Chapter 13 FIRE MEETS ICE
The door slammed open before dawn, cracking the silence like a weapon drawn from its sheath.
I barely had time to reach for the furs before two guards stepped inside. Their boots struck the stone with disciplined force. Between them stood Damien Voss. His coat was dark, his collar loose enough to reveal the curve of a scar at the base of his throat. Cold light caught his eyes, turning them into two sharpened blades of silver.
Sleeping in enemy territory was not meant to be comforting, but this felt excessive.
“Rise,” he said.
His voice carried a quiet command that wrapped around the room with the weight of inevitability.
I stayed seated. “Do you always wake your prisoners this way, or am I special”
His gaze moved over me with that unreadable calm I was quickly learning was a choice, not an accident. He considered the question for longer than necessary.
“Special,” he said. “Most prisoners know better than to provoke me before breakfast.”
A smirk tugged at my mouth, but I forced myself to stand anyway. The cold floor bit into my bare feet. “Then perhaps I am not most prisoners.”
Something flickered in his eyes. A barely-there ripple of amusement that vanished as quickly as it formed.
He gestured to the guards. They left without protest, closing the door with a solid thud that echoed through the room.
“I have questions,” he said.
“You always do.”
“And you always avoid them.”
I folded my arms. “Maybe because I owe you nothing.”
The air tightened. His aura rolled forward in a measured wave, brushing my skin with cold static that lifted the hairs along my arms.
“Careful,” he said softly. “In my land, defiance carries consequences.”
My heart pounded, but I kept my chin lifted. “So does arrogance.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “You do not know when to yield.”
“No,” I said. “Not anymore.”
The door opened again before he could respond.
A tall man with ash-blond hair entered. A scar carved a rough line down his jaw. His shoulders were broader than any warrior I had seen, and his expression held the weary sharpness of someone who had faced war head-on and still walked away.
“Alpha,” he said, bowing lightly. “Forgive the interruption, but this cannot wait.” His gaze flicked toward me, hostile and suspicious. “Her pulse is unstable. The power is leaking through the cuffs again.”
My spine straightened. “Witch girl”
Garron’s grip on the syllables felt like an accusation.
Damien did not answer. He stepped closer. His eyes dropped to the pale silver veins glowing beneath my skin. The cuffs hissed. Thin trails of smoke curled off the metal.
Garron watched with a scowl carved deep into his features. “We should destroy her before it spreads. Moonfire does not belong among wolves. It is a curse.”
A cold shiver cut through my ribs. Destroy her.
Damien did not look away from me. “Leave us.”
“Alpha,” Garron began, tone edged with warning.
“That is an order.”
Garron hesitated, resentment burning hot in his stare. Then he turned and left the room, muttering about cursed wolves and divine punishment under his breath.
The door shut again.
Damien’s gaze lingered on the glow beneath my skin. “Does it hurt”
I swallowed. “Sometimes.”
“Show me.”
My eyebrows rose. “Show you what. The pain”
“The power.”
I shook my head. “You would not understand.”
He took another step toward me. “Make me.”
The challenge in his voice struck like flint against steel. My wolf bristled, unsure whether to fight or flee. I clenched my fists.
“You do not get to demand pieces of me simply because you are curious.”
He moved without warning. One hand shot forward, closing around my wrist. His fingers pressed against the silver cuff.
The world fractured.
Heat roared through my spine. Moonfire surged through my veins, breaking past the restraints in a burst of wild light. Silver flames spiraled outward, swirling in a wave that crawled across the stone floor. The room vibrated with energy. The torches flared high, casting frantic shadows against the walls.
Damien held on.
Fire raced up his arm, burning through the sleeve of his coat. Smoke rose from the charred fabric. I felt the heat blistering his skin.
He did not release me.
“Enough,” I gasped. “You will burn.”
He leaned closer. His eyes reflected the light with an eerie glow. “So the rumors were true.”
“Let me go.”
“You are the Goddess’s mistake.”
The words struck harder than the flames.
The power faltered. My breath broke apart. I stared at him, my pulse spiraling into a tight knot of dread.
He released my wrist. The Moonfire died with a sharp hiss. His coat still smoked. The skin beneath was red. He brushed the ash from his sleeve with startling calm.
“I did not ask for this,” I whispered.
“I did not say you did.”
His voice held no pity. Just truth sharpened into something cold.
“But if you think pain excuses power, you are wrong. Power reshapes the world around it. It demands something in return.”
“I watched it destroy everything I loved,” I said. My voice cracked with a tremor I hated.
Damien’s expression shifted by a fraction. “Kael Draven.”
I stiffened. “Do not say his name.”
“You still love him.”
“I hate him.”
“Same thing.”
The words hit like a slap. Rage and heartbreak tangled inside my chest. I turned away, swallowing hard.
“Why do you care,” I asked.
He stepped closer. His shadow merged with mine on the floor. “Because whatever you are, Selene Thorne, you have become the most dangerous force in my territory.”
His voice lowered.
“And if the Goddess created you, then perhaps she created me to contain you.”
Our eyes locked.
Fire met ice.
Light met shadow.
The space between us tightened until breathing became a deliberate act.
Then he stepped away.
“Prepare a training space,” he told the guards who had returned. “Somewhere isolated. No one enters without my command.”
I stared at him. “Training. You want to train me”
He did not look back. “You are a weapon. And I do not tolerate weapons I cannot control.”
The door slammed behind him.
I stood in the quiet room, my wrist burning from where he had held me. Smoke curled across the floor. My wolf’s voice rose inside my mind, trembling.
He did not fear you.
“No,” I said softly.