Chapter 4

Emily’s POV

Pain. That was the first thing that ripped me out of the darkness.

My ribs throbbed and my leg burned. Every inch of my body felt aflame.

I forced my eyes open. The cell was surprisingly clean, with solid gray stone walls and heavy iron bars. There was no dirt or crumbling walls, just a cold, spotless cage.

I was in a dungeon.

Panic hit me. I sat up too fast, the room spinning so violently I nearly threw up.

“Easy,” Nyx, my wolf, whispered weakly inside my mind. “We’re alive.”

“Barely,” I thought back, trembling.

Memories crashed in: the chase through the woods, the bloodthirsty rogues, the cliff, and the black SUV.

The sound of metal clinking made me freeze. A man was sitting near my bed in the cell, carefully organizing medical supplies on a tray. He was a younger-looking doctor with dark hair showing its first white strands at the temples and kind, tired eyes that reminded me of an older wolf.

“You’re awake,” he said gently.

Fear crawled up my spine. I pushed myself backward across the narrow bed, scraping my skin until my spine hit the freezing stone wall. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to hide.

“Relax,” the man said, raising his hands to show he wasn’t a threat. “I’m Doctor Reed. If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t have spent the last two hours stitching your side back together.”

My hand flew to my ribs. Bandages were wrapped tightly around my chest beneath an oversized shirt someone had put on me.

The doctor sighed, looking at me with pity. “I don’t even know how you survived that fall.”

My throat tightened. My eyes burned with unshed tears. Nobody had spoken to me with that much genuine concern in years. In my old pack, I was nothing. I was trash.

Doctor Reed picked up a glass of water and offered it to me. I hesitated for a fraction of a second before snatching it from his hand. I drank it down desperately, the water soothing my parched throat.

His expression darkened as he took the empty glass back. “You were severely dehydrated. And starving. How long have you been running?”

Shame burned through my cheeks, and I looked away. I couldn't tell him. I couldn't tell anyone.

Doctor Reed's eyes moved slowly across my bare arms and shoulders. He was looking at the scars. Some were old, thin, and faded. Others were fresh, angry red lines—the scars of a lifetime of abuse.

“Who did this to you?” he asked quietly, his voice heavy with anger on my behalf.

I clamped my mouth shut, hiding my face in my knees. If I started crying, I wouldn't be able to stop.

Heavy footsteps echoed down the stone corridor.

A wave of power rolled through the cells, so thick the air grew heavy. Nyx went silent, hiding deep in my mind.

Doctor Reed stood up quickly, straightening his white lab coat just as the heavy iron door swung open.

A tall figure stepped into the dim light. He exuded pure, lethal danger. His massive frame was covered in intricate tattoos, and a tight white t-shirt clung to his heavy, sculpted muscles. He was easily six feet, eight inches of dominant, terrifying power—the kind of Alpha wolf everyone feared.

But the second his eyes locked onto mine, something exploded in the air.

His scent wrapped around me: cedar and pine needles.

“Mate! Our mate!” Nyx whimpered helplessly inside my chest, suddenly bursting with desperate hope.

It was him. He was the man from the ceremony, the one I had dared to sit beside.

He stared at me, and for a moment, I thought he felt it too. Maybe, just maybe, the Moon Goddess was finally saving me.

“No,” Nathan said. His voice was a deep, gravelly growl dripping with pure disgust. The air in the dungeon turned to ice. “A rogue will never be my mate.”

My heart shattered. Rogue? Me?

“Emily, this is bad! He thinks we’re a rogue!” Nyx panicked in my head, her voice shaking. “Tell him! Quickly, tell him we aren’t!”

Doctor Reed cleared his throat, sensing the tension. “Alpha Nathan, the girl needs rest. She’s been through a lot.”

“It won’t be for long,” Nathan snapped, his eyes flashing with lethal anger.

“I’m not a rogue,” I said, my voice shaking so hard that the words barely left my lips. “You... you have me confused with someone else.”

"Then you are a spy for the rogues," he insisted, his tone hardening. "You were at the ceremony tonight. Don't lie to me."

He took a slow, predatory step farther into my cell. He wasn't asking. He already knew.

I swallowed hard, pressing my shoulders so tightly against the stone wall that it felt like it might swallow me up.

“You vanished,” Nathan continued, his tone dropping into a dangerous, dark rhythm. “And minutes later, the Gray Moon Pack’s borders were breached by a rogue pack. Coincidence?”

Horror washed over me, freezing the blood in my veins.

“No!” I choked out, tears finally spilling over my eyelashes. “I didn’t bring them to the Gray Moon Pack! I swear! I didn’t even know they were anywhere near the pack’s borders!”

“Liar.”

“I’m not lying!” The sudden strength in my own voice startled me. I was tired of being blamed. I was tired of being the scapegoat.

Nathan took another step forward. He was too close now. His intoxicating scent filled my nose, making my wolf restless and desperate under my skin. He towered over me, casting a massive shadow that trapped me.

“You tripped the perimeter alarms,” he said darkly, leaning down.

My heart hammered against my cracked ribs. He was right. I had tripped them.

“I was trying to escape,” I admitted, my voice dropping to a terrified whisper.

Nathan’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. “Escape from what?”

The question tore open a floodgate of memories I wanted to bury forever. I remembered Alpha Ryan’s cruel, mocking laugh. I saw my sister Beatrice’s smug, triumphant smile. I felt the cold kitchen floor against my skin, the sharp metal of scissors cutting my hair, and Beta Thomas’s rough hands where they shouldn't have been.

I looked away quickly, my breath hitching, before he could see the fear in my face.

That was my mistake.

Nathan grabbed my chin, his grip firm and unyielding, forcing my head back up to meet his gaze.

The exact second his bare skin touched mine, a jolt of pure, white-hot electricity exploded through my veins.

Mate.

Both of our wolves slammed against the mate bond at the exact same moment.

Nathan froze, his entire body locking up. His fingers tightened on my jaw, his dark eyes widening in sheer shock as the invisible bond flared to life between us, burning bright, fierce, and undeniable.

The entire dungeon went deathly silent. You could hear the rapid, terrified beat of my heart.

And then, his expression turned horrifyingly cold.

He yanked his hand back as if my skin had burned him to the bone.

“No,” he whispered. “A rogue spy will never be my mate.”

***

Nathan’s POV

My hand was still wrapped around her jaw, her skin burning against mine.

“Mate!” Asher, my wolf, roared in my mind, fighting for control. “Mine! Protect her!”

It was impossible. My mate could not be a filthy rogue. She was a starving, broken girl. My mate was supposed to be a strong, royal Luna who would stand proudly on the throne beside me. Not this.

“You should leave, Alpha,” Doctor Reed said quietly. “She is exhausted and you are terrifying her.”

I looked down. She was staring at me with wide, shaking silver eyes, pressing herself against the wall.

Good. Let her be afraid. I needed distance. The exact second I touched her, my soul locked onto hers, and I absolutely hated it.

“You are defending a rogue?” I snapped at the doctor.

“I am stating facts,” Doctor Reed replied firmly. “She has old scars all over her body. Signs of starvation and abuse. Someone hurt her long before tonight.”

Pure fury twisted in my gut, but I crushed it. Rogues used sympathy as a weapon. “She chose that life,” I said coldly.

Emily looked away, her shoulders dropping. She looked used to being rejected.

“She needs food and real rest,” Doctor Reed muttered, heading for the exit. “She might not survive until the interrogation.”

The doctor stepped into the hall, but mind-linked me one last time: “She looked relieved when you touched her.”

His words hit me hard. I stayed silent.

As the door closed, I looked at her fragile body again. Purple bruises covered her throat. Fresh claw cuts across her ribs. And then I noticed her wrists.

They were covered in old silver restraint scars.

Someone had chained and tortured my mate.

My wolf bared his teeth, but I forced my emotions down. If she was a rogue spy, we had no future. I would rather be alone forever. I needed to get away from her before this bond ruined my life.

I turned to leave.

“What happens to me now?” her weak voice trembled behind me.

I froze at the door. The law said she should be executed. But the word felt dirty now.

“That,” I said without looking back, “depends on whether you start telling the truth.”

I walked straight into the royal dining hall, rain dripping from my clothes.

My mother saw my face, and her smile vanished. “Nathan? What is it?”

I ignored her, pouring myself a heavy glass of whiskey. My hands were shaking.

“Nathan. Speak,” my father commanded from the head of the table.

I swallowed the burning drink. “The rogue spy is my mate.”

The room went dead silent. Stella’s fork dropped, clattering loudly against her porcelain plate.

“Oh, no,” my mother whispered, her eyes filling with heartbreak. “That poor, sweet girl.”

“Poor girl?” I barked angrily. “Mother, she brought an entire rogue pack to the Gray Moon Pack’s borders!”

“Did she?” my mother asked quietly, her gaze cutting through my rage. “How are you so certain she is one of them?”

“Did she smell like a rogue? Did she have red eyes?” my father added, leaning forward.

I froze. I had never once smelled rogue on her. She smelled like strawberries. And she didn't have red eyes—her eyes were silver.

No. She had to be a spy. This was a trick. I knew how evil rogues could be. They knew how to trick and lie to get inside a pack.

I refused to be fooled. I would prove she was a spy.