15

15
Madden’s pov.

I found her pacing the Luna’s chambers, eyes red-rimmed, her body taut with defiance. Always defiance. Even broken by grief, she still looked at me as if I were the executioner. As if I hadn’t already drowned a thousand times in the pain she carved into me.

“You think glaring at me will hide it?” I said, stepping inside. My voice echoed off the marble, low and sharp.

She froze, her hands curling at her sides. “Hide what?”

“The bond. The way it claws at you every time I’m near.”

Her mouth twisted, venomous. “All I feel near you is disgust.”

A lie. I could hear her heartbeat betray her. Could smell the tremor of her wolf under her skin. She wanted to rip me apart just as much as she wanted to fall to her knees.

I closed the distance, slow, deliberate, until I stood inches from her. She had to crane her neck back to meet my eyes. “Don’t test me, Nadine. I’ve given you more mercy than you deserve.”

Her laugh was hollow, broken. “Mercy? You dragged me here, locked me in your dungeon, and paraded me before your council like a criminal. That’s mercy to you?”

The words pierced, because she wasn’t wrong. But the image of Seraphine, cold, lifeless, flashed before my eyes, and the rage swallowed everything.

“You killed her,” I snarled, grabbing her chin. She tried to wrench away, but I held her fast. “You ran from me when I needed you most. You rejected me. You left me feral.”

Her breath hitched, but she didn’t look away. “I didn’t kill her, Madden. That blood is on your hands, not mine.”

The bond flared between us, hot and merciless. Her words burned, but so did her nearness. I hated the way her scent calmed the monster in me. I hated the way my wolf clawed at me to take her, mark her, bind her.

I shoved her back. She staggered against the bedpost, glaring with that fire I both despised and craved.

“You will pay,” I said, my voice quiet now, lethal. “For every scar you left on me. For every night I tore the earth apart looking for you. For every drop of blood that stains my hands because you weren’t there to stop me.”

Her lips parted, as if she would argue, spit more venom, but I silenced it with a glare.

“You think you hate me?” I leaned closer, close enough that my breath ghosted against her cheek. “I will make you understand true hatred. I will make you live it, until you beg for what you claim to despise.”

Her eyes shone with tears she refused to shed. She whispered, almost too soft to hear, “Then you’re no better than the monster they all say you are.”

The words cut. Deep.

I straightened, turning before she could see the flicker of something human in my eyes. I couldn’t afford humanity with her. Not now.

At the door, I paused. “You belong here, whether you accept it or not. And until you finally bow, Nadine…” I let the silence hang, heavy as iron chains. “…I will not rest.”

Then I left her standing there, trembling, and swore to myself that if she thought grief and rage were her weapons, she hadn’t yet seen mine.

Her breath brushed against my lips.

For one reckless second, I leaned in, close enough that the bond howled through my veins, close enough to taste the salt of her tears on the air. My wolf roared, clawing, demanding I take what was mine, mark her, claim her, end this torment.

But I stopped.

The fury seared hotter than the bond. The memory of Seraphine’s lifeless body slammed into me like a blade to the chest. Nadine had chosen this, chosen to reject me, chosen to leave me drowning. How dare she stand here, trembling, looking at me as though I were the one undoing her?

I tore myself away, chest heaving, fists clenched so tightly my claws threatened to rip through my skin.

Her lips parted, her eyes wide, betraying the truth her mouth would never speak. She had felt it. She had wanted it. And it enraged me.

“No,” I growled, forcing myself to turn my back to her. My voice was ice, my control hanging by a thread. “You don’t get the mercy of solitude anymore.”

She stiffened. “What?”

I faced her again, letting every ounce of my authority bleed into the air, thick and undeniable. “You will not sleep alone. From tonight onward, you stay in my chambers. Where can I see you? Where you belong.”

Her eyes widened, horror flickering across her face. “I won’t, ”

“You will.” My voice cracked like a whip, sharp and final. “Defy me again, and I’ll chain you to the bedpost myself.”

She flinched, her wolf stirring beneath her skin, caught between fear and defiance. The bond pulsed, viciously alive between us, as though it rejoiced at my cruelty.

I stepped closer, my words low, lethal. “You thought you could run from me. Hide with humans. Pretend you weren’t mine. Those days are over, Nadine. You sleep under my roof. In my bedchamber. Where the bond cannot be denied.”

Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her nails digging into her palms until they drew blood. The sight of it twisted something inside me, but I buried it deep. I couldn’t falter, not with her.

“Do you understand me?” I asked.

Silence.

I seized her chin, forcing her to look up at me. The fury in her eyes almost masked the tremor of her lips. Almost.

“Yes,” she spat finally, the word like broken glass.

A cruel smirk tugged at my mouth. Not triumph. Never triumph. Just survival.

“Good,” I murmured, releasing her abruptly. “Get used to it. You wanted to leave me in darkness, Nadine. Now you’ll live in mine.”

I turned and strode to the door before I betrayed myself again, before the bond dragged me back to her mouth, her scent, her trembling body.

I slammed it shut behind me, but the echo of her ragged breathing haunted me down the corridor.