From Hostage To Mistress

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POV: Aria Morgan

The wind bit at my cheeks as I tore through the dense trees, the cold air stinging my lungs with every ragged breath. Branches slapped my arms, leaving red welts, but I didn't stop. I couldn't. They were getting closer.

I wasn't supposed to be here. Humans didn't wander into wolf territory-ever. That's what my aunt had always told me growing up: "The Black Hollow woods belong to the beasts, Aria. If you value your life, don't go near them."

But desperate girls do desperate things.

Especially girls with no family left, no home, and a target on their back.

And right now? I wasn't sure if the men chasing me were worse than the wolves the legends warned us about.

Gunshots cracked in the distance-louder than thunder. My breath caught as bark exploded beside me. A bullet.

They were shooting to kill.

My legs screamed, every muscle burning as I pushed harder. I didn't know where I was going-just away. Away from the warehouse. Away from the men who'd locked me in that cage and said I'd be "sold to the highest bidder."

I stumbled down a slope and landed hard in a shallow creek, water soaking my jeans and numbing my ankles. Pain radiated from my knee, but I scrambled to my feet. No time for pain.

I darted into the next thicket, branches closing around me like claws. The howling wind masked my footsteps, but not theirs. They were trained. Military? Mercenaries? All I knew was they weren't human traffickers-they were something worse. They had plans for me.

I kept running until my vision blurred. Until the sound of my own heartbeat drowned everything else out.

And then-I heard it.

A howl.

Low. Drawn out. Inhuman.

It was distant but unmistakable.

A wolf.

Not just a wolf-a shifter. My blood ran cold.

Every town near Black Hollow knew the stories. The cursed packs. The ancient bloodlines. The Alphas who ruled with iron claws. We called them monsters.

Some called them protectors.

But I had no one left to ask.

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POV: Alpha Kael Thorn

The scent hit me like lightning-sweet, sharp, wrong. Not prey. Not pack. Human.

In my territory.

I leapt across the ravine, landing silently on the other side as the wind shifted again. The scent was stronger now. I could taste her fear, her desperation. But there was something else under it. Something wild. Unmarked.

I didn't usually patrol this deep. The pack had sensors, borders, rules. But tonight, I couldn't sleep. The Hollow felt... off. Like the trees were whispering warnings.

And now I knew why.

A human girl, lost in Black Hollow. That shouldn't be possible. Our land repelled outsiders, cloaked in an ancient charm that turned most away. But she'd come through anyway.

And she was being hunted.

I dropped to all fours, shifting in a flash of heat and bone. Fur replaced skin. Paws replaced hands. My wolf surged forward.

Faster.

The forest blurred around me. Gunpowder lingered in the air. Foreign feet had trampled my soil. Trespassers.

They would pay.

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POV: Aria Morgan

I collapsed beside a boulder, hands trembling as I clutched my side. Blood seeped through my shirt-just a graze, I hoped. I had maybe minutes before they caught up.

I needed a plan. But all I had was panic.

Then, I saw him.

A shadow moved through the trees-huge, silent, fast.

A pair of glowing golden eyes locked on me.

Not human.

Not even close.

He stepped into view, and my heart dropped. A massive wolf, easily the size of a horse, fur as black as midnight and eyes like wildfire.

I froze.

I didn't scream. Couldn't.

The wolf stared at me like he knew me. Like he'd been looking for me.

Then the howling started again-but not from him. It was all around us now. Echoing through the trees.

The men chasing me had stopped. I heard shouts, weapons cocking.

They saw him too.

Gunfire erupted.

The black wolf lunged.

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POV: Alpha Kael Thorn

I didn't hesitate.

The bullets missed me by inches. One grazed my flank, but I didn't stop. The first man barely had time to scream before I crushed his shoulder between my jaws and threw him into a tree.

Another raised his rifle-I swiped it away with a clawed paw and sent him sprawling.

The rest turned and ran.

Cowards.

I shifted mid-leap, landing as a man-naked, bleeding, furious.

"Leave. Now."

The two survivors froze, eyes wide. One pissed himself. The other dropped his gun and ran.

I didn't chase them.

I turned to the girl.

She hadn't moved. Her lips were blue. She was going into shock.

I approached slowly, crouching.

"You're safe now," I said, low and calm. "They won't hurt you."

She blinked at me, dazed. "You... you're not real."

I smiled grimly. "Neither are the stories. But here we are."

Then she fainted.

I caught her before she hit the ground.

---

POV: Aria Morgan

I woke to warmth.

Soft sheets. A fire crackling nearby. Dim candlelight dancing on stone walls. My arm ached, but the pain had dulled.

Then it hit me.

Where am I?

I sat up too fast. Dizziness crashed over me.

"You should rest."

The voice was deep, gravelly. Familiar.

I turned.

He was sitting in a chair near the fire, a blanket over his lap, shirtless, bandaged. His golden eyes glowed faintly.

The wolf.

"W-who are you?" I asked.

He didn't smile this time. "Alpha Kael Thorn. You're in my home."

I swallowed hard. "You... you saved me."

He nodded. "From men who had no business in these woods."

"What were they?" I whispered.

Kael's gaze sharpened. "Not local. And not here by accident."

I shivered. "They were after me. They said I wasn't normal."

"Are you?" he asked, voice careful.

"I-I don't know."

Silence stretched between us.

Then Kael rose, towering. "You're not just a human girl who got lost, Aria Morgan. You came here for a reason. Whether you know it or not."

My heart pounded.

"How do you know my name?"

He turned away. "Because the forest whispered it to me before you even arrived."

---

POV: Kael Thorn

The girl wasn't like the others.

No human should've gotten past our borders. No human should've had that scent. Something in her blood shimmered like starlight-old magic, maybe. Or something darker.

I'd protected this land for a decade. Fought wars. Buried brothers. I didn't believe in fate.

But now, I wasn't so sure.

I looked down at her sleeping form. Fragile. Strong. Terrified. Brave.

She didn't know what she was.

But I would find out.

Because the moment our eyes met, something inside me shifted-deeper than instinct.

The bond was forming.

And if I was right...

The girl in my bed wasn't just any human.

She was mine.