24 Chained Meat
- Chained Heart
Damon’s POV
The study smelled of broken wood and shattered trust.
I ran my fingers through my hair, the strands slipping through my grasp like the control I was desperately trying to maintain. Across from me, Sailas leaned against the bookshelf, his usual smirk in place, while Aurelia stood stiffly by the window, her fingers tapping an anxious rhythm against the glass.
“That little mate of yours is quite a charmer,” Sailas mocked, twirling a dagger between his fingers.
I ignored him, my gaze locked on Aurelia. “Have you located the rogues?”
“No, Your Highness. There’s… nothing.”
The words slithered through the room like poison.
“Nothing?” My voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.
Sailas sighed, pushing off the shelf. “Nothing as in vanished. No trace, no scent, no trail. It’s like they never
existed.”
My claws unsheathed, digging into the arms of my chair. How?
Aurelia shifted uncomfortably. “They might have taken the river. Water washes away scent, and-”
‘Remember when we first found Ara?‘ Ryan’s voice cut through my thoughts. ‘She disappeared just like this.
The realization hit like a blade to the gut.
She knew.
She knew how to vanish because she’d done it before. Somehow she was connected!
‘We need to question her,’ I snarled internally.
‘She’s our mate! We should trust her, Ryan protested.
‘A mate who hates us. Who helped rogues to escape. I mocked.
‘She must have had a reason,’ Ryan tried to defend his precious mate like aways.
‘Then she can explain it, I scoffed.
Before Sailas could speak again, a knock echoed through the room.
And then I smelt her scent.
Lavender and honey, undercut with the sharp tang of fear.
The door swung open, revealing Ara.
She looked like a storm given form.
Dirt smeared across her cheeks, her dress torn at the hem, her chest heaving like she’d run for miles. The warrior behind her gave her a rough shove forward, and she stumbled, catching herself on the edge of the shattered desk.
Beautiful.
24 Chained Heart
Even now, even like this- goddess, she was beautiful.
“Your Highness, we caught her by the garden.” The warrior reported.
Ryan’s growl vibrated through me. ‘She tried to run again.”
I lost words! Again!
‘She’s going to get herself killed at this rate!‘ Ryan was scared and I felt it too.
I know.
The warrior bowed and left, sealing us in suffocating silence.
‘She climbed down two floors… Do something, Damon, Ryan snarled.
“Are you done?” I asked, my voice lethally soft.
Ara’s gaze flickered between Sailas, Aurelia, and me, her emerald eyes burning with defiance.
“See, this is why I told you to send her to the palace. You can’t really focus with her around,” Sailas drawled.
“Such a little nuisance.”
“Shut up.”
The words left my lips at the same moment Ara spat them at him.
Sailas blinked. Aurelia’s breath caught.
And something in my chest twisted.
“Didn’t I make myself clear last time?” I bit out, each word laced with a hurt I refused to name. Why did she keep running? Where did she want to go so badly? Back to that ex husband of hers? Or to that half–breed
Kade?
“I’m not one of your warriors,” Ara hissed, her voice trembling. “You don’t own me. You can’t order me around.” “Oh, I can, and I will,” I snarled, my control snapping. “Now tell me where you hid those rogues.”
“Never.” Her whisper was a blade. “You’re a monster. I’ll never tell you anything.”
Sailas whistled. “Oh my. I think I’ll leave you two to… discuss this. Goodnight, brother.”
He walked lazily to the door, leaving only Aurelia hovering uncertainly near the window.
Humiliation burned through me.
She’d defied me. In front of them. In front of everyone. I was a royal born, I was an alpha and she treated me as if I was nothing!
“What did I tell you about obedience?” I asked, my voice shaking with barely leashed fury.
“I don’t f*****g care!” she screamed
The desk splintered beneath my fist. Rage burned through me. Sailas stopped at his footsteps as well.
One second, I was across the room. The next, I had her wrist in a crushing grip, her pulse fluttering like a trapped bird against my fingers.
“You will learn to obey me,” I growled, my breath hot against her face. “I am your mate. Your alpha. And if discipline is what you need, then so be it.”
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- Chamed Heart
“I’ll never obey you!” Her voice cracked. “You’ll never be my alpha!”
“We’ll see.”
I dragged her from the room, her screams echoing through the halls.
“Aaah! Damon…” she screamed. And I let her.
I dragged her towards the basement.
“Let me go-!” Ara yelled again as I dragged her down the stairs.
‘Don’t hurt her,‘ Ryan begged.
‘I’m keeping her safe, keeping her from running or getting killed,‘ I shot back. ‘Even from herself!
Sailas followed us with a serious face.
Aurelia rushed after us, her voice pleading. “Your Highness, please calm down.”
I ignored her, my grip unrelenting as I hauled Ara down to the cellar. The damp air clung to my skin as I shoved her into the nearest cell, her small frame crashing against the stone wall.
“Lock it,” I ordered Sailas, his face uncharacteristically grim.
“Damon… are you sure? I mean… she’s your mate,” he said slowly.
“Your Highness, please rethink,” Aurelia pursued again.
“I SAID, LOCK THE DAMN DOOR!” a feral growl left my lips.
“Alright,” the key turned with a final, damning click.
“Give me the key,” I ordered and Sailas obliged. “No one opens the door without my permission.” Then I turned to Ara, who was now leaning against the wall, as if she was trying to find support. “You’ll stay here until you learn obedience and you will repent,” I said, my voice hollow.
Ara looked up at me, her eyes glistening in the torchlight. And then she smiled. A bitter, broken smile. “Why am I not surprised?” she whispered. “I’ve always been a prisoner to you.”
The words carved through me like a dull knife.
I couldn’t stay. Couldn’t breathe.
Tstormed out, the cellar door slamming behind me, but her voice followed me like a ghost.
Monster.
Prisoner.
Hate.
What should I do? What could I do with this mate of mine? If I sent her to the palace, Cassian would try to kill her. If I kept her in the packhouse, she would surely make another run. She hated me. She saw me as a
monster.
The night air did nothing to cool the fire in my veins. I shifted without thought, Ryan’s silver fur erupting across my skin as I crashed into the woods, running till my anger, my pain, my everything melted into sweat.
24 Chained Heart
Ara’s POV
The cell was cold.
Not the crisp chill of winter, but the damp, suffocating cold of a place untouched by sunlight. I curled into myself on the narrow cot, my arms wrapped around my knees, trying to ignore the way my breath fogged in
the air.
Monster.
I wiped the blood on my forehead, as I slipped down the wall. My mate, the one who was supposed to protect
me, caged me here, like a prisoner.
Why did it hurt? I already knew he didn’t want me. Still it hurt!
Tears streamed down my face. What should I do? He would hunt down my pack in no time. Hopefully Myra would give the luna the warnings! Would they have enough time to prepare? To run?
The door creaked open, pulling me from my thoughts. Aurelia slipped inside, a tray of food in her hands, her dark eyes filled with something dangerously close to pity.
“You should eat,” she said softly.
“Not hungry.” I said.
She set the tray down anyway, perching on the edge of the cot. “He’ll calm down.”
“Will he?” I laughed, the sound jagged. “Or will he just find a prettier cage?”
Aurelia hesitated. “He’s scared.”
The words hung between us, absurd and heartbreaking all at once.
Scared.
The mighty Lycan prince, terrified of a wolfless, dying girl. Hilarious.
“He thinks you’ll leave,” she whispered.
I closed my eyes, a single tear slipping free.
My time was short. I would leave! One way or another.
“This prison can’t hold me down,” I whispered, not when death comes.
“No matter how many run you make, Ara, he can always find you, sniff you through the bond,” Aurelia sighed. A shiver ran down my spine. So until my last breath, I was caged. There was no running! It was a good thing I didn’t go down the pack tunnels. It might have brought danger to the pack.
“Listen,” Aurelia said gently. “I know how you two met wasn’t… ideal. But he’s your mate. And a prince, unfavored or not. He holds power in the military, in court. When you defy him before others…” She trailed off, but the meaning was clear.
It makes him look weak.
Guilt curled low in my stomach.
The prince’s mate was wolfless–that alone was enough to spark whispers. But a mate who fled him at every
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- Chained Heart
turn? Who spat in his face before his warriors?
“Every time you defy him pub’s not just his pride you wound–it’s his claim to the throne. The rogue
It’s a tri
hunt isn’t just a purge. Whoever proves strongest wins the crown.” Her lips twisted. “Cassian already undermines him at every turn. Now his own mate rejects him before the warriors? The court will hear
it.”
The pieces clicked together with cruel clarity.
We weren’t people.
We were game pieces. Like some ragged animals!
Rogues were targets to slaughter. Whoever killed the most, would win the trophy! I was a prize to display. And
Damon-
Damon was just another predator in a long line of them, fighting for the right to call himself king.
Any softening I’d felt hardened into ice.
“Please leave me alone,” I whispered.
“He grew up alone, Ara. You’re the first thing he has ever dared to want for himself. Think about him once before you make your next run,” Aurelia said before leaving.
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