Chapter Five

I woke up to silence. The air was still and it didn't take me long to realize I was lying on a soft bed, covered in a blanket. I shot up and glanced at my surroundings, stinging pain shooting through my limbs.

I gritted my teeth as I looked from the dim lamps that hung by the wall to the velvet armchair by the corner. The room was well-furnished with a cream-colored dresser that held a delicate silver mirror.

I pushed my legs from under the blanket and set them on the plush carpet as I got up from the bed.

Confusion marred my brows and I walked around the room looking to see any sign to give me a hint of where I was. I could barely recall anything but I vividly remember a man’s arms and that he’d called me by my last name.

Was I in his home? Who was he? And why had looked at me with such loathing last night?

I pulled the doorknob and stepped outside of the room into the hallway.

“You are awake, at last,” a deep voice rumbled from behind me.

I turned around—It was his eyes that captured me first, two sets of the color of stormy seas that drew people in with their depths. He was tall, staggering so, well built, and seemed at ease in his body with sharp jawlines and a perfectly straight nose. His presence was commanding, waves of power and regality rippled from him, his aura magnetic and confident in the way he carried himself.

He was dressed in black pants and a shirt, his toned body displayed. He was leaning against a pillar, his arms were folded across his chest, muscles bulging from them, and my eyes caught the dark ink swirling on the inside of his arm.

“Who are you?” I croaked, my throat dark and scratchy. I ignored how good he looked and forced my eyes back to his face to see he was watching me keenly.

“Rowan,” he simply said. His voice was rich and husky and it stirred something in me, his eyes on the other hand were cold.

I swallowed. “You saved me last night,” I recounted, my voice barely above a whisper.

Rowan approached me, his steps calculating and powerful. “Don't get it into your head that I saved you out of compassion, Wild Wolf. The only reason I came to your help was because you might one day prove useful to me.”

His words were sharp and unhesitant and they slammed me right in the chest, cutting through me like a knife. He knew I was a Wild Wolf and that was the only reason he’d saved me—to one day use me for whatever twisted reason he had in mind.

“I am not going to be your pawn!” I retorted, defiance coating my tone. “So you might as well get rid of whatever…”

Rowan cut me off, his expression stoic and unaffected. “Perhaps not, but you owe me, Reed, and I very much intend to collect my debt.”

“You know me,” I said. It was not a question, this was the second time he was addressing me with my last name and it wasn't accidental.

Rowan’s stormy eyes darkened and I saw a myriad of emotions flicker through them in rapid sessions before he blinked them off, replacing them with nothingness.

“Get back into your room,” he ordered. “You will only come out when I allow you to.”

Who the hell did this man think he was? I opened my mouth to say something when I heard laughter from a few distance away and it didn't take long for a small group to appear at the top of the stairs.

Two men and one woman stopped, watching Rowan and me like we were a strange painting they'd just come across.

“Scarlett Reed?” One of the men barked, his expression hardening.

I heard Rowan mutter a string of curses under his breath just as the other man barreled toward me.

“What the fuck is she doing here, Rowan?” He asked.

In the closer distance, he seemed distinctively familiar but as hard as I struggled, I couldn’t for the life of me place him and it didn't take a genius to see that this man, this stranger knew me and evidently detested me.

“That's enough,” Rowan said, a dangerous edge to the calmness in his tone.

“You will not tell me what is enough!” He yelled. “I asked you a question, what the hell is she doing here?”

The man turned to me, fire brimming in his eyes as he took a few steps my way. I felt my wolf stir at his proximity and a new sense of fear enveloped me. If my wolf took over, I knew without a doubt that every single person here would be left a lifeless, bloodied mess.

“You killed my brother!” he said, shoving me. “Caspian loved you with everything in him. He loved you from the moment he knew what the word meant and you ripped him apart and killed him!”

Shock paralyzed me and I could only watch, my jaw slacking. My face drained of color and cold sweats broke out on my face as I managed to stumble backward, shaken. My legs trembled, threatening to buckle under my weight.

The strange man who was enraged at me was Asher, Caspian’s exiled older brother and the former heir to the Moonlake’s Alpha position.

Rowan grabbed Asher by the collar, jerking him away from me as he slammed him against the wall. The muscles bulged through his shirt and I watched in horror as Rowan threw a punch, landing squarely on Asher’s nose, letting out a thud that had me flinching.

“Get him out of here and lock him up until he comes back to his senses!” Rowan barked out an order at the other man who’d been watching.

“Yes, Alpha,” The man said and I could only stare in horror as he roughly hurled a sobbing Asher away.

“I didn't mean to,” I said, turning to Rowan. “He has to know that I loved Caspian…”

“You killed people, Reed, get over that!” Rowan sneered, annoyance etched on his expression. “We've all killed people and we won't stop now. Go back into your room and wait until I tell you to come out.”

“Who the hell do you think you are to give me orders?” I yelled, the words spewing out before I could stop them.

Rowan took a few steps toward me and despite every fiber of my body yelling at me to back down, I pressed my feet to the floor and hardened my gaze against his until he was a few breaths away from me. His eyes bore into mine, the irises flashing with a venomous intensity that made my skin crawl.

His breath was cold against my face, a slapping reminder of the contempt in his eyes. The air between us seemed to vibrate with dark, twisted energy as if our mutual hatred was a living thing that pulsed with its own malicious life.

“I am the Alpha here, Scarlett, and my word is law,” Rowan said, his words leaving a cold sting in its trail.

He turned to the last remaining woman. “Lock her up! She is my prisoner until I say otherwise.”

And with that, Rowan strode away, the deafening sound of his steps echoing through the quiet hallway but what terrified me, rattling my bones was that despite Rowan’s obvious threats, my wolf made no move to defy him.