My Mate Put Me in Chains

The scent of roasted rosemary and blood-rare steak filled the dining room, but all I could smell was the sulfur of my own rising bile. My hands trembled as I smoothed the tablecloth, a reflex I didn't have to fake.

'Set a third place, Liliana,' Hunter said from the doorway. His voice was smooth, draped in that sickeningly patient tone he used when I was 'having a bad day.'

'A third?' I asked, forcing my voice to pitch up, to sound small and confused. Inside, Mist was snarling, pacing the cage of my ribs. *He brings the enemy to our table. He mocks us.*

'We have a guest,' Hunter said, stepping into the room. He adjusted his cuffs, the picture of a benevolent Alpha. 'A protected witness. She’s carrying a pup crucial to the Pack’s future. You’ll be kind to her, won’t you, Lily?'

He stepped aside, and my nightmare walked in.

Amaya Morris wasn't wearing the rags of a dungeon prisoner. She was dressed in a clinging crimson gown that accentuated the swell of her pregnancy. Her hair was glossy, her skin flushed with health. She looked at me not with fear, but with a predator's amusement.

'Hello, Liliana,' she purred, walking past me to take the seat at Hunter’s right hand—the Luna’s seat. 'I've heard so much about your... condition.'

'Sit,' Hunter commanded me gently, pointing to the chair opposite them.

I sat. I had to. If I shifted now, if I tore her throat out as Mist demanded, the guards outside would kill me before I reached the door. I had to be the child. I had to be the broken doll.

Dinner was a slow, agonizing torture. I stared at my plate, pushing peas around with a fork, while Amaya fed herself exaggerated bites of steak. She moaned softly with pleasure, her eyes locking with Hunter’s across the table. It was obscene. A display of ownership performed right in front of the woman he claimed to protect.

'The meat is excellent, Alpha,' Amaya said, reaching out to cover Hunter’s hand with hers. He didn't pull away. He let her touch him. 'My pup loves it.'

'Eat, Liliana,' Hunter said, his eyes cold and flat as they landed on me. 'You’re too thin.'

I swallowed a piece of meat that tasted like ash. *I will kill you,* I promised silently. *I will burn this house to the ground with you inside it.*

After dinner, the humiliation escalated. Hunter ordered the guest suite—the one directly across from my bedroom—to be prepared for Amaya.

'She needs to be close to the Alpha for protection,' he explained to the servants, who kept their heads bowed, refusing to look at me.

That night, as I tried to slip into my room, a hand slammed against the wall next to my head. I gasped, shrinking back. Amaya leaned in, her breath hot against my ear. The scent of vanilla and rot that clung to her made my stomach turn.

'You look so lost,' she whispered, her voice dropping to a hiss. 'Do you remember the headlights, Liliana? Do you remember the sound of the glass shattering? I do. I remember how you screamed.'

My heart hammered a frantic rhythm. She was taunting me with my own murder. I looked past her shoulder and saw Hunter standing in the doorway of his office. He wasn't stopping her. He was watching us, his arms crossed, a dark, twisted hunger in his eyes. He enjoyed this. He liked seeing his 'broken' mate cornered by his mistress.

I pulled away, scrambling into my room and locking the door, sliding down to the floor as Mist howled in silent fury.

The next morning, the fragile peace of the Pack House shattered completely. I was summoned to the main hall, where the Pack elders and high-ranking warriors were gathered. Hunter sat on his throne, his face a mask of disappointment.

Amaya stood in the center of the room, weeping into a silk handkerchief.

'It’s gone!' she wailed, pointing a shaking finger at me. 'The heirloom necklace Hunter gave me for the baby! She took it! I saw her lurking near my room!'

'Liliana would never,' a young Omega whispered, but she was quickly silenced by a glare from the Beta.

'Search her room,' Hunter ordered. His voice lacked any warmth now. It was purely Alpha.

Two guards stormed up the stairs. I stood frozen, my fingernails digging into my palms. I knew what they would find. I knew this script.

Minutes later, the guards returned. One of them held up a glittering silver chain—the Luna’s necklace, an artifact that was supposed to be mine.

'Found it under her mattress, Alpha,' the guard said, tossing it onto the table with a clatter.

A murmur of disgust rippled through the room.

'She’s jealous,' Amaya sobbed, clinging to Hunter’s arm. 'She wants to hurt my baby because she’s... broken.'

Hunter stood up, his shadow falling over me. He didn't look like my mate anymore. He looked like a judge.

'Jealousy is a poison, Liliana,' he said, his voice echoing off the stone walls. 'I thought I could heal you. But perhaps you are too far gone.'

The Pack looked at me with varying shades of pity and contempt. I was no longer their Luna. I was a thief. A liability. A danger to the Alpha’s heir.

I lowered my head, hiding the fire in my eyes. *Let them think I am broken,* Mist whispered, her voice steel-hard. *Let them think we are weak. It will make it easier to rip their throats out when the time comes.*