I should have known better than to talk to anyone when Alpha Zach was near. But I had let my guard down. Just for a mont. The sun was high, casting warm light over the training yard where so of the younger wolves practiced their stances. I had been passing through, clutching a small basket with herbs I’d gathered for the kitchen, when one of them a tall, sandy-haired wolf with kind eyes approached .
"Ellie, right?" he asked, offering a tentative smile. "I... I just wanted to say your cooking earlier was incredible. That mac and cheese? I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything like it."
I froze, the basket pressing against my hip. "How did you know about it? I asked looking suprised because I was very sure that the crazy Alpha eat everything and he made eat the last plate before we left the kitchen.
"Oh, I scrapped the pot, he said laughing. But he looked so earnest, so harmless, that I couldn’t help mumbling a quiet, "T-thank you."
He smiled wider, shifting on his feet as if unsure whether to say more. "If you ever need help carrying things, you can ask. Ogas shouldn’t be left struggling."
My lips parted, the faintest response on my tongue. I didn’t even realize how close he had stepped. His shadow brushed against mine. His voice, low but kind, brushed against my ears. And then the world shattered. The air split open with a sound that wasn’t sound at all it was fury incarnate. A shadow lood over us before I even turned. My instincts scread, my body locked, and the faint, horrifying scent of bloodlust curled through the training yard. Oh God it’s the Crazy Psycho. His presence crashed down like a storm breaking over the mountains. His aura slamd into so hard my knees nearly buckled. And then his voice no, not his voice. His thoughts. His inner world bood through my skull like thunder tearing the sky apart.
"Inner voice: Mine. Mine. Mine.nShe’s mine. How dare he touch her with words. Look at her. Breathe near her. HIS scent dares to touch her skin? I will peel it off. I’ll carve it off. I will tear him into ribbons until his shadow forgets her na.
The sandy-haired wolf barely had ti to turn. One second, the crazy psycho was standing a few feet away, his eyes glowing like molten steel, his jaw clenched with unholy rage. The next, there was movent so fast I couldn’t process it just a blur of muscle and violence.
A sickening sound split the air. A wet, tearing crack.I blinked once and the male wolf’s head was no longer on his shoulders. It rolled across the dirt, leaving a dark streak as it bounced to a stop beside the training post. His body collapsed like a sack of stones, twitching once, then going still. The world tilted sideways. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. Blood sprayed across the ground, splattering the hem of my dress. The sll tallic, thick clawed into my nostrils and wrapped around my throat like a noose. And Zach—Zach stood there, chest heaving, claws slick and dripping crimson. His eyes were fixed on . Not the corpse. Not the blood. . His inner voice roared like a beast rattling the bars of a cage.
"Inner voice: Dare to touch what’s mine. Dare to breathe near her. I warned them. I warned them ALL. She’s mine, she’s mine, she’s mine. My little toad. My trembling, beautiful toad. No one will speak to her. No one will look at her. I’ll tear their eyes out, their tongues, their hands. She belongs to . To .
A scream tore from my throat before I knew it. A raw, broken sound, echoing across the training yard. Wolves froze mid-movent. Every gaze swung toward us toward Zach, toward , toward the blood.
"A-A-Alpha My voice cracked, strangled by horror. My hands shook so violently the basket of herbs toppled to the ground, spilling green leaves into the dirt now soaked with red. But his eyes never softened. Not even for a second. He stepped closer, his boots squelching in blood, his expression unreadable. His jaw twitched, his nostrils flared.nScream for , toad. Scream louder. Let them hear who you belong to. Let them see. I’ll paint the whole yard with blood if I must. Your scream is beautiful. Your fear is mine. Your breath mine. If you faint, I’ll catch you. If you run, I’ll break your legs and keep you here. Mine. Mine. MINE.
I stumbled backward, my chest seizing, tears burning my eyes. The world blurred.
"Stay—stay away!" My own voice didn’t even sound like mine anymore.
But the crazy didn’t stop. He never stopped. His gaze pierced through , into , claiming without words, without touch. I couldn’t hold it anymore. The sll of blood, the image of the severed head, the madness radiating off him it all crashed into at once. The scream in my throat cut off. My vision tunneled. And then blackness swallowed whole.
Even as consciousness slipped, his furious inner voice clawed at , searing itself into my mind like fire branded into flesh.
"Inner voice: Silly toad wake up don’t leave . If she doesn’t wake, I will kill them all. One by one. Every wolf here. Every wolf in this cursed pack. I’ll stack their bodies until she opens her eyes. I’ll whisper her na into their screams until she breathes again. She’s mine. My beautiful, fragile toad. My oga. My eternity.
The last thing I felt was the ground hitting my body. The last thing I slled was blood.
The last thing I heard was his madness, ringing like bells forged in hell. And then nothing.
The first thing I felt was the weight of sothing heavy pressing down on . Not physically, not exactly, but a weight that made it hard to breathe. It clung to the air, thick, suffocating, as if the atmosphere itself had been poisoned. I tried to turn my head, to lift my lashes, to force myself back into the world of the living. I’m I back to my original life?"
The chamber was dark when my eyes fluttered open, a faint glow of lantern light painting the stone walls gold. Shadows flickered against polished wood and the tall shelves that lined one side of the room. I blinked hard, my vision swimming, until the shapes ca into focus. I was in a bed, but the bed doesn’t feel like mine. A vast, carved wooden fra, draped in furs that slled of pine, smoke, and sothing darker. My head rested against pillows that were far too soft for soone like . And then I felt it eyes. Watching .
My heart slamd against my ribs as I turned, slowly, painfully, and there he was.
Alpha Zach. He sat in a chair beside the bed, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. His body was still as stone, his expression unreadable, but his eyes his eyes glowed faintly in the dim light, like molten silver catching the flas. He had been waiting for for to wake up. The mory ca crashing back, sharp enough to tear apart. The sandy-haired wolf. His smile. The sound that awful, wet crack. The head rolling. The blood. My scream. I choked, my throat seizing, and my hands shot up to cover my mouth as if I could erase but his thoughts spilled into at once, as if he had been holding them back until my eyes opened.
"Inner voice: Mine. Awake. My toad breathes again. She bleeds fear, and it’s beautiful. She trembles, and it’s mine. My oga. My eternity.
I flinched, pressing myself back against the pillows.
"A-Alpha My voice cracked, sounding too weak and too small. "Why—why am I here?"
His lips twitched into the faintest curve, not quite a smile. More like the shadow of one. He leaned closer, resting his forearms on his thighs, his gaze never leaving .
"You fainted," he said simply, his voice low and steady, like a growl smoothed into words. "So I brought you where you belong."
Wait what is this psycho talking about now? Where I belong. The words made my skin crawl.
"This is..." My throat tightened. "This is your room."
His eyes sharpened. "Our room."
Oh no I swallowed hard, my pulse thundering in my ears.
"Why—why did you kill him?" I whispered, my voice breaking.
His inner voice snapped back instantly, sharp as claws.
"Inner voice: Why? Why? She asks why. Because he looked. Because he spoke. Because his shadow touched hers. Because his scent touched her skin. That’s enough. That’s everything. He deserved worse.
His actual words followed, slower, as if translated from the madness inside him.
"He touched what isn’t his." His eyes darkened, his jaw flexing. "He thought he could stand close. He thought he could take a piece of what belongs only to . That’s why."
My stomach twisted, bile rising. "He—he was only being kind..."
The chair scraped against the floor as Zach shot to his feet. My breath hitched, my body instinctively curling into the furs. His aura slamd into like a wall, crushing, suffocating. He didn’t shout. He didn’t need to. His very presence roared.
"Kind?" The word dripped from his lips like venom. "Kindness is a leash. A trick. He was looking at you like you were free. Like you could belong to anyone but . He thought he could touch you with words, and you think that’s kindness?"
His inner voice shredded through , harsher than his spoken fury.
"Inner voice: No one is kind to what’s mine. No one touches what’s mine. No one breathes near what’s mine. They will all learn. She is mine, mine, mine, my oga, my beautiful trembling toad, mine until death and after.
I couldn’t breathe. My chest ached, my hands clutched at the sheets as though they could shield .
"Please," I whispered, my tears burning hot trails down my cheeks. "Please don’t—don’t kill anyone else." I’m just your personal oga.
He crouched beside the bed, one knee bent, lowering himself until his face was level with mine. His hands, stained only faintly with blood despite the brutality I’d seen, reached out. I flinched back, but he caught my chin gently, almost tenderly, and tilted my face toward him. The contradiction made shake harder. His touch was soft, but the violence behind it was endless.
"Look at ," he murmured. As he cupped my face with his hand.
"You’re not my friend, Ellie." His words slid over like a blade, precise, inevitable. "You’re not just so wolf in my pack. You are mine. My personal oga. My blood, my breath, my shadow. Every part of you belongs here—" his hand shifted, resting lightly over my heart, "—with ."
My lips trembled, but no sound ca out. He smiled then, but it was the kind of smile that chilled bone. Possessive. I need to leave this place.
"You will never ask why again," he said softly, his voice brushing against my skin like claws beneath velvet. "You will accept it. Because the only reason you breathe is because I allow it. The only reason you wake is because I want you awake. And if anyone else ever tries to stand where I stand..."
His inner voice finished the thought for him, booming through my mind.
"Inner voice: I will tear them apart, limb by limb. I will make her watch if she forgets. I will paint her world in crimson until she knows. Until she never questions again.
A sob tore from my throat. I shoved at his chest with trembling hands, weak and useless.
"Stop—please, stop!" I pleaded, my body was shaking.
His body didn’t move. His hand only slid to catch my wrist, pressing it gently but firmly to the bed. His thumb traced over my pulse point, where my heart hamred like a caged bird.
"Shh," he whispered, as if soothing . "Don’t cry, toad. Your tears belong to , too."
I turned my face away, my sobs muffled against the pillow. But even then, even as the black pit of terror swallowed , I still heard him.
His inner voice coiled around , possessive, unrelenting.
"Inner voice: Mine when she cries. Mine when she screams. Mine when she faints. Mine when she breathes. Mine forever. No friend. No freedom. No one else. Only . Always .
And I realized, with cold certainty sinking into my bones, that there was no escape.
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