Chapter 20 Closer Than Chains
Isabella’s POV
I lay curled on the small, one hand resting lightly over my stomach. The room was quiet except for the distant noises heard outside the hallway.
That was when the healer’s voice began to ring in my head over and over again. “You carry the Alpha’s heir now,” she had said, her eyes raking all over me with utter pity. “Risk not doing this and harm will come to you and the baby.”
Protect my baby from what?
The words kept circling in my head like vultures.
From Landon? From Clara?
Not to talk or this entire pack that saw me as nothing but a filthy rogue
“Oh, God…” I muttered to myself than anyone in the room, still pressing a hand gently against my belly. A tiny life was growing inside me, half him, half me.
That thought alone made my throat tight with fear and something else I couldn’t afford to name yet—
CREAK!
The sound of the door creaking open instantly shatters through my thoughts. I sat up quickly, my heart jumping as two servant women began to make their way in.
They didn’t even look at me or utter a word. One went straight to the small chest in the corner and began pulling out the few clothes I owned, the other already gathering the folded blanket from the edge of the bed.
“What… what are you doing?” I asked, swinging my legs off the bed. “W…why are you taking my things?”
No response.
They ignored me completely, the first woman still folding the dress neatly, and then carried it out the door. The second followed with the blanket.
“Wait..please!” I stood up fast, ignoring the slight dizziness in my head, “Can you tell me what’s happening. Is something wrong?”
Still no response.
I opened my mouth to speak again, stepping toward them, when a heavy presence quickly filled the doorway.
Landon.
He stood in front of the door now, the expression on his face completely unreadable. The servants bowed low the moment they saw him and hurried out with the last of my belongings, leaving us alone.
“A…are you,” I forced the words out, wrapping my arms around myself as though he was about to hurt me. “Are you the one who told them to take my clothes? Why?”
Landon stepped inside fully and closed the door behind him, the sound echoing across the entire room.
“I instructed them to move your things because you’re going to start staying in a bigger room from today onwards. The one closer to mine.”
For a terrifying second, I thought I’d misheard him.
Closer to his room?
My mind immediately began to race with different thoughts, flashing back to every brutal moment in his bed, every time he had used my body and left me shaking.
“Why?” The question slipped out before I could stop it. “Why would you want me closer?”
Landon doesn’t respond the right way, instead, he closes the distance between us in slow, deliberate steps. I stepped back instinctively to keep distance between us, but ke kept coming forward. Step by step, until my back hit the stone wall with nowhere left to go.
“Please….” I choked out quickly, my heart pounding so loud I swear he could hear it, “Don’t hurt the baby or me.”
“Hurt you?” A low, dark laughter tears out of him, nothing kind or funny about it. “I’m not going to hurt you, little rogue. Or the child…not yet.”
Not yet?
What the hell did he mean by that?
“Then why move me to a room close to yours?” I whispered.
His hand came up instantly, caging me in as he leaned closer. “Because from today onward,” he hissed, leaning close until our lips brushed. “I’m keeping a much closer eye on you. Two guards will be posted outside your new door at all times, and locks will be installed outside your door. You won’t dare take a single step without me knowing.”
“You’re… locking me in, wh—“
“I know how much you despise me,” he cuts in coldly, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous whisper. “I can see it in my our eyes every time I touch you. You hate me enough that you might try to harm the child to spite me, or worse…wait until it’s born and try to run with my heir.”
“I wouldn’t—” I started, but the words died in my throat the second his cold stare lay on me.
“You would,” he said coldly. “Any desperate rogue in your situation would do the same thing. So I’m just simply making sure you don’t get the chance…”
“…from today onwards, you’ll be watched. Every meal, every movement, even the air you breathe near that child will be monitored. Consider it protection… for both of you.”
I wanted to open my mouth to argue, but the words died quickly. Why would I ever hurt an innocent baby, when this child was mine too?
Before I could realize anything, he turned as if to leave, shoulders tense. And quickly, relief washed over me for half a second.
Then he stopped.
Landon came back, closing the small distance between us until there was no inch of space between us now. I quickly dropped my gaze to the floor, unable to meet those brutal eyes but his fingers caught my chin and forced my head up until I had no choice but to look at him.
For a moment, something shifts in his cold expression for just a bit as his eyes drop to my nose, tracing the faint bruise that still lingered from yesterday when his grip had been too brutal.
“H…how is your nose now?” He asked quietly. Is it still bleeding? Does it hurt?”
Holy shit!
The question was so unexpected that it stole the air from my lungs immediately. I stood frozen at a spot, staring at him in utter shock mixed with disbelief.
Was I dreaming right now?
This was Landon — the same Alpha who had chained me, fucked me like a worthless sex toy, and treated me like property. And now he was asking about my nose with something that almost looked like… concern?
“I’m…” I swallowed hard, forcing the words out even though they didn’t want to come out. I’m fine, and it doesn’t bleed anymore.”
He held my gaze a moment longer, something that looked like vulnerability flickering there. Then, as if realizing what he had done, the cold, ruthless mask I was used to slammed back into place.
Without another word, he turned and walked out of the room, the door shutting behind him with a heavy thud. Meanwhile, I stayed pressed against the wall for a long time, my chest rising and falling heavily.
Was he starting to feel something for me?
I slid down the wall until I sat on the cold floor, my hands curled onto my knees.
He said it was to protect the baby.
But deep down, I was starting to wonder if he was also trying to protect himself… from whatever strange feeling was starting to crack through his iron control.
And I had no idea which possibility scared me more.