At the cage
Aeron POV
I couldn’t move.
The iron shackles cut into my wrists, chaining me to the thick bars of the prison wall. My arms were stretched unnaturally high, muscles trembling from exhaustion. My body ached, covered in blood, dirt, and the sting of fresh wounds that refused to clot. The searing pain in my side made every breath a battle, sharp daggers carving deeper into my ribs with each inhale. The once–gleaming stone floors of the palace dungeons were now streaked with my blood, a dark trail marking every place I had fallen, fought, and been dragged.
I had shifted. I remembered the moment clearly—the beast inside me tearing free beneath the pull of the full moon, claws and teeth splitting through my skin, fury blazing hotter than fire. But even in that primal power, I hadn’t been strong enough. They had taken me. Bound me. And now, like a caged animal, I was stripped of strength and thrown into darkness.
The silence pressed down on me, broken only by the slow drip of water somewhere in the distance. Then it came—the sound of heavy footsteps echoing down the stone corridor. Measured. Confident. Each one a hammer pounding closer.
I knew that scent before I even saw him. The bitter, foul stench of false piety and corruption.
Eleazar.
He stepped into view, pale face flickering in the torchlight, eyes gleaming with hatred and hunger. His lips pulled back in a grin that showed too many teeth, the expression more beast than man, though no wolf blood ran in his veins.
“Well, well…” His voice was slick, oiled with cruelty. “The mighty wolf, chained and bleeding.” He chuckled, low and sharp, a sound that made my skin crawl. “I should’ve known your blood would betray you.”
I forced my head up, meeting his gaze with a glare, even as my vision swam and my body sagged under the chains. My throat was raw, scraped from earlier screams, and the taste of iron coated my tongue. Still, I forced the words out.
“Your lies are ending, Eleazar.” My voice cracked, but the steel in it remained. “You’ll hang for what you’ve done.”
His smile twisted, cruelty dripping from every angle of his face as he stepped closer. Without warning, his hand shot out, strong and practiced, clamping around my throat. He pressed hard, cutting off air, his nails biting into my skin. My vision blurred at the edges, stars dancing before my eyes, but I refused to look away.
“You think you can threaten me, beast?” he hissed, his face inches from mine. His breath stank of wine and rot. “You, who betrayed your king, your people, your kind?”
I summoned what little strength I had and spat. The blood and saliva struck his cheek, crimson against his pale skin.
He froze for a heartbeat, then reeled back in fury.
“I’d see you burn before I bow to you,” I rasped, my voice scraping low and harsh.
His expression contorted, monstrous with rage.
From his robe, he drew a blade—small, thin, wickedly sharp. The torchlight kissed its edge, making it gleam like a fang. I barely had time to brace myself before he drove it into my thigh.
The pain was searing—white-hot agony racing through my body. Blood poured freely, thick and warm, staining the stone beneath me. My cry tore from my throat, strangled and guttural, my head falling forward as darkness threatened to swallow me whole.
Eleazar leaned in, his lips brushing my ear, his voice low and venomous.
“You’ll die, Aeron. But not tonight. Oh, no…” He drew out the words like a lover savoring a kiss. “The second blood moon rises soon. And if I can’t have the cursed girl, I’ll take your blood instead.”
He pulled the blade free in one quick motion, and I gasped as fire streaked up my leg.
“Imagine it…” His eyes gleamed fever-bright, his smile wicked. “An Alpha blood sacrificed under the crimson moon. The gods will reward me beyond measure. Power. Dominion. Immortality, perhaps.”
He laughed. The sound didn’t belong in any human throat. It echoed against the dungeon walls, jagged and sharp, until it was all I could hear.
“You’re a beast, boy,” Eleazar sneered, wiping my blood from the blade with a silk cloth, as though my life were nothing more than a stain. “A traitor beast. And I’ll enjoy watching the light drain from your eyes.”
I forced my head up, my body trembling, pain burning like fire in my veins. Yet under the agony, a deeper fire smoldered, fierce and unyielding.
“You can chain my body,” I growled, my voice rough, broken, but defiant. “But the wolf inside me is awake now, priest. And it’s coming for you.”
For the first time, a shadow flickered across his face, quickly masked by arrogance. He stepped back, tucking the blade into his robe, his smug grin stretching wider.
“We’ll see, Aeron.” He turned, his robes sweeping against the stone floor like the hiss of a serpent. “We’ll see.”
The cell door creaked open, groaned shut, and slammed with finality. The lock clanked into place. Silence returned, heavy and suffocating.
I sagged against the chains, my head falling back against the cold stone wall. My chest rose and fell in uneven rhythm, every breath a battle, every movement a storm of pain.
But beneath it all, something stirred. Something deeper than wounds, chains, or stone walls. Fury. And a promise I carved into my own heart with fire.
The second blood moon would rise. And when it did, no chains forged by mortal hands would hold me.
I would break free. I would tear this kingdom down if I had to.
For Selene. For Luke. For every lie Eleazar had whispered into the ears of kings.
I closed my eyes, feeling the call of the moon even through the thick walls, a pulse in my veins, a distant howl carried on blood and memory.
Not yet. Not tonight.