Chapter 82: Shackled Cravings

The moon had climbed high above the Blood Moon territory, bathing the pack house in a silver glow — but inside its stone heart, two souls writhed under the chains of their own torment.

Livia’s chamber was sealed by layers of steel and spellwork, tucked deep in the eastern wing where no one could scent her too easily. But even there, the air was thick with the sweetness of her pheromones — a maddening, intoxicating fragrance that seeped through the cracks of the walls, tempting any wolf who came too close.

She was no longer on the floor. They had chained her to the iron frame of a heavy bed — silver-coated shackles bound her wrists above her head, another set locked around her ankles, and a thick enchanted restraint coiled around her waist to stop her from thrashing too violently. It wasn’t cruel.

It was protection — from herself, from anyone who might be lured by the scent, and from the hunger that was rapidly consuming her sanity.

“Ah—” Livia gasped, her back arching against the sheets as another wave of unbearable heat surged through her veins. Her skin burned, her body trembling, slick with sweat. The chains clinked with every desperate movement, but they held firm.

“Please…” she whimpered, her voice raw and broken. “Make it stop… make it stop…”

Her body craved touch — any touch — to soothe the ache raging inside her. Every breath she took only made the scent stronger, her rut deepening with every passing hour.

Tears streaked down her flushed cheeks as her instincts screamed for her to break free, to find him, to let her mate ease the fire.

But she couldn’t. She wouldn’t.

Not like this.

Across the fortress, in the heavily west wing, a very different storm raged.

Aldus — or rather, Alaric — was bound in a way no Alpha ever had been before. Layer upon layer of steel chains coiled around his massive frame, glowing faintly with runes etched by the pack witches to hold even the strongest of Lycans.

One thick collar locked around his neck, anchored to the stone wall. His wrists were chained separately to the ground, spread wide apart. Another set of restraints dug into his waist, anchoring his core, while the last two shackles locked his legs down.

And yet, even bound like a beast, he fought.

“Mate!” he roared, the guttural snarl echoing off the stone walls. His muscles bulged and veins pulsed as he yanked against the restraints, the steel groaning under his sheer strength.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The sound of metal straining reverberated through the chamber. His claws scraped against the floor as he tried to drag himself forward, golden eyes burning with feral hunger.

His chest heaved with every ragged breath, sweat and fury mixing with the primal needed radiating off him.

Outside the chamber, more than twenty pack warriors stood guard, weapons drawn, their wolves restless under the assault of the intoxicating scent leaking even through the heavy doors.

Some had shifted halfway without realizing it, their eyes glowing, fangs bared — but they held their ground.

“Stay alert!” Dominick barked, pacing before the sealed door. “If he breaks free, we won’t have a second chance.”

Inside, Alaric snarled again, thrashing violently as the scent of her — sweet, wild, his — teased his senses. He could feel her. Every fiber of his being knew where she was.

It was primal, deeper than logic, older than language. It screamed one thing: Claim. Protect. Breed.

“Livia…” His voice cracked as the beast’s rage briefly gave way to something more human. He lowered his head, chains rattling as his body trembled. “I want you…”

And on the other side of the fortress, Livia felt it.

Her fingers clenched the sheets as the ghost of his voice brushed her mind — not through the bond, but through the ache that tied their souls together.

Her heart twisted painfully, desire clashing with heartbreak, instinct with defiance.

“I won’t…” she whispered hoarsely. “I won’t crawl to you…this is wrong. We shouldn't be the second fated mate”

But even as she said it, her hips shifted helplessly, chasing a phantom touch. Her body betrayed her with every shallow breath, every tremor, every moan she tried to bite back.

“Please…” she gasped again, her voice breaking into the silence. “Someone… help me…”

The night dragged on, slow and merciless.

One room echoed with feral roars and the sound of chains straining against impossible strength. The other trembled with muffled sobs and the scent of desperate, unfulfilled needs.

Both shackled. Both breaking.

And both dangerously close to losing themselves completely.

The world outside those two chambers might as well not have existed. The walls, the guards, the spells — they were nothing but a thin layer of reality standing between two forces that refused to be contained.

Livia’s heartbeat thundered in her ears, faster and louder with every passing second. The air in her chamber was heavy, saturated with her scent — so sweet, so powerful, that even she was getting drunk on it.

Her lungs burned as she struggled to breathe through the heat, her body slick with sweat, every nerve screaming for the one thing she had sworn to deny.

Her chains rattled violently as she thrashed against them, instinct taking over.

Find him.

Touch him.

Claim him.

“NO!” she sobbed, shaking her head so hard it hurt. “I won’t— I won’t go to him!”

But her wolf wasn’t listening anymore.

> “We need him”, Lilly hissed, her voice deeper, more primal than Livia had ever heard it. ”The bond wants him. Our body wants him. Can’t you feel it? He’s calling us…”

Of course she could feelt it. But she can't accept it!.

Across the fortress, Alaric’s world had narrowed to a single point. It wasn’t the room. It wasn’t the chains biting into his flesh. It wasn’t even the twenty armed warriors standing ready outside his door. It was her.

Her scent.

Her heartbeat.

Her voice echoed in his mind.

“MATE!” he roared again, throwing his weight forward with a violent surge. The chains screamed against the pressure, dust and stone raining from the ceiling as the reinforced wall behind him cracked.

“Hold, Alaric!” Sebastian shouted from the hallway outside the chamber. “You’ll tear the whole wing down!”

But the Lycan wasn’t listening. His pupils had blown wide, his chest heaving as his claws tore long gashes into the stone. The beast inside him was no longer caged — only restrained. And even those restraints were failing.

Then it happened.