CHAPTER 23: THE ALPHA’S FURY

Trigger warning: This Chapter contains a scene of sexual assault attempt (no rape).

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"Now get on the bed," Finn commanded.

My body went rigid, my back pressed tight to the bedframe as if the wood could shield me. My voice cracked as it left me, thin and weak, but I forced it out.

"What’s the meaning of this?"

Of course, I already knew. My mind whispered it, dread curling through every corner of me.

But I couldn’t stop the words, couldn’t stop the desperate need to hear him say it, to make sense of the madness.

"I-if you want to spend the night with me, that is against the rules!" I shouted, though my voice shook and wavered. "The Heirbind Rite is still days away."

His gaze didn’t flicker. His lips curved in a cold, humorless smile. "You’ve already broken the rules. Why can’t I do the same?"

My eyes widened, breath catching in my throat. Disbelief crashed over me, colder than the river I had failed to throw myself into.

"No... no, you can’t." My voice trembled as panic clawed at me. "The council will condemn you. The pack will know—"

His voice dropped lower, lethal. "Are you concerned about what I’m going to face for not following tradition? Or do you just want to bid your time to escape?"

The threat in his tone was unmistakable, wrapping around me like chains.

"There’s no way in hell I’d let you escape, Vivien."

Before I could recoil, his hand clamped around my arm, dragging me up with brutal strength.

My body collided with his chest for a breath before he shoved me down onto the bed.

The furs swallowed me again.

Tears welled at the edges of my eyes, blurring the firelight above.

I wanted to push him away, to run, to fight, but my body betrayed me. Weak, heavy, limp from whatever they had put in the water.

My limbs felt like sandbags, useless, trembling beneath me.

He loomed over me, a shadow blocking out the flames. His gaze burned, sharp as a blade, and when he spoke, it was with quiet venom.

"You really angered me tonight. So I don’t have a choice but to punish you."

I lay there frozen, clutching at the robe that hung loose around me, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might break my ribs.

He didn’t climb onto the bed. Not yet.

Instead, he stood beside it, his golden eyes never leaving mine as his fingers went to the buttons of his shirt.

One by one, he began to undo them.

The sound of fabric brushing against fabric filled the room, deceptively soft, almost intimate, but it wasn’t.

My chest rose and fell in short, frantic bursts.

I scrambled backward across the bed, dragging myself with the little strength I had left, but there was nowhere to go.

The carved headboard pressed against my spine, reminding me that I was caged in more ways than one.

"Please..." The word tore out of me raw, cracked. My throat burned from the force of it. "Finn, don’t. Don’t do this."

His gaze flicked up to mine, sharp and unrelenting, but he didn’t stop. Another button fell loose.

"This is wrong," I whispered, desperate, my hands clawing at the furs beneath me. "The Heirbind Rite hasn’t happened yet. You know that. You know the Goddess won’t bless this."

"You talk of blessings when you spat on tradition by running from me?" His voice was cold, as if I were nothing but an inconvenience to him. "Don’t preach to me about the Goddess when you’ve already defied her."

Another button. His chest came into view, hard and scarred, the sight of it making my stomach twist.

I shook my head violently, my wet hair sticking to my face. "Please, I’ll obey. I’ll stay. Just don’t do this. Don’t make me..." My words tangled in a sob. "...don’t make me beg for mercy you won’t give."

But I begged anyway.

My palms pressed flat to the bed, useless against the weight of my own trembling body.

My wolf was gone, silent and unreachable beneath the cursed band, and I had never felt so hollow, so stripped of everything that had ever given me strength.

Tears spilled finally, hot and unchecked, sliding down my cheeks to dampen the collar of my robe. My chest heaved, the sound of my crying breaking apart the stillness of the chamber.

And still he came closer.

The last button slid free. The shirt fell open, framing the taut planes of his body, and he shrugged it from his shoulders. It hit the floor with a muffled thud that sounded final, like a door closing.

I whimpered without meaning to, clutching the edges of my robe tighter against me, though it felt useless, pathetic.

His shadow fell over me as he braced one hand against the bedframe and leaned closer.

His scent, smoke, cedar, wolf, wrapped around me, suffocating.

I pressed back as far as I could go, my knees still clutched to my chest, my arms trembling as I tried to make myself smaller, smaller, until maybe I would vanish.

"Don’t..." My voice cracked again, desperate and broken. "Please, Finn, not like this. Not to me. We-we were friends once. You said it yourself!"

His eyes narrowed, gold burning in the firelight, but he didn’t respond.

Instead, he moved closer, his body hovering above mine, and the weight of his presence pressed down on me.

I sobbed harder, my face twisting in terror I could no longer hide.

My hands flew up to push against his chest, but my strength was nothing against him. My palms slid helplessly over his skin, weak tremors instead of force.

"Finn, I can’t—" My breath hitched, words stumbling through the sobs. "Please, I’ll do anything, just not this. Don’t—"

Something flickered in his eyes then.

For the briefest moment, his gaze shifted. Not in triumph, not in hunger, but in something else.

Discomfort. A shadow of hesitation.

He looked down at me, at the tears streaking my face, at the way my body shook beneath him, and for the first time that night, his expression faltered.

It was gone as quickly as it came, swallowed by his fury, but I saw it.

He didn’t like what he was seeing.

And then, before the air could settle, before I could grasp the moment, a pounding knock shattered the silence.

Finn’s head snapped toward the door, a low growl reverberating in his chest.

"Alpha!" a voice shouted from the other side, urgent, frantic. "This is bad! We have an unexpected visitor! We urgently need you down the hall!"

I sucked in a shaky breath, my entire body still trembling, my tears wetting the furs beneath me.

Relief mingled with dread in my veins, because I knew whoever was at that door had just pulled me back from the edge of something I might never have returned from.

Finn straightened slowly, his eyes still fixed on me, unreadable, burning with conflict. His jaw clenched, a muscle ticking as if he warred with himself.

But the knock came again, louder this time. "Alpha! It cannot wait!"

And just like that, his attention was torn from me.

I lay frozen, curled tight on the bed, my heart hammering against my ribs, as Finn’s shadow pulled away.