disappeared.
The fires burned lower. The guards changed shifts. And the night deepened.
Alyna was beginning to drift toward sleep when the tent flap suddenly opened.
Her body immediately tensed.
Sarmon entered.
The sharp smell of alcohol followed him.
He had clearly been drinking.
His dark eyes swept across the tent before settling on her.
Without a word, he removed part of his armor and sat heavily on the chair nearby.
Alyna turned away.
She had no interest in speaking with him.
For several moments, silence filled the tent.
Then Sarmon stood and approached her.
Alyna stiffened immediately.
"What do you want?" she asked.
No answer. He sat beside her. Far too close.
The scent of alcohol mixed with leather and steel surrounded him.
Alyna instinctively moved away.
Sarmon reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face.
The touch made her flinch.
"Don't touch me."
Her voice came out sharper than intended.
Sarmon simply stared at her.
His expression unreadable.
Then his hand moved again.
The moment his fingers touched her skin—
A vision exploded inside Alyna's mind.
Her breath caught.
The world vanished.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Then images appeared.
Blood.
Fire.
Screams.
A battlefield covered in bodies.
Wolves fighting desperately against impossible odds.
She saw Sarmon.
His armor drenched in blood.
His eyes wild.
His movements desperate.
Not victorious.
Desperate.
Then the vision shifted.
Alyna found herself standing before him.
Weak. Injured. Unable to move.
Sarmon stood directly in front of her.
His face was covered with wounds.
His breathing ragged.
And then,
His hand rose.
A blade flashed.
Pain exploded through her chest.
Alyna gasped.
The vision shattered.
She returned to reality with a violent jerk.
Her heart hammered against her ribs.
The tent reappeared around her.
The chains.
The bed.
The dim lantern light.
Sarmon was still sitting beside her.
Watching.
Studying her reaction.
Alyna stared at him.
Horror filled her eyes.
Because she had finally seen it.
Not a possibility.
Not a vague glimpse.
A clear moment.
A future.
The future.
Sarmon was going to kill her.
The realization hit harder than anything she had seen before.
All this time, she had feared death.
Now she had witnessed it.
The exact moment. The exact man.
The exact end she had been running from.
"Alyna."
Sarmon's voice pulled her back.
She looked at him.
He frowned slightly.
"What did you see?"
Alyna's lips trembled.
For the first time since her capture, genuine fear gripped her heart.
Because she now understood something terrifying.
Her death wasn't waiting somewhere far away.
It was here. And it was wearing the face of the man sitting beside her.