long. My vision wavered, the room around me shifting as tears welled up, pooling in the corn

as n

kening as they struggled to keep open. And then, w

cheek, hot and betraying my resistance. My body h

y eyes, the sting from before now accompanied by the bitter t

I felt the shift in the air. He knew it too. His ga

e tense silence, low and commanding. I noticed a shocked ex

as soft, and then I was overcome by shock. The shock at how gentle and pleading he soun

ring me a tight smile as he passed. The moment the door shut, the room felt impossibly larger. The air was thick, heavy with an unspoken tension between us.

alm, was unreadable, like a puzzle I couldn't quite decipher. His silence weighed on me,

and run, to escape this moment, but my feet wouldn't move. Every instinct screamed at m

eady as his gaze, but now softer,

uth opened to argue, to deny it, but I closed it again. He was right, and there was n

nd that passed, the knot in my stomach tightened. His eyes never left mine, and I felt like

s tone soft, but there was something about the

't hu

, from everything I had ever known. He had hurt me by bringing me here and chaining me

ready heard y

I was still hearing his voice in my head. The fact that it wa

t was graceful, almost predatory, and I instinctively took a step back. His eyes flicked to my f

His voice was low, almost a whisper

ost powerful Alpha in all of Shadow Brook, had taken me against my will-what else was I supposed to thi

mitted, my voice shaky. "You haven't exact

n. He wasn't threatening, but there was an undeniable

t?" he asked, his voice laced with curio

uddenly dry. "And what have y

didn't reach his eyes. "Perhaps. But you'

r down my spine. There was a confidence in his words, an unsettling certaint

uestion that had haunted me since he brought me here, since the night when eve

ly two weeks ago when I told you-you are my... wife." The way he said wife made my cheeks burn

ued, as though reading my though

t sharper than I intended,

, I could see it-the amusement lurking beneath the surface.

y thoughts

y. "Good. But it's you who leaves your thoughts

didn't understand what he meant, and at this point, I di

nyone's wife. I turn eighteen in three weeks. I just... I want to go home." My voice broke as a tear slipped

to return to the place where they hit you? Abused you? Diminished you?" His voice was shar

steady. "I'm not fit to be here. Ple

h escaped his lips, c

t me like a punch to the gut because they were true. I didn't ha

return to the hum

ion, my voice firm despite the st

atures hardened with anger, but

will shall

aterialized at the edge of the room. Their hand touched my