CHAPTER 25: NO ONE BUT ME 3

FIA

Cian’s jaw tightened. For a second, the silence between us was louder than his threat. He moved toward the bars, the sound of his boots echoing across the concrete floor, heavy and deliberate. When he unlocked the cage, the metal screeched like it was screaming for me to run. But I didn’t. I sat still, watching him close the distance with that quiet fury that only he carried.

He stepped inside and the air changed. The cell shrank. Every breath I took felt shared, pulled from the same thin space between us. His eyes, a cold storm, locked on mine as if searching for a reason not to do what he said he would.

"What makes you think I won’t?" His voice was low now, quieter, but sharper. A blade drawn slow enough to make me feel every inch.

I tilted my head. "Because I just know."

He laughed. The sound was sharp enough to draw blood. "You should know everything about me if you were so obsessed you trapped me in this marriage. You think I won’t kill you because we’re mates? Feel through the bond and tell me what you feel, because I want to do it."

I did feel it. The rage was there. Hot and vicious and ready to tear me apart. His wolf was screaming for violence. For blood. For an end to this mess I’d created.

But there was something else underneath. Something he was wrestling with. Something that made him hold back even when every instinct told him to let go.

"Yeah," I said. "You want to."

I reached for his hand. He didn’t stop me. I wrapped my fingers around his wrist and pulled it back to my throat. Pressed his palm against the place where my pulse hammered.

"But you wouldn’t be holding on to control if there was no consequence for you." My voice was steady. I made sure of it. "So as much as you visualize crushing my throat, you can’t. Why? I am not sure."

That was not entirely true. Everything Garret had told me pointed to Cian being capable of anything. Pointed to him being the kind of man who would eliminate problems without blinking. But Garret had also said Cian valued things. His mother. His superstitions. Maybe that was the only reason I was still breathing.

"But," I continued my lie. "I know that much."

His hand stayed where it was. Warm against my skin. Not squeezing. Not moving. Just there.

"You think you have me figured out." It wasn’t a question.

"Maybe I don’t." I kept my eyes on his. "But today, I do. So what is it going to be, Alpha Cian? More games that will take us nowhere?"

The silence stretched. I counted five heartbeats. Six. Seven.

Then his hand fell away.

He took a step back. Put space between us. The cold rushed in where his heat had been.

"What do you want?"

The question caught me off guard. Not because he asked it, but because he sounded tired. Like something in him had finally given up fighting.

I swallowed. Tasted blood where I’d bitten my cheek without realizing.

"I don’t want a contract." The words came out clear. Firm. "I will not have you humiliate me."

He tilted his head. "But I will. Contract or no contract."

"Be vile to me." I shrugged like it didn’t matter. Like his cruelty was just weather I had to endure. "I don’t care. But not because I’m signing shit. But because you’re a horrible person."

He scoffed. Actually scoffed. "Me? Horrible?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "You are the worst."

His jaw clenched. I saw the muscle jump there. Saw his hands curl into fists at his sides.

"I will not be having sex with you either." Each word was clipped. Precise. "If you want a child, it will be through in vitro."

"I don’t want your child."

He blinked. I’d surprised him again.

"You wanted a clause change that involved my penis and now you says different?"

Heat crawled up my neck. I kept my face blank. "Whatever makes you sleep at night."

"You will simply be a figurehead."

"Aren’t most Lunas?"

The question hung there. I watched something flicker across his face. Surprise maybe. Or anger. Or both.

He straightened his back. Squared his shoulders. The Alpha mask slid back into place.

"And you will make my mother happy. Best of your omega abilities."

My stomach twisted. His mother. The dying woman infected with the rot. The one person in this entire godforsaken pack who might actually be kind to me.

"I’ll try."

He shot me a look. Sharp and cold.

"Okay." I sighed. "I’ll make her happy. Are you happy now?"

"No."

Of course not. Nothing would make this man happy. Nothing except maybe watching me crawl.

"Swear before the goddess."

I hesitated. Swearing before the goddess meant something. It was binding in ways that went beyond words. Beyond contracts. It was sacred.

But what choice did I have?

"I swear before Selene."

The words left my mouth and I felt them settle. Felt the weight of them sink into my bones.

He sighed. Long and heavy. Like I’d just agreed to something that exhausted him.

"You’re free."

I stared at him. Waited for the catch. The other shoe that had to drop.

He turned. Walked to where he’d left the contract on the floor. Picked it up.

Then he tore it.

The sound was loud in the quiet cell. The paper ripping. The shredding. He didn’t stop until it was in pieces too small to read. Too small to matter.

He let the scraps fall from his hands. They drifted to the floor like snow.

"You must be so elated."

Was I? I couldn’t tell anymore. My emotions were a tangled mess. Fear and relief and exhaustion all fighting for space in my chest.

"You have no idea."

He turned to look at me one last time. His eyes swept over my face. My dirty clothes. The bruises on my wrists.

"Someone will come for you in an hour." His voice was flat. Empty. "They’ll take you to your rooms. You’ll bathe. Change. Then you’ll have dinner with my mother tomorrow evening."

"Okay."

"Don’t make me regret this, omega."

The warning was clear. One wrong move and I’d be back in this cell. Or worse.

"I won’t."

He didn’t believe me. I could see it in his eyes. Could feel it through the bond. But he turned anyway. Walked out of the cell. His footsteps echoed as he crossed to the stairs.

I waited until I couldn’t hear him anymore. Until I was sure he was gone.

Then I sank down onto the cot. My legs gave out. My whole body shook.

I’d done it. I’d pushed him and he’d bent. Not much. Not nearly enough. But he’d bent.

The mate bond thrummed in my chest. I could still feel him. His anger. His frustration. His confusion about what I actually wanted.

Good. Let him be confused. Let him wonder. Let him lose sleep trying to figure me out.

I looked at the torn pieces of contract on the floor. At the food the omegas had spilled. At the cell that had been my home for over a day.

Freedom. He’d called it freedom.

I knew better. This was just a different kind of cage. Bigger maybe. With better furniture and prettier bars. But still a cage.

I thought about his mother. About the promise I’d just made. About having to smile and play pretend while she looked at me with kind eyes and believed I was someone her son cared about.

My throat tightened. I swallowed hard.

I could do this. I had to do this. Because the alternative was dying in this cell. Or eventually dying at his hands.

So I would play the part. I would be the Luna he needed me to be. I would make his mother happy and keep my head down and survive.

And maybe, if I was lucky, I’d find a way out of this mess before it buried me completely.

The hour passed slowly. I counted the minutes. Listened to the distant sounds of the pack above me. Voices. Footsteps. Life continuing while I sat in the dark.

When the omega finally came, she was different from the ones who’d spilled my food. She was older, quieter and she didn’t look at me with hatred. Just weariness.

"Come," she said. "The Alpha said to bring you up."

I stood. My legs were stiff. My whole body ached.

But I followed her out of the cell. Up the stairs. Into the light.

And I didn’t look back.