The engine of Asis's car hummed softly as she gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles white with tension. The rearview mirror reflected the fading silhouette of Sinha Haveily, its grand arches and ivy-clad walls shrinking into the distance. Her chest tightened—a cocktail of guilt, fear, and resolve churning inside her. The road ahead blurred as tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away. "Keep driving. Don't look back."
A shadow moved at the edge of the forest flanking the road—too fast, too deliberate. Her breath hitched. Before she could react, a deafening roar split the air. Something colossal slammed into the driver's side of the car, metal screeching as the vehicle skidded off the road and lurched into a ditch. The airbag exploded in her face, the acrid smell of burnt rubber filling her lungs. Dazed, she fumbled for the seatbelt, her fingers trembling. The door wrenched open with a metallic groan.
"Asis."
Harald Dyre's voice was low, urgent, but it ignited a wildfire of panic in her chest. She scrambled backward, kicking at his outstretched hand. "Get away from me!" she screamed, her voice raw. His eyes—golden, feral, inhuman—narrowed. Without a word, he unbuckled her seatbelt and hauled her out of the wreckage, his grip unyielding.
"Let me go!" She clawed at his arms, but he didn't flinch. His scent—pine and smoke and something primal—flooded her senses. "You're monsters—all of you! Liars! Let me—"
"Enough." The command rolled through him like thunder, silencing her. His jaw tightened as he threw her over his shoulder, ignoring her fists pounding against his back. "You're in danger. Sorin knows you're here. He's coming for you, and I won't let him take what's mine."
"I'm not yours!" she spat, but he was already moving, his strides eating up the distance to a sleek black SUV idling nearby. He tossed her into the backseat, locked the doors, and slid into the driver's seat. The engine growled to life. "You'll hate me if you want," he said coldly, meeting her furious glare in the rearview mirror. "But you'll hate being Sorin's pawn even more."
The Bo Liv mansion loomed ahead, its gothic spires clawing at the twilight sky. Harald carried her inside, past vaulted hallways lined with tapestries of wolves and warriors, into a dimly lit chamber heavy with the scent of aged wood and leather. He set her down roughly on a velvet couch, his gaze piercing. "You'll stay here. Guards are posted at every exit. Don't test them."
The man who stood before her now radiated something ancient. His posture, though relaxed, exuded power. His eyes, no longer a soft brown but a vivid silver that shimmered like frost, watched her with intense focus. "You're a liar, you hid your identity," she whispered. He stepped forward. "I had to, since you wouldn't believe me."
She did step back. "I have the right to know the truth."Harald drew in a breath and began. "My real name is Harald Eirik Dyre. I am… not entirely human. I'm a Lycan—part man, part wolf, and you knew that when you saw me in the deep forest. My kind has ruled quietly from the shadows for centuries. We live in kingdoms worldwide, sworn to protect the balance of supernatural and human realms. I am the Alpha King of one such kingdom."Asis didn't move. Her face was unreadable." I'm here. But I stayed because of you."She took a shaky breath. "What are you saying?" "You are my mate, Asis. The one chosen by the Moon Goddess. The one I've waited lifetimes for."Her knees trembled. "This is insane. I didn't plan it," he said, voice lower now. "I didn't choose you. The bond chose us."
"Then why lie?" "Because I didn't want to scare you. I wanted to know you before you saw me as anything more than a man."She stepped back now, just one pace. "This… this is too much. You stalked me. You hide your identity. And now you're telling me we're magically destined to be together, that's why you kidnapped me, and there is a vampire who wants to hurt me?"
Asis shot to her feet, her voice trembling with rage. "You can't keep me prisoner! My family will—"
"Your family is safe precisely because you're here," he interrupted, his tone glacial. "Sorin doesn't want them. He wants you. To break me. To prove even an Alpha King can't protect his mate." The word mate hung between them, charged and bitter. She laughed, a hollow sound. "Mate? You're delusional. I'm human. You're a—a thing that turns into a beast. You think kidnapping me makes me yours? You're worse than Sorin."
Something flickered in his eyes—a flash of pain, quickly smothered. "Believe what you want," he said quietly. "But you'll live to hate me. That's enough." He turned to leave, but she hurled a crystal decanter from the side table. It shattered against the doorframe, shards spraying like diamonds. "I already do!" Harald didn't look back.
Hours bled into night. Asis paced the room, her mind racing. The mansion was a fortress—no windows, no phones, no way out. But Sorin's threat gnawed at her. Was Harald telling the truth? Did it matter? She'd rather face a vampire than endure another minute of his possessive delusions. A faint scrape at the door pulled her from her thoughts. One of the guards—broad-shouldered Lycan with a scar bisecting his brow—stepped inside, tray in hand. "Dinner, Your majesty." She eyed the silver cloche suspiciously. "Not hungry." He set the tray down, hesitating. "The Alpha King… he means well. Sorin's dangerous. You shouldn't—"
"Shouldn't what?" she snapped. "Trust the man who lied to me? Who kidnapped me? Get out."
The guard retreated, locking the door behind him. Alone again, Asis lifted the cloche. Beneath it lay a folded note, scribbled in elegant cursive: "East corridor. Third door. Key under the urn."Her pulse spiked. A way out? A trap? She didn't care.
The halls were eerily silent, the guards conspicuously absent. Asis followed the note's instructions, her bare feet soundless on the cold marble. The third door opened to a narrow servants' stairwell, moonlight spilling through a cracked window at the bottom. Fresh air kissed her face—*freedom*. She climbed onto the ledge, heart pounding, and dropped into the gardens below.
The woods beckoned, dark and dense. She ran, branches tearing at her clothes, the mansion shrinking behind her. But the forest felt wrong—too quiet, too still. A low laugh echoed through the trees. "Leaving so soon, little bird?"
Sorin materialized from the shadows, his pale face gaunt, eyes glowing crimson. He looked like decay masquerading as beauty—sharp cheekbones, lips curled in a mockery of a smile. "Harald's pet, all alone. How… delicious." She froze. "Stay back."
He tutted, circling her like a vulture. "You reek of fear. And him. The mighty Alpha King, reduced to hiding his mate like a coward." His fingers brushed her arm, ice-cold. "Let's see how brave you are without his teeth to protect you."
A snarl ripped through the night. Harald lunged from the trees, shifted mid-leap, his wolf form—massive, black-furred, eyes blazing—colliding with Sorin in a whirl of claws and fangs. The vampire hissed, dodging a lethal swipe, but Harald's jaws clamped around his shoulder, bone crunching. "Run, Asis!" Harald's voice roared in her mind, their bond flaring to life.
She stumbled backward, terror rooting her to the spot. Sorin laughed, blood dripping from his mangled arm. "Oh, this is precious. The beast loves his little human. Let's make it hurt." Sorin's hand shot out, spectral chains of dark magic wrapping around Asis's throat. She gagged, clawing at the invisible vise, as Harald's wolf howled in fury. Sorin yanked her forward, his free hand morphing into a blade of shadow. "Say goodbye, King."
Harald shifted back, naked and bleeding, his human form slamming into Sorin with feral desperation. The magic shattered, Asis collapsing to the ground, gasping. Harald pinned Sorin, fists raining down with primal rage. "You. Touch. Her. Again. I. Will. End. You."
Sorin's body dissolved into smoke, his laughter echoing. "This isn't over, Dyre. She'll beg for death before I'm done." Harald knelt beside Asis, his hands trembling as he cradled her face. "Are you hurt?" She shoved him away, her voice breaking. "Why? Why does he want me? Because of you?" He flinched. "Yes. I'm the reason you're in danger. But I'd rather you hate me than die."
"I do hate you," she whispered, tears streaming. "But I hate that I don't hate you more."
The admission hung in the air, fragile and raw. Harald's thumb brushed her cheek, his gaze tormented. "Then let me earn it. Let me protect you until you can."
Back at the mansion, he bandaged her scrapes in silence. Harald grimly realized that the guards were unconscious because of Sorin's magic. Anger gnawed at him. When Asis finally slept, exhaustion overriding fear, he watched her from the doorway, Ingolf's voice a growl in his mind.
"We can't keep her caged. She'll break."
"And if we let her go, Sorin will break her worse," Harald replied.
"Then make her see. Make her choose us."
But as dawn crept over the horizon, Harald knew the truth: love and fear were twin blades, and Asis held both. The war with Sorin had only begun—and she was the battlefield.
*****