What if the monster you were sold to wasn't the real danger?

They call him the Monster. Nine wives. Nine graves. No heirs.

I was supposed to be the tenth.

Sold by my family to save a sister who betrayed me, I thought survival meant staying invisible.

 But when I healed Alpha Kael Cinderclaw in the snow, I accidentally bound us together, a mate bond neither of us wanted and neither can sever.

Now I feel his rage like fire beneath my skin.

 He feels my fear like a blade against his throat. And the fortress that buried nine wives is watching us both.

My family wanted me erased.
His enemies want me dead.

And Kael? He looks at me like I'm the one thing he can't afford to want—but can't let go.

They wanted a sacrifice.
They're getting an awakening.
In a world where power is everything, the wolfless girl just became the Alpha's greatest weakness, and his most dangerous obsession.

Chapter 52: The One Who Opened the Door


The sound of the door opening reached me before anything else, soft enough that it could have been ignored if I had been fully unconscious, but clear enough that my mind caught onto it even through the heaviness dragging at my body.


 I didn't move, didn't open my eyes, and forced my breathing to remain uneven and slow, matching the weakness that had already taken hold of me, because something about the timing felt wrong and reacting too soon would only give away that I was more aware than I should be.


Footsteps followed, careful at first, measured in a way that suggested whoever had entered was aware of the guards and the tension in the room, but not afraid of it. That detail settled uneasily in my mind. No one was supposed to be able to walk in here without Kael's permission, not after what had happened earlier, and yet this person had entered without resistance, without noise, without urgency.


Chapter 52 - Chapter 52: The One Who Opened the Door