Chapter 72: The Shadow’s Game

Chapter 72: The Shadow’s Game


Fianna’s POV

The dungeon never slept.

Even when the torches guttered low and the air turned colder than ice, the silence pressed heavy against my ears, broken only by the drip of water and the restless scrape of rats across stone.

But tonight, silence didn’t come.

I felt him long before the door opened. His presence slithered down the corridor like smoke, choking the air, making my wolf rear and snarl inside me. Derek was near.

I tightened my fists, the chains rattling above me. Silver burned through my wrists again, but I welcomed the sting. Pain was real. Pain was mine. Pain reminded me I wasn’t broken yet.

The door groaned open. Light carved through the dark, spilling his shadow across the floor until it stretched toward me like a predator’s paw.

He stepped in slowly, not in a rush, as though savoring every second.

“Fianna.” His voice was low, soft—wrongly soft. Like he was saying my name in prayer.

I lifted my chin. “You’re wasting your time.”

He smiled faintly, stepping closer, boots echoing. “Time is all I have. And all you’ll have, if you keep clinging to your little rebellion.”

My wolf lunged at the sound of his voice, furious, demanding release. She wanted his throat between her teeth, wanted his blood in the dirt. But the silver chains held me, forcing me to breathe through clenched teeth.

Derek crouched in front of me, his eyes glinting like cold fire. “Do you know why I keep you here, instead of ending you?”

“I don’t care,” I said flatly.

His hand shot out, catching my chin with a force that made me bite my tongue. My head snapped back against the wall, pain exploding behind my skull. I refused to flinch, refused to let him see what it cost me.

“Because I want to study you,” he whispered, his face close, too close. “You’re not like the others. You survived Kael’s rejection, survived the forest, survived even when fate should have killed you. That makes you… fascinating.”

“You’re sick,” I hissed, spitting blood to the side.

His thumb brushed over my split lip. “Perhaps. But sickness breeds strength. And strength recognizes strength.”

My stomach twisted, but I met his gaze head-on. “You think chaining me here will make me yours? You don’t know me, Derek. I don’t break.”

Something flickered in his expression. Not anger. Amusement. Maybe admiration. His lips curved, but his eyes darkened.

“That’s what Kael thought too, once. And yet…” He leaned closer, voice dropping to a knife’s edge. “…he broke you, didn’t he?”

The words cut deeper than any chain. I tried to shove them away, but my wolf snarled in pain, the memory flashing sharp—Kael’s hand at my throat, Kael’s eyes full of ice, Kael’s words like poison.

I forced a laugh, harsh and bitter. “At least Kael didn’t have to lock me in a dungeon to face me.”

For the first time, Derek’s mask slipped. A shadow crossed his face, his jaw tightening. He stood abruptly, pacing the length of the dungeon like a caged beast. The air thickened, charged with his fury.

Then he turned, his aura slamming into me like a wall. Power rolled off him, suffocating, dark. “Kael is weak,” he spat. “He hides behind rules, bonds, fate. I don’t need fate. I take what I want.”

He stalked closer, towering over me. His voice dropped again, dangerous and soft. “And what I want is you.”

My chains rattled as I leaned forward, silver slicing into my wrists. My wolf surged, howling. My silver eyes burned in the dark.

“Then you’ll choke on disappointment,” I hissed.

He studied me for a long, heavy moment. Then, instead of striking me, he did something worse—he laughed. Low, rich, like the dungeon itself had bent to him.

“You’ll see, Fianna. Hate me, fight me, resist me. It only makes the bond stronger.”

Before I could snarl back, he reached into his coat and dropped something onto the ground between us.

A strip of dark fabric. Torn, stained faintly with blood.

My breath hitched. My wolf froze, then howled in recognition.

Kael’s scent.

My throat tightened as I stared at it. He had something of Kael’s.

Derek crouched low, his lips brushing near my ear. “He’s closer than you think. And when he comes, I’ll make sure you watch him fall.”

The door slammed as he left, leaving the dungeon darker than before.

My breath shook, but not from fear. From fury. From the storm inside me rising higher, louder, more uncontainable by the second.

The chains bit deeper into my wrists, but they wouldn’t hold me forever.

And when they broke, the Shadow Alpha would learn exactly what fire tasted like.