Chapter 4 Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
THE LUNA'S CAGE
ZARIAH NIGHTBORNE POV
The cold bit into my skin first—sharp, unrelenting, like teeth sinking into flesh. My eyes fluttered open, heavy and resistant, as though something had sewn them shut while I slept.
Slept? No. I was drugged.
The memories crashed back in violent waves. Kael's betrayal. The organization turning their backs on father's legacy. The injection. Her face—the one who stabbed me from behind.
Lena.
My jaw clenched as rage bubbled beneath my skin, hot and vicious. I tried to move, to stand, to do anything—but my wrists jerked back with a metallic clang that echoed through the space.
Chains.
I was chained.
My breath hitched as I looked down. Heavy iron shackles circled my wrists, bolted to the stone floor beneath me. The metal was cold, but it burned—like touching ice and fire at the same time.
Silver.
The realization made my stomach twist. I'd heard of it in passing, in whispers among the underworld. Silver weakened wolves. It was poison to our kind.
Our kind.
I wasn't human anymore. Not fully. Maybe I never was.
I forced myself to look around, ignoring the throbbing ache in my head and the way my body felt like it had been torn apart and stitched back together wrong.
The room was massive—stone walls, no windows, just flickering torches casting long shadows that danced like ghosts. It smelled of earth and blood and something else. Something wild.
A throne sat at the far end of the room, carved from black stone and draped in crimson fabric. Empty. Waiting.
"You're awake."
The voice came from the shadows, smooth and cold, like a blade sliding out of its sheath. I snapped my head toward the sound, my body tensing despite the chains.
A man stepped into the light.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dressed in all black, his presence filled the room like smoke—thick, suffocating, impossible to ignore. His hair was dark, slicked back, and his eyes...
His eyes were amber. Glowing. Predatory.
He smiled, but it didn't reach those eyes.
"Welcome back, Luna."
I glared at him, my voice raw but steady. "Don't call me that."
He tilted his head, amused. "What should I call you then? Zariah Nightborne? The Silent Storm?" He chuckled darkly. "Or should I use your real name—the one your mother gave you before she died screaming?"
My blood ran cold. "Who the hell are you?"
He stepped closer, hands clasped behind his back, every movement calculated, controlled. "Lucien Blackthorn. Son of the Alpha Don. And as of three days ago..." He paused, his smile widening. "Your fiancé."
I laughed—harsh, bitter. "You're insane."
"Am I?" He crouched down in front of me, close enough that I could see the flecks of gold in his amber eyes. "Your mother promised you to my family before you were even born. A blood pact. Unbreakable. You were always meant to be mine, Zariah."
"I don't belong to anyone." I spat the words like venom.
He reached out, his fingers brushing a strand of hair away from my face. I jerked back, but the chains stopped me. His smile never faltered.
"You will."
I wanted to rip his throat out. The urge was so strong, so visceral, that my hands trembled. I could feel something stirring inside me—something dark, something dangerous.
My wolf.
She was there, beneath my skin, clawing to get out. I could feel her fury, her hunger, her need to destroy.
But the silver held her back. Held us both back.
Lucien stood, brushing off his pants as though he hadn't just threatened to own me. "You're probably wondering why you're here. Why I didn't just kill you."
"The thought crossed my mind."
He smirked. "You're worth more alive. Your bloodline carries something no other wolf has—the Luna Code. The power to command any wolf, bend them to your will, make them kneel." He leaned against the throne, arms crossed. "But that power only awakens fully when you mate. Willingly."
My stomach turned. "So what? You're going to force me?"
"Force?" He laughed, shaking his head. "No, Zariah. I'm going to make you choose me. Because the alternative..." His expression darkened. "The alternative is watching everyone you've ever cared about die. Slowly. Painfully."
I said nothing. My mind raced, searching for a way out, a weakness, anything.
"Your little organization?" he continued, circling me like a predator. "Already under my control. Kael made sure of that. He's been working for me for months."
My heart twisted, but I kept my face blank. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
"And your precious Lena?" He grinned. "She's been mine since the beginning. Every secret you told her, every plan you made—she fed it all to me."
The words cut deeper than any blade. I wanted to scream, to cry, to break—but I wouldn't. Not here. Not in front of him.
"You're lying."
"Am I?" He pulled out his phone, swiping through it before turning the screen toward me.
It was a video. Lena, sitting in this very room, laughing as she recounted every detail of my life. My routines. My weaknesses. My trust.
She sold me out.
My chest tightened, but I forced myself to breathe. To think.
"Why?" I whispered, my voice barely audible. "Why go through all this?"
Lucien pocketed his phone, his expression unreadable. "Because you're the key, Zariah. The key to controlling every pack, every territory, every wolf under the moon. With you by my side, I'll be unstoppable."
"And if I refuse?"
He smiled—cold, merciless. "Then I'll break you until you don't."
Silence stretched between us, heavy and suffocating. My mind spun, searching for options, for hope, for anything.
Then I felt it.
A shift. A crack. Something inside me breaking free.
The silver burned, but I pushed past it, focusing on the strange sensation coursing through my veins. My vision blurred, and for a moment, I saw through the walls—saw the guards outside, saw the corridors leading out, saw freedom.
Ghost-shifting.
I didn't know what it was or how I knew the name, but I felt it. A power no wolf should have.
Lucien noticed the change in my expression. His eyes narrowed. "What are you—"
I didn't let him finish.
I closed my eyes and let the power surge. My body flickered—solid, then translucent, then solid again. The chains rattled, but they didn't hold.
For a split second, I was weightless. Untouchable.
I phased through the shackles and lunged.
But Lucien was faster.
He caught my wrist mid-strike, slamming me back against the stone wall. The impact knocked the air from my lungs, and the ghost-shift shattered, leaving me solid and vulnerable.
He pinned me there, his face inches from mine, his breath hot against my skin.
"Impressive," he murmured, his voice low, dangerous. "But not enough."
I glared at him, defiant even as pain radiated through my body. "I will never be yours."
He leaned closer, his lips brushing my ear. "We'll see."
Then he released me, letting me crumple to the ground. He turned toward the door, pausing only to glance back.
"Get some rest, Luna. Tomorrow, your real training begins."
The door slammed shut, and the torches flickered.
I was alone.
But I wasn't broken.
Not yet.
I pressed my forehead against the cold stone, my breath ragged, my body screaming.
But my mind was clear.
I would find a way out. I would make them all pay.
Kael. Lena. Lucien.
Every single one of them.
Because I wasn't just Zariah Nightborne anymore.
I was the last blood Luna.
And I was done being