Chapter 83

Alyson

"Let me go!" I say, brashly fighting the chains on my wrists that Olivera tries to steer me around with. He pulls for me to follow but I refuse, tripping over the long gown I've been stuck in since my bath yesterday, the silk sliding against my feet while I pull and kick to be let loose. "Let me go! Let me go!"

He finally yanks me into a nearby room, kicking me aside so that I trip over his leg and hit the floor, my side aching when I blink into focus. We're in a dinging room of sorts, tables adorned almost everywhere but none of the seats filled, or the tables made, except for the one in the center of the dining hall.

When I don't stand, he grabs me by my arm and hoists me over to the table himself, pressing me into one of the seats and tying the chains off around the center pole of the table. he takes the spot across from me, his hands freely working to pour himself a glass of something similar to wine, the berry scent making my mouth dry in envy.

I dare to reach for the glass he pours in front of me, his eyes heavy on my soul, but my wrists catch on the chains and I can't even bring them up to my lap, let alone reach the top of the table. I groan a pathetic noise, useless in this matter, and bow my head in subtle defeat.

"It's okay, Luna," he hums, taunting me in his tone. "I will help."

He grabs for my glass and leans over the table, standing over me in his masculine height. He tips the edge of the glass against my bottom lip, smiling crookedly as he tips it forward and allows only a sip to enter my parted frown.

He sets the glass down and returns to be seated, leaning back as though to appear docile but I know he is all but understanding. He is ruthlessly toying with my mind.

"You could thank me, sweetheart. It would work better than the current scowl you are portraying." He sips on his wine, the bitterness on my tongue still present. "I could let you starve like my rogue intakes have done all their life, fend for your own food and worry about being killed in the process."

I look away, hoping he doesn't think his words affect me that terribly, but they do.

"Are you trying to punish the elders, or me?" I groan. "I have done nothing to your people, nothing to anyone, to deserve this from you," I add, rattling the chains on my wrist to substantiate my point.

"You are the bait, that is all, but it doesn't negate the fact you will always be from that side of things, from the side of the elders and their wicked attack of rogues." He hesitates, two plates of food being brought out before us, my hands still trapped too far away to partake in this meal. "I know you're close to the elders. They officiated your mating ceremony, didn't they?"

My stomach drops. He couldn't have possibly been there that day, could he?

"They care for you and your Alpha, that is why they are watching your palace as your mate searches for you. I want me and my kind to be left alone in peace, otherwise you and your kind will suffer the consequences of this war."

My wolf whimpers, still too far away to reach but present enough to let me know this guy and his wolf are serious. "I don't want war," I admit.

He nods in approval. "Good, sweetheart, because I don't want there to be a war, either."

When the moment goes silent, he reaches under the table and clicks open a lock, the chains breaking from my wrists and freeing me enough to lift my metal cuffs up to the table. I sigh, grabbing at the food and practically inhaling it at once. My stomach growls, aching roughly, and I take each bite like it's my last to ever have.

"Slow down, Luna, I'm not going to starve you death," he mutters, picking at his plate.

"Do you even know my name?" I gasp sarcastically through heavy gulps of food.

He plays with a grin. "You're Alyson Alexander, once Alyson Clark, but before that, Alissa Clark, the blood bag to Alpha Jacob before you were killed, sent to the moon goddess and brought back as Alyson Harris. It's not complicated, sweetheart, I know quite a lot about you. Like how you are a cursed wolf, a wolf been touched by the goddess herself."

I furrow my brow. "No one has ever told me I'm cursed."

"You don't know it, yet."

"And you don't know what you're talking about," I snap.

His eyes are hazy now, once red and shifting to black completely. I shudder at the sight, his presence overwhelming but the hint of his wolf even more so terrifying. I swallow hard, leaning back in my chair as he stands, his hand reaching for my chin, pulling me to meet his dark irises at once. He flickers a grin, returning to a flat, unamused line, and I shiver in anticipation.

Leaning in, I practically feel his lips graze my own. "You can call me a lot of things, sweetheart, but you cannot tell me I'm ignorant. I know who you are and what you are. I have you as my ransom to ensure another rogue is never slaughtered for their status."

I hesitate, something so dark and personal in his words. "Who did they kill?"

His eyes flicker red and gold again, obviously an answer. "What are you asking?"

"The elders killed someone you knew, someone you cared for," I breathe, my heart rattling off at a million miles an hour. "You are vengeful because of it; I can hear it in your voice. You want my Alpha, my mate, and the elders to pay for killing someone you knew."

His mouth twitches, his hold on my chin shifting to my throat, a threat. "You do not get to quiz me, Alyson Alexander. I will not allow you to relate to me a single bit. You have no pull in this situation with me. you have no power here. You are cursed, you are a Luna, and I will use both of those aspects to get what I want."

"You're—my throat—choaking," I say between gasps for air.

I can see now that if I bring it up again, he will snap my neck, that much I am sure of. But to my question, I do not know the answer, and I fear asking it will cause my death inevitably. He releases my neck at once, storming from the dining hall, his plate left half-untouched and uneaten. I sit still for a long, silent moment, allowing myself to weep in fear.

Whatever has caused this Alpha pain in the past obviously hasn't released him of the ache yet and the fact he blames me and wolves like me for his agony only will fuel his hate further. I don't know for sure if he plans to kill me in the end for this mess, but I don't want to push him anymore and find out how far he is willing to go to get what he wants.