I woke to the sound of snarling.
Blinking through the haze of exhaustion, I realized I was still in the stone hall—still trapped in this brutal rogue kingdom, wrapped in the unfamiliar scent of smoke and blood.
Lucian stood across the room, shirtless and savage, grappling a rogue twice his size in a brutal spar.
Muscle against muscle. Fury against fury.
No rules. No mercy.
They fought like animals born of war, not of peace.
Blood sprayed the ground. Bones cracked.
Lucian didn't hesitate.
With a roar, he slammed the man onto the stone floor, knocking the air from his lungs.
The room cheered.
Only then did Lucian straighten, chest heaving, eyes gleaming with something primal.
His gaze locked onto mine.
A silent message: Watch. Learn.
I flinched, but forced myself not to look away.
I would not be weak again.
Lucian wiped the blood from his knuckles and barked an order.
"Bring her."
Rough hands grabbed me, dragging me into the center of the ring.
The rogues closed in, circling like vultures.
Their eyes were hungry. Curious.
The discarded one.
The mate no one wanted.
Lucian tossed a blade at my feet. It clattered against the stones.
"Pick it up," he said, voice like steel.
I stared at it, my heart hammering.
"I—I don't know how to fight."
He moved closer, crowding into my space. His scent—earth and fire—wrapped around me, suffocating.
"Then you'll die here," he said coldly. "And if you die, you'll deserve it."
Tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them away.
Slowly, my fingers closed around the hilt of the dagger.
Lucian gave a grim smile. Not kind.
Satisfaction.
A challenge.
He drew his own blade, spinning it lazily between his fingers.
"Attack me."
The rogues jeered and hooted.
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
This wasn't the girl who waited for her mate to choose her.
This wasn't the girl who cried herself to sleep hoping for love.
This was something new.
Something forged in betrayal and fire.
With a cry, I lunged at him.
Lucian easily sidestepped me, grabbing my wrist and twisting the blade from my hand.
I gasped as he shoved me to the ground, his body pinning me like a predator over his prey.
"You hesitate," he snarled near my ear. "You die."
His hand tightened around my throat—not enough to choke, but enough to remind me who held the power here.
The room faded.
It was just him and me.
Alpha and prey.
Mate and enemy.
A sob burst from my chest — grief, rage, humiliation — but it didn't break me.
It hardened me.
I slammed my knee into his ribs.
Lucian grunted in surprise.
The rogues roared approval.
Rolling away, I snatched the dagger and came up swinging.
Lucian blocked my strike easily—but this time, his grin was wild. Ferocious.
He wasn't trying to break me.
He was trying to awaken something.
The moment stretched — breathless, electric.
This was survival.
This was power.
And for the first time since Ryker's rejection shattered me, I felt something fierce ignite inside my chest.
Lucian stepped back, satisfied.
"You'll do," he said simply.
The rogues howled and pounded the floor, welcoming me in their brutal, bloody way.
Lucian didn't offer a hand to help me up.
He didn't have to.
I stood on my own.
And when our eyes met across the ring, something unspoken passed between us.
An oath.
I will never be weak again.
I will never beg to be chosen again.
I would rise in blood and ash.
And I would make them all regret ever thinking me fragile.
The celebration didn't last long.
A horn sounded from the watchtowers — a low, grating note that sent every rogue snapping to attention.
Lucian's head lifted sharply, his eyes going hard.
"Intruders," he said grimly.
Before I could react, Lucian grabbed my wrist and hauled me against him.
"Stay close," he growled against my hair, his breath hot and furious.
The rogues armed themselves with vicious speed — crude axes, rusted swords, claws bared and ready.
The fortress doors shook as a massive force slammed against them.
Another kingdom's rogues.
Enemies.
Lucian shoved a dagger into my hand again, this time with no lecture.
"Protect yourself," he ordered. "If you fall behind, you die."
The heavy doors burst open.
Chaos exploded.
Blood. Teeth. Screams.
Lucian shifted mid-stride — bones cracking, fur ripping through skin — until he stood over me in his enormous wolf form, dark as smoke, eyes glowing molten gold.
I had seen wolves shift before.
But never like this.
This was war. This was destruction incarnate.
Lucian tore into the enemy wolves with savage grace, all muscle and rage, painting the stones with blood.
I backed against a wall, my dagger trembling in my hand, heart pounding so loudly I could barely hear anything else.
An enemy wolf lunged at me.
I froze.
At the last second, Lucian crashed into the attacker, ripping him away with a snarl that shook the ground.
I met his eyes, wide with shock.
Protect yourself, he had said.
I gritted my teeth and lifted the blade.
No more weakness.
No more begging for love.
I would survive. Even if it meant drowning in blood to do it.
Another rogue lunged — and this time, I moved.
I ducked low, slashing wildly.
The blade caught the wolf's side, and he yelped, stumbling back.
Before I could finish him, Lucian was there — snapping the rogue's neck with a brutal twist.
The battle raged on, but somewhere in the middle of it, Lucian shifted back into his human form, blood streaking his bare chest, a savage grin stretching across his face.
He grabbed my chin roughly, forcing me to look up at him.
"You bleed with us," he said, voice dark with approval. "You belong to us now."
I shook my head, still trembling.
"I belong to no one."
Lucian's eyes darkened.
"No," he said, a cruel smile curving his mouth. "You belong to me."
Before I could argue, he sliced a shallow cut across his own palm with his dagger.
Blood welled instantly.
He caught my wrist and did the same to me — a sting, a burn.
I gasped, but he didn't let go.
He pressed our bleeding palms together.
A searing heat flared up my arm, through my veins, down into the marrow of my bones.
A bond. Ancient. Ruthless.
Not the mate bond I'd dreamed of my whole life.
Something older. Darker.
A blood oath.
Around us, the rogues howled their approval.
Lucian leaned in, his lips brushing the shell of my ear.
"You're crowned by me now, little wolf," he whispered. "You survive because I allow it. You live because I chose you."
Tears pricked my eyes — not of sorrow, but of fury.
He didn't save me because he cared.
He claimed me because he could.
I yanked my hand away, breathing hard.
Lucian just smiled like he knew a secret I hadn't figured out yet.
He turned and walked away, leaving me bleeding and trembling in the center of the stone hall, surrounded by monsters.
And somewhere deep inside me, something old and vengeful stirred awake.
I would wear this crown he forced upon me.
I would become the queen they feared.
And one day, I would make even Lucian regret binding himself to me.